 Hello learners, welcome to this video lecture on the unit titled Growth of Political Science as a Discipline. This unit is from the course Political Theory Part A from the BFR Semester Program in Political Science. The study of politics has a long tradition. As a matter of fact, the study of political science has its roots in ancient Greece. The Greeks use the term politica to describe the numerous activities of the polis or city states in which they lived. Thus, it was the Greek thinkers who laid the foundation for the development of a systematic study of politics. They were mainly concerned with questions of morality and tried to define an ideal state. However, the first efforts to systematically study politics can be traced to the works of the two political thinkers from ancient Greece, namely Plato and Aristotle. In the Republic, Plato discussed the very important concepts associated with politics like the concept of justice, scheme of education, communism of family and property, philosophical king, ideal state, etc. After Plato, Aristotle made a significant contribution in the development of the discipline of political science. In his famous book, The Politics, Aristotle discussed some very important concepts like justice, ideal state, citizenship, revolution, slavery, classification of constitutions, democracy, etc. In a very systematic manner, ancient Roman thinkers like Polybius and Cicero also contributed in the development of political thought. In India also, we can find the traces of politics in the Vedas, Samhitas, Brahmanas and Buddhist Pali canon. Kautilya, the great ancient Indian thinker through his work, Artha Shastra, made valuable contribution to the development of politics. He had discussed very important concepts like administration of the state, financial policies of the state, principles of foreign relations, etc. Now, let us try to examine the growth of political science in the medieval period. In the early medieval period, we find that early Christian thinkers and philosophers like Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas also dwelled upon the idea of an ideal state and they sought to derive moral and ethical principles regarding the same. Basically, they focused on the relationship between the state and the church. Accordingly, in the classical Christian formulation, political science was more in the realm of political philosophy focusing on the study of the state. In the 15th century, Niccolò Micaveli, the Italian political thinker, started the tradition of studying existing and historical political institutions. Micaveli, through his famous book The Prince, made significant contribution in the development of modern notion of the state. Micaveli was a realist thinker who argued that interest and stability of the state must be protected and all means should be explored and adopted to protect the interests of the state. In the medieval period, political thinkers subsequently tried to deal with the historical origins of different political institutions and their structural frameworks. Now, we come to the growth of political science in the modern period. It must be mentioned here that the origin of political science as an academic discipline is not very old. Many thinkers have contributed towards the growth of political science as a discipline. In this context, the name of Francis Leiber, who was a professor of history and political science at Columbia University, needs special mention. His work, civil, liberty and self-government, has made significant contribution towards the growth of political science as an academic discipline. Another landmark in the growth of political science was the establishment of a School of Political Science at Columbia University at the initiative of John W. Burgess, who was an American political scientist in 1880. It was called the Faculty of Political Science. In 1886, this school inaugurated the political science quarterly, which was the first scholarly journal of political science as a discipline. It heralded a new era in the growth of the discipline as it gave scholars a new platform to express the views in writing. The establishment of Johns Hopkins University in 1876 was another milestone in the growth of political science. In this context, the establishment of Johns Hopkins Historical and Political Science Association in 1877 and the Johns Hopkins Studies in Historical and Political Science are worth mentioning. Accordingly, the two universities, namely Columbia and Johns Hopkins, contributed significantly towards the growth of political science as an academic discipline. The studies and research carried out in these universities also widened the scope of political science, which was earlier confined to the study of political institutions and historical origin. The subject of political science subsequently began to embrace various concepts like rights, justice, law, sovereignty while analyzing the functioning of governments. The political thinkers also started discussing the merits and demerits of various forms of governments, political institutions, etc. The establishment of the American Political Science Association in 1903 provided a boost towards the strengthening of political science as a discipline. It soon became a leading organization for the study of political science and provided a platform for different scholars, departments, and institutions from the discipline of political science. It also widened the scope of political science beyond the study of political philosophy and institutions. During the 1920s, political science made a paradigm shift in the form of the positivist movement. It sought to make the study of political science scientific by applying empirical and statistical methods. The Social Science Research Council was chartered in 1923 to encourage scientific research and economics, sociology, and political science. The positivist movement culminated in the behavioral revolution of the 1950s. The growth of behavioralism can be regarded as the major landmark in the growth of political science as a discipline. The behaviorists put emphasis on making the study of political science scientific. They were influenced by the developments in research in different disciplines and they tried to make the study of political science interdisciplinary. In order to draw scientific conclusions, behavioralism advocated the use of statistical methods and tools in the study of political science. Thus, with the emergence of behavioralism, the character of political science had changed to a large extent. Behavioralism shifted the focus of political science from the study of political institutions to the study of day-to-day behavior of individuals in a political society. American political thinkers like David Easton, Charles C. Merriam, Arthur Bentley, contributed significantly through their writings and research towards the growth of behavioral revolution in political science. The emergence of political science as a university discipline was marked by the creation of university departments and chairs. The term political science gained currency in the late 19th century. The American Political Science Association was founded in 1903. It brought up its publication titled The American Political Science Review in 1906 in an effort to distinguish the study of politics from economics and other social science disciplines. After the Second World War and in the early fifties of the 20th century, political science was highly influenced by sociologists like Tocqueville, G. Mosca, Max Weber, Talcott Parsons and others. Such an interaction between political scientists and sociologists helped to bring the study of political science closer to the society. For instance, the concept of the state which had been central to political science gave way to the new concept of the political system developed by David Easton. The new concept highlighted the interaction between the society and the political process. During this period, the behavioral revolution in political science became popular and various methods of research and techniques of data collection were identified by the political thinkers. The Social Science Research Council of the United States set up in the early 1920s continued to play an important role in popularizing behaviorist ideas in the post Second World War era. Having discussed the growth of political science from the ancient period to the contemporary times, let us now try to examine the present status of the discipline of political science. Political science entered a new phase towards the late 1960s in the form of the post-behavioral revolution. The rise of behaviorism clearly introduced a scientific vigor in the study of political phenomena. However, it soon came to be realized that too much emphasis was being laid on the adoption of scientific techniques in the field of political science. In the process, political science was fast losing touch with the real social and political issues. Therefore, post-behavioralists made an attempt to make political science relevant to the society. However, it must be remembered that post-behavioralism cannot be separated from behaviorism as it has emerged out of behaviorism through using different techniques and methods. The post-behavioralists have tried to overcome the drawbacks of behaviorism and make the study of political science more relevant to the society. Accordingly, we find that political science, which emerged as a study of the state and government in the early period, has undergone tremendous changes through the ages. Owing to the contributions of different scholars, the scope of political science is ever widening and its nature too is fast changing. In the present time, the focus of political science has shifted from the study of the state and government to the study of the political system as a whole. Political science in the contemporary period has been able to make a distinctive mark of its own and it has been able to establish itself as a significant field of study in the present times.