Pro-democracy stand-off in Tienanmen Square. (AP/Wide World Photos.)
The Political Science Department was formally established in 1955,
within what was then the Department of Economics and Social Science, as
part of a broad effort to develop research and training at MIT in the
social sciences.
The nucleus of a Political Science faculty had already
been formed within the Center for International Studies, a pioneering,
interdisciplinary research center working on American foreign policy
and security issues, economic and political development in the Third
World, Communist societies, and international communication. By 1958, a
Ph.D. in political science had been authorized. Political Science
became an independent department in 1965, offering an undergraduate
major and a Master's degree, as well as the Ph.D.
Department of Political Science links
Visit the MIT Department of Political Science home page at:
http://web.mit.edu/polisci/
Review the MIT Department of Political Science curriculum at:
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/resources/curriculum/index.htm#17