History of The Department

The Department of Political Science, Presidency University (formerly Presidency College) has completed more than 50 years in its separate existence. Political Science was separated from the earlier Department of Economics and Political Science, and began its journey independently at the undergraduate level in 1960. Some of the eminent former teachers and students like Upendra Nath Ghosal, Ramesh Chandra Ghosh, Nirmal Chandra Basu Roy Chowdhury, Amal Kumar Mukhopadhyay, Prasanta Ray, Partha Chatterjee, Sudipta Kaviraj, Sobhanlal Datta Gupta shaped an ethos that informed not only the teaching-learning process in class rooms but also the heated debates in corridors, canteen and the quintessential Coffee House. Every contour of established knowledge was re-examined; reorientation towards accepted methodology was constantly indulged. There has not been any interregnum in this process.

Many former students have become brilliant teachers and great scholars. If one examines academic work of scholars like U.N. Ghosal, Partha Chatterjee, Sudipta Kaviraj, Mohit Bhattacharya, Radharaman Chakraborty, Arun Banerji, Rakharhari Chatterji, Ranabir Samaddar, Bidyut Chakraborty, Samir Kumar Das and others, one is struck by the evolution of research interests. From the conventional study of political institutions, the focus has been shifted to contemporary issues of Political Theory, Indian Politics, Political Sociology, International Relations, Refugee, Migration and Peace studies. Many of our former students have become faculty members in reputed universities all over the world. Many have completed Ph.D. in major American and British Universities and many more are doing Ph.D. in various reputed research Institutes and Universities in India and abroad. The quality of scholarly work as a measure of intellectual attainment is one thing to which the Department’s claim can never be exaggerated.

The success of the department has yet other indicators. It has produced Vice- Chancellors (Mohit Bhattacharya, Radharaman Chkarabarty, Samir Kumar Das) and Directors of prestigious research institutes (Radharaman Chakrabarty, Partha Chatterjee), Some of our bright students who joined the Civil Services were Jadabendralal Bose, Jawhar Sircar, and Alapan Bandyopadhyay. Many of our former students have excelled in Corporate Management, Journalism, Art and Culture, and the Legal profession.