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As previously mentioned, political science in Paraguay still faces the challenge of its institutional development (Altman 2005, Rocha-Carpiuc 2013, Duarte-Recalde 2015). This situation coincides with the weak institutional development that affects all scientific activity in the country. According to the most recent report of the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT), the total investment in Science and Technology in relation to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Paraguay in 2015 was 0.13 %, this being the highest percentage registered since this indicator began to be measured in 2001 (CONACYT 2016a). Political science in particular, as well as the social sciences, faces a state of backwardness in its scientific institutionalization due to: “(1) the low social recognition of its scientific status; (2) its low institutionalization in the university; (3) the weakness of mechanisms for disseminating research results; and (4) the lack of links between social research and public policies” (Ortiz and Galeano 2015: 7).

Similarly to other Latin American countries during the 20^th century, the development of social sciences in Paraguay was negatively affected by the suppression of critical thought and freedom of speech that occurred under dictatorial rule, which had consequences that lasted well into the early years of democratic transition (Duarte-Recalde 2017). During the decades of the authoritarian regime under Alfredo Stroessner, which lasted from 1954 to 1989, any public expression that aimed to analyze the political context was persecuted and suppressed, while any criticism of the regime was framed as part of a communist political project. This resulted in many Paraguayan intellectuals being exiled and developing their academic careers away from the country, and the breakdown of the authoritarian regime did not imply their automatic return to the country or their rigorous analysis of Paraguayan politics from an academic perspective. Furthermore, once democratic institutions began to develop in the country, the traditional structures of domination continued to interfere with the workings of the educational system, which affected higher education in particular (Rivarola 2008).

[55] Table 1: Curricula of political science programs in Paraguay
National University of Asunción	Catholic University “Nuestra Señora de la Asunción”
Semester 1
Communication and Writing in the Spanish Language; History of Paraguay; Guaraní Language I; Introduction to the Legal Science; History of legal institutions; Latin American Social History; Introduction to Sociology; Seminar: Sociology of Work	Oral and written communication; History of Paraguay; Math; Symbolic Logic; Methodology; Introduction to Paraguayan Social Reality; Philosophical Anthropology; Faith and Science; Christian Mystery I
Semester 2
Introduction to Political Science; Guaraní Language II; Political economy; Paraguayan Political History	Introduction to Political Science; Comparative Politics I; Introduction to National Reality; Introduction to Historical Science
Semester 3
Economic and Political Analysis; Paraguayan Social History; Guaraní Language III; Elements of Statistics; Seminar: Interdisciplinary Approaches	Christian Anthropology; Political Science and its Evolution; Introduction to History I; Epistemology and Methodology of Research I; Statistics for the Social Sciences I; Philosophical Anthropology; Introduction to Social Theory I; Theory of Knowledge; Introduction to the Theory of Science I
Semester 4
Methodology in Social Science; Statistics for the Social Sciences; Economic development; Guaraní Language IV; Seminar: Political Philosophy	Statistics for the Social Sciences II; Introduction to History II; Epistemology and Research Methodology II; Introduction to Social Theory II; Fundamental Ethics and Theology;
Semester 5
History of Political Ideas I; Constitutional Law; History of International Relations; Foreign Language I; Seminar: Human Rights; Social Policy Research; Theory of the State	International Politics I; World History I; Epistemology and Methodology of Research III; English for Social Sciences I; Social Theory I; Comparative Politics II
Semester 6
History of Political Ideas II; Political Process and Ideologies; Rights and International Relations; Foreign Language II; Seminar: Ethics and Politics; Social political theory; Rule of Law, Culture, Development and Business Policies in Paraguay	Social Thought of the Church I; World History I; International Politics II; Epistemology and Methodology of Research IV; Seminar; Economic Theory I; Social Theory II
Semester 7
Computer Science and Political Science; Theories of Power; Political Law; Research Project Development; Foreign Language III; Interest Groups and Intermediate Societies	Social Thought of the Church II; Theory of the State; Economic Theory II; Contemporary Political Science; Cultural Systems; Social Theory III; Paraguayan Economic and Social History I
Semester 8
National Politics; Geopolitics; Foreign Language IV; Participation and Electoral Systems; Public Administration and Finance; Seminar: Analysis of Political Regimes, Democracy and its Challenges; Seminar: Workshop for the Elaboration of Thesis; International organizations	Demography; Political parties; Latin Americana Political Theory
Semester 9
	Design and Practice of Political Research I; Paraguayan Political System; Interest Groups; Optional Seminar
Semester 10
	Paraguayan Foreign Policy; Design and Practice of Political Research II; Theory of Democracy; Public Opinion and Elections
Source: Prepared by the author

Nowadays, Paraguay’s two main universities –the Catholic University and the National University of Asuncion– regularly offer programs in political science at a graduate level.⁴ However, neither program has a curriculum of its own: in the case of the National [56] University, all subjects up to the fourth semester are shared between political science and the social sciences program, while in the Catholic University subjects are shared with sociology and history throughout the full five years of the program.⁵ At the same time, when comparing the curricula of both programs (Table 1) it is possible to observe the markedly legalistic bias of the National University, compared to the rather sociological bias of the Catholic University’s program. Either way, in both cases the lack of independence of the discipline appears as a persistent feature.

The specificity of political science as a discipline different from law or sociology has not yet been recognized by a large part of the Paraguayan academic community, a perception that coincides with the limited social value given to the discipline outside academia. The teaching of political science is not structured according to specialized disciplinary criteria and, frequently, the theoretical and methodological debates present in the international academic circles are absent in the country. Teaching in the area is then led by legalistic or sociological biases that reflect the education of those who teach the different subjects in their curricula, posing continuous challenges to the existence of political science as an autonomous discipline. While the influence of classic legal-institutional approaches in teaching make it difficult to overcome normative stands in the study of politics, the preeminence of sociological analysis of political phenomena have influenced the trivialization of its object (Duarte Recalde 2015: 168).

Moreover, academic production in this discipline has limited institutional support from Paraguayan universities and teaching is not necessarily linked to research in the area. The Paraguayan academic production in social sciences in general occurs outside universities, either in think tanks backed by international organizations or as part of specific government projects that seek to address particular social issues. The universities that offer political science degrees do not have full-time teaching or researching posts, and students are not exclusively focused on their education (Ortíz and Galeano 2015: 8).

As a result, the lines of research present in the country tend to develop in a manner that is dependent on funding –generally made available through civil society organizations– which hinders the development of autonomous lines of research. Given the limited development of political science in Paraguay, epistemological debates about analytical, theoretical or methodological frameworks that have been developed in the Latin American academy (Rocha-Carpiuc 2013) remain absent in the Paraguayan case.

In this context, digital tools present important opportunities both for teaching and researching, which could help strengthen political science in this country. The increasingly widespread use of these tools by the incipient number of professionals in the area poses a favorable scenario for the institutional development of the discipline, parallel to an academic production that increases in number and quality among local political scientists. In turn, growth in academic production and its availability online have a positive impact on the learning opportunities of political science students, who are no longer constrained by the bibliographic materials they access through the university and can be aware of main theoretical and methodological debates taking place in the discipline beyond the national borders, and even getting to work with colleagues from other countries, advancing in their understanding of the field.