The origins of the Centre can be traced to the Indian School of International Studies (ISIS), founded in 1955. The core of the Centre came into existence as a part of two separate departments of ISIS, devoted to the study of International Relations and the Commonwealth. When ISIS merged with the newly established Jawaharlal Nehru University in 1970, the Centre for International Politics and Organization was created out of the existing International Relations and Commonwealth departments. The Centre encompassed at that time three distinct, but intimately interlinked, facets of International Relations: international politics, international organization and disarmament. Each of these facets was conceived as a Division with a distinct academic programme, focusing on related research and teaching areas and comprising specialist faculty. However, underlying the Division-wise structuring was recognition of the inter-disciplinary approach to knowledge in the broader field of International Relations. It is noteworthy that of the three original Divisions of the Centre, the two on International Organization and Disarmament were extremely innovative and remain rare in the university systems of today. Soon afterwards, a separate division on Political Geography was also created in the Centre. In the latest restructuring of the School of International Studies in 2005, a new division – Diplomatic Studies (which was earlier part of another Centre) – was merged with CIPOD. The Diplomatic Studies division, since its inception in 1970, has been involved in teaching and research in historical and contemporary issues in diplomacy.

Several distinguished scholars, now retired, have been associated with the Centre as faculty members in the past, contributing enormously to the growth and development of CIPOD. They include A. Appadorai, M.S. Rajan, B. Sengupta, T.T. Poulose, K.P. Misra, K.P. Saksena, S.C. Gangal, M. Zuberi, R.C. Sharma, M.L. Sondhi, K.S. Jawatkar, Sushil Kumar, Surjit Mansingh, Arjun Sengupta and Kanti Bajpai. Several distinguished diplomats have held Visiting Professorships in the Diplomacy Division.