1958
Jacques Chapsal
FNSP, Paris, France
(1958-1961)
Jacques Chapsal (1909–1990) was a French political scientist and historian who made significant contributions to the field of political science in France. A graduate of the École libre des sciences politiques (ELSP), he earned his Doctorate in Law in 1934 with a thesis titled Le Régime administratif de la batellerie.
Prof. Chapsal began his career in 1936 as a librarian at the French Senate and served as a lecturer at the École libre des sciences politiques (ELSP), where he taught social economics. ELPS was founded in 1872 by Émile Boutmy in the wake of the political and moral crisis in France following the 1870 Franco-Prussian War. Prof. Chapsal played a key role in modernizing the ELPS’s curriculum, aligning it with contemporary academic standards. In 1945, he played a significant role in its transformation into the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po Paris) under the newly established Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques (FNSP). This private foundation was tasked with overseeing the strategic direction, as well as the administrative and financial management, of Sciences Po. Elected as the director of the IEP in 1947, Prof. Chapsal held the position until 1979.
Prof. Chapsal was a scholar and educator, widely respected for his approach to teaching and his seminal works on French political life under the Fifth Republic. His tenure at Sciences Po was marked by transformative initiatives, including the establishment of a third cycle of doctoral programs and the founding of the Presses de Sciences Po in 1976.
His books include La vie politique en France de 1940 à 1958 (1984); Démocratie efficace: L'expérience politique et sociale des pays scandinaves (1957, co-authored with Gunnar Heckscher and Georges Hahn); and Le régime administratif de la batellerie (1935).
Sciences Po has a special place in IPSA’s history. Until 1967, 5XÉçÇøwas hosted in Paris on the premises of the . Moreover, many scholars from the FNSP were instrumental in the early years of IPSA, including some of IPSA’s first Secretaries-General François Goguel (1949-1950), Jean Meynaud (1950-1955), Serge Hurtig (1960-1967), and Jacques Chapsal, who served as 5XÉçÇøPresident from 1958 to 1961. The presidency of Jacques Chapsal solidified the relationship between 5XÉçÇøand the FNSP. Under Prof. Chapsal’s leadership, 5XÉçÇøsuccessfully organized its 4th World Congress in Rome in 1958 and its 5th World Congress in Paris in 1961, milestones that reinforced the association's international prominence and its partnership with the FNSP.
