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PoliticsHistoryPoliticalScience.
Remarksonthemethodologyandsubjectofresearch
ThetraditionofpoliticalscienceinPolandhasbeenlongandsuccessful,although
permeatedbytempestuousandbitterexperiences.Itsbeginningdatesbacktothe16th
century,althoughtheluminariesofpoliticalsciencemightnothavequiterealizedthat
atthetime,asacademiathenwasnotpigeonholedintothecategoriesidentifiedlater,
andthescholarsthemselves(asexemplifiedbyStanisławOrzechowski,AdrzejFrycz
ModrzewskiorDymitrSolikowski,followedbyAndrzejMaksymilianFredrointhe
followingcentury)joinedtheliterarycanoninPolandandabroadsimplyaspolitical
writers.1
Inthepre-partitionRepublicofPoland,thefirstlecturesdedicatedtopoliticalsci-
encewereheldattheAcademyofVilnius,auniversityestablishedin1579onfounda-
tionsprovidedbyaJesuitcollegesetupinthecapitaloftheGrandDuchyofLithuania
afewyearsbefore.TheAcademywasconductedbytheJesuitOrderuntilitssup-
pressionin1773,whentheCommissionofNationalEducation(KEN)replacedthe
AcademywiththeMainSchoolofLithuania(SzkołaGłównaLitewska),locatedon
thepremisesoftheformerinstitution.Afterthethirdpartition,in1803,itwasreplaced
bytheImperialPublicUniversity(CesarskiUniwersytetPubliczny)onlytobeclosed
downasarepressivemeasurefollowingthesuppressionoftheNovemberUprising.2
Theoriginalinitiative,whichstemmedfromthefacultyoflaw,emergedinaperiod
ofprosperityofthecapitaloftheGrandDuchyofLithuania,whichfellinthe16thand
firsthalfofthe17thcenturies.Economicprogress(incrafts,includingartisticcrafts,
localandinternationaltrade)wascoupledwithculturaldevelopment,buildingcon-
struction(palacesofmagnates,outstandingtemples)andthefulfillmentofthepolitical
ambitionsofmagnates,whowantedtodemonstratethattheircitywasthecapital.It
wasemphasizedthatthecitywasequivalenttoKrakowinthePolishKingdomaswell
1Thisisalsothetitle(PisarzepolityczniXVIwieku[Politicalwritersofthe16thcentury])aliter-
aryhistorianfromKrakow,StanisławTarnowski,gavetohisstudywhichisaclassictoday.Thereis
anabundanceofstudiesdevotedtotheauthorofDerepublicaemendanda.Orzechowskiwasana-
lyzedasajournalistandscholar,acriticandadvocateofCatholicismandanauthorofworksonpo-
liticalsystems(seeforexampletheworkofJerzyStarnawskiandBogumiłaKosmanowa).Edmund
KotarskidevotedamonographtoSilikowski-alongstandingomcerattheroyalchancelleryandthe
ArchbishopofLvovtowardstheendofhislife,approachedasapoliticaljournalistbytheauthor.
2M.Kosman,UniwersytetWileński1579-1979,“Naukadlawszystkich,”no.347,PANOddział
wKrakowie,Wrocław1981,pp.12-52.Theuniversitywasrestoredin1919afterPolandregained
independence.ItwasnamedafterKingStephenBathory,thefounderoftheJesuitAcademyinthe
secondhalfofthe16thcentury.Theuniversitylastedonlytwodecades,tobecloseddowninDe-
cember1939bytheLithuanianstowhomthetownwaspassedbytheRussiansbyvirtueofthe
Ribbentrop-Molotovpactseveralmonthsearlier.
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