Disciplining Politics: The PSA at 70
| Author | Angelia Wilson,Wyn Grant |
| Published date | 01 June 2020 |
| Date | 01 June 2020 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/2041905820933367 |
JUNE 2020 • POLITICAL INSIGHT 11
The teaching of politics in Britain
can be traced back to the end
of the 19th century, with the
formation of the London School
of Economics and Political Science in 1895.
Oxford University established the Gladstone
chair of political theory and institutions in
1911 and the first Philosophy, Politics and
Economics (PPE) students were admitted
in 1920.
By the end of the 1940s, there were
around 50 teachers of politics in British
higher education. This was a very small
number on which to base a discipline, even
if it had shown greater confidence about its
distinct identity and its boundaries. There
was an intellectual community but not
what we would regard today as a distinct
discipline. The formation of a subject
association required an external stimulus,
although it was also facilitated by well-
developed domestic networks.
The impetus for the formation of the
Political Studies Association (PSA) in 1950
came principally from UNESCO and its
plan to set up an International Political
Science Association (IPSA), founded in
1949, which required national associations
to be its members. However, there was also
awareness of the domestic development of
the study of politics.
Informal meetings took place in London
and Oxford to plan a politics association
based primarily on existing networks. The
relative balance of influence is reflected
in the fact that six of the signatories
in a letter about the formation of an
association were from Oxford; three were
from Cambridge; three were from LSE;
Angelia Wilson, PSA
Annual Conference Dinner,
Nottingham, 2019
Disciplining
Politics: The PSA at 70
Wyn Grant and Angelia Wilson look back at the developments and
achievements of the Political Studies Association on its 70th anniversary.
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