400 years of political science in Uppsala

On 1 October this year, it will be 400 years since Johan Skytte founded a professorship in eloquence and political science. His intention was to strengthen the state administration by providing the highly qualified diplomats and civil servants that Sweden needed to maintain its position as a European great power. The Johan Skytte Professorship is the oldest active chair in political science in the world. To mark the 400th anniversary, a lecture and panel debate will be held on 1 October, focusing on the great political issues dominating both Johan Skytte’s times and our own.

“Europe was at war when Johan Skytte made his donation and Sweden was one of the continent’s great military powers,” explains Michal Grahn, researcher in political science and coordinator of the jubilee. “He was concerned that while Sweden was winning military battles, the country lacked the resources required for state administration. To retain control of the territory it had conquered, the country needed more knowledgeable diplomats and civil servants who were educated in negotiation and eloquence. The Johan Skytte Professorship in Uppsala was intended to remedy this situation.”

In his deed of donation from 1622, Johan Skytte specified that the new professorial chair was to be in “Eloquentiae et Politices”, Latin for eloquence and politics. This was three centuries before political science emerged as an independent academic discipline.

“The chair was established before the Enlightenment began, before Thomas Hobbes published Leviathan, long before John Locke, Immanuel Kant and Karl Marx, people considered great political thinkers nowadays,” Grahn observes.

The Johan Skytte Chair is regarded as the oldest active professorship in political science in the world and has been held by an unbroken series of 21 professors.

In the course of the centuries, a strong department of government has grown up around the professorship. It encompasses all subsidiary branches of political science and is one of the most respected departments of government in northern Europe. The distinctive building Skytteanum was also part of the donation. Throughout the past four hundred years, it has been home to research and teaching in political science. Activities still continue in the building, which also contains the official residence of the current Johan Skytte Professor.

In 1994, the Johan Skytte Foundation – which manages the Johan Skytte donation – established the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science to further perpetuate Skytte’s legacy as one of the pioneering patrons of political studies. The prize, which rewards the most important contributions to political science, has rapidly won high regard in international political science circles and is sometimes described as the political science equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

Guest lectures, seminars and symposia are being organised throughout 2022 and the next event is a jubilee ceremony including a wreath-laying and a lecture in the Grand Auditorium on Saturday 1 October.

Programme for 1 October
“The talented Mr Skytte – A Tale of Education, Eloquence and Modernity.” Lecture by Li Bennich-Björkman, 21st and incumbent Johan Skytte Professor of Eloquence and Political Science.

“Political Science in Turbulent Times: A Conversation about Research and Its Frontiers.” Panel discussion with Li Bennich-Björkman, Johan Skytte Professor of Eloquence and Political Science; Joakim Palme, Professor at the Department of Government; and the three most recent winners of the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science: Peter J. Katzenstein, Cornell University (2020), David D. Laitin, Stanford University (2021) and Robert E. Goodin, Australian National University (2022).

https://www.statsvet.uu.se/jubilee/evenemangsdetalj/?eventId=72144 

For further information:

Michal Grahn, researcher in political science at Uppsala University, coordinator of the jubilee, michal.grahn@statsvet.uu.se, 018-471 57 25, 070-066 49 26