Faculty of Social and Political Sciences

The first teaching that can be linked to social and political sciences is that of political economy given by Charles Comte from 1821. Comte was an exile who sought to avoid conviction for liberal propaganda and press offences. His friends in the canton of Vaud then secured him a place at the Académie de Lausanne, where he also taught public and private law.

From 1838, the political economy course was entrusted to Antoine-Elysée Cherbuliez. Cherbuliez was opposed to the changes taking place in Europe, to democracy, to state intervention in the economy and so on. This conservative discourse is very much appreciated by the people of Vaud.

Luigi Amedeo Melegari took over the teaching duties in 1840 with success. He was an Italian patriot of the Risorgimento, exiled in France, who arrived in Lausanne under the assumed name of Thomas Emery, When he realised his true identity, he obtained a residence permit and was subsequently naturalised in Vaud. Melegari was dismissed from his post in 1846 following the university coup d'état of February 1845 and returned to Italy, where he taught constitutional law at the University of Turin.

From 1856 to 1857, Melegari taught at the University of Turin.

From 1856 à 1870, no courses in social sciences or economics took place à l’Académie. In 1860, an international congress on the question of impôt was organised, chaired by Cherbuliez. Léon Walras, a 26-year-old Frenchman, presented a dissertation on the theme of the allocation of land and land rent to the State. His comments were not well received by the delegates, but were taken on board by Louis Ruchonnet. In 1970, at the suggestion of Ruchonnet, who had become a member of the Council of State, Léon Walras was appointed to teach political economy at the Faculty of Law until 1892. There he developed his fundamental principles of political economy. Walras’s successors took up his theses, reformulating, supplementing and refining them. They would form the Lausanne School.

Vilfredo Pareto succeeded Walras in 1893. He taught pure economics, applied political economics and formulated the theory of the distribution of wealth. However, there is a growing need to extend the teaching of the social sciences. To supplement his knowledge of economics, Walras taught social sciences and published sociological papers. New teachers were hired to develop the teaching in economics and the social sciences that Pareto was unable to take on: Vittorio Racca for political economy and Pasquale Boninsegni for economics.

Walras was the first to teach the social sciences.

In 1901, the authorities created the School of Social and Political Sciences (SSP), attached to the Faculty of Law, and in 1902 introduced the degrees of licentiate and doctor of social sciences. Teaching was then divided between the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Arts. The school was officially recognised in 1911 and Ernest Roguin became its president until 1917. It was not until 1927 that it was officially renamed the Ecole des sciences sociales et politiques.

The School of Social and Political Sciences.

Despite the hesitations of the Conseil d’Etat and the hostility of certain faculties, against which Pareto fought, the School continuedà s’étendre and àcreer de nouvelles chaires et de nouvelles sections (licence ès sciences consulaires, 1917; licence pédagogique, 1919).

In 1916, Charles Gide, an uncle of André and above all a théorician of social economics, received the first honorary doctorate from the Ecole des SSP. Pareto, then 69, left teaching.

Maurice Milloud took over the presidency of the School from 1917 to 1925. He focused on developing the pedagogy department. It was created in 1920. When it was founded, the Conseil d'Etat decided to abolish the teaching of sociology. Following a number of protests by Antoine Rougier, Milloud's successor, Pasquale Boninsegni took over the sociology course.

In 1928, Boninsegni took over the teaching of sociology.

In 1928, Boninsegni was elected president of the School and Arnold Reymond became vice-president. They worked together until 1939.

In 1937, the School was under the presidency of Boninsegni. Boninsegni, who no doubt wrongly claimed to be a childhood friend of Benito Mussolini, forced the hand of the University of Lausanne to award an honorary doctorate to the Italian head of state. Some sections of public opinion were outraged.

At the end of 1938, Boninsegni stepped down as president of SSP and was succeeded by Arnold Reymond. Auguste Deluz took over as vice-president. He supports the development of the pedagogy section. The school brought itself into line with university requirements and offered a six-semester programme.

In 1939, Jean Piaget took over the teaching of sociology and psychology, before leaving for the Sorbonne in 1952.

Despite Boninsegni's lack of scientific stature, the Lausanne School enjoyed great success, especially in the United States and Italy.

Jacques Secrétan was elected president in 1946. He sought to raise the standard of studies and improve the school’s image: it allows for the extension of the bachelor's and doctoral degrees in political science, it forms three sections (social sciences, political sciences and pedagogical sciences) including the corresponding bachelor's and doctoral degrees, complemented by a diplocirc;me d’études diplomatiques et consulaires and a certificat d’aptitude pédagogique.

As a result of successive structural changes (revision of programmes, increase in resources), enrolments at the School experienced considerable growth (+411% between 1948 and 1967), as well as a gradual extension of teaching.

In 1964, the Institut de sociologie des communications de masse was created, followed in 1966 by the Institut de science politique, then in 1967 by the Institut de psychologie appliqu&e;e and the Centre de recherches d'histoire economic et sociale, which would later become the IRRI (Institut de recherches régionales interdisciplinaires). The Faculty underwent a period of growth with the creation of several new courses.

In 1973, the School transferred the bachelor's degree in political economy to the HEC School.

Acknowledging the contemporary realities of the SSP and HEC schools and their significant expansion, the University Act of 6 December 1977 gave them the rank of faculties.

Since then, the number of students has risen steadily (+530% between 1983 and 2003), which has led to serious staffing problems.

1997 saw the Sports Science stream attached to the Faculty, complementing the courses offered in the other three streams, namely Psychology, Social Sciences (which include Sociology, Social Psychology and Anthropology), and Political Science.

The Faculty of Sports Science is now responsible for the management and administration of the Faculty's programmes.

The Faculty of Social and Political Sciences currently offers four training streams: political science, social sciences, psychology and sport and physical education sciences.

Marie-Pierre Bigler - UNIRIS 2014