In 1919, when Nankai University was founded, the discipline of political science began to develop which was initially called the political science category. After that, in 1923, the Department of Political Science was established on the basis of the original political science category. Before 1949, Yu Wencan, Xu Mo, Xiao Gongquan, Wang Gangyu, Luo Longji, Yang Jingnian and other masters taught at the Department of Political Science. After the liberation of Tianjin in 1949, the Department of Political Science was abolished, and then reestablished in 1984 after the reform and opening up. After the reconstruction, the department was headed by Zheng Jianmin, Che Mingzhou, Zhu Guanglei, Ge Quan, Yang Long and Cheng Tongshun, and the current chairman of the department is Guo Daojiu. At present, the Department of Political Science offers one undergraduate major in Political Science and Administrative Science (the PPE characteristics experimental class also relies on the major training in Political Science and Administrative Science); three majors for both master’s and doctoral degrees, namely Political Science Theory, Chinese and Foreign Political Institutions and National Security Studies; in addition, there is also a postdoctoral station in Department of Political Science. Among them, Political Science Theory represents a state-level key discipline, the Political Science and Administrative Science is a national first-class characteristic specialty and has been selected as the first group of national first-class undergraduate majors. In the discipline assessments in 2004, 2008 and 2012, the Department of Political Science of Nankai University was ranked fifth in China and received an A- grade in 2016.

The Department of Political Science has accumulated and cultivated a politically correct, energetic and dynamic academic team with reasonable age, discipline and title structure, with a total of 17 faculty members. Among them, there are 9 professors, 10 doctoral supervisors (including one double-span doctoral supervisor); 3 associate professors, 1 lecturer, and 4 with postdoctoral degrees (assistant researchers). All of the faculty members have obtained their doctoral degrees. In each secondary discipline of political science, there are one to three scholars with high academic influence or emerging talent who are engaged in teaching and research work at the front line. Among them, Prof. Zhu Guanglei was selected as a National Talent Project, and won the first “National Teaching Masters Award” and the “Outstanding Youth Faculty Award of the National Universities”; Zhu Guanglei, Gao Yongjiu and Cheng Tongshun were selected by the Ministry of Education for the “Trans(New) - century Excellent Talents Training Program”; Zhao Jujun was selected as a “National Youth Talent Program”. In addition, the research findings of Zhu Guanglei, Tan Rong, Yang Long and Cheng Tongshun were awarded second prize of Excellent Social Science Research of the Ministry of Education, “Five-Ones Program” prize, and the first and second prizes of Excellent Social Science Achievements in Tianjin.

In terms of curriculum, the courses offered by the Department of Political Science for undergraduates include Principles of Political Science, History of Chinese Political Thought, History of Western Political Thought, History of Chinese Political Institutions, History of Modern Chinese Politics, History of Marxist Political Doctrine, Comparative Political Institutions, Research Methods in Social Science, Chinese Government and Politics, Modern Government Theories, Development Politics, Administrative Management, Public Policy, Science of Personnel Management, Ethnic Politics, etc. The courses for master’s students include Study of Political Science Theory, Study of Chinese Political Thought, Study of Western Political Thought, Methodology of Modern Political Science , Study of Chinese Political Institutions, Study of Foreign Political Institutions, Study of Ethnic Politics, Xi Jinping’s Overall National Security Concept, etc. The courses offered for doctoral students include Frontiers in Political Science Theory, Study of Contemporary Chinese Government and Politics, Study of Chinese Political Thought, Study of New Political Economics, Selected Reading of Marxist Peasant Issues, Study of Chinese Rural Politics, Study of Party Politics and Political Figures, etc.

The employment fields of graduates from the Department of Political Science are mainly distributed in colleges and universities, scientific research institutions, press and publication units, central and local government institutional units, government-affiliated institutions, and various enterprises, etc.; there are also a number of graduates went abroad for further study.

Up to now, the Department of Political Science has cooperated with many schools and departments, including the Department of Political Science of the University of Chicago, the Department of Public Administration of Northern Illinois University, the School of Social and Political Science of the University of Glasgow, the School of Social Sciences of National Taiwan University in China, the Department of Public Administration of National Chengchi University in China, the Department of Chinese Studies of Korea Catholic University, the College of Social Sciences of Chungnam National University, and Department of Social Sciences of the University of Turku. In the course of cooperation, the faculty and students of both sides have always maintained a diverse and informative exchange with each other.