From Scientific Communism to Political Science: The Development of the Profession in Selected Former Soviet European States

The chapter explores the trajectories of the evolution of political science (PS) in four former Soviet Socialist Republics (Estonia and Lithuania, the Republics of Moldova and Belarus) after the USSR collapse. Departing from the premise that PS is appreciated as the science of democracy, the authors claim that its identity and autonomy are particularly important. Research shows that PS in these countries started from the same impoverished basis (“scientific communism”), but it soon took diverse trajectories and currently faces specific challenges. Democracy, pro-Western geopolitical settings and the shorter period of Sovietization contributed to the faster and more sustainable development of PS in two Baltic States. However, in Estonia, political developments have led to the retrenchment of PS and to downsize of universities’ departments and study programmes. In Lithuania, political scientists are very visible in the public sphere. In Moldova, its uncertain geopolitical orientation and a series of internal political conflicts have led to the weak identity of PS and questionable prospects for its further institutionalization. In authoritarian Belarus, PS as an academic discipline exists within a hostile political environment and under a hierarchical system of governance offering practically no degree of academic freedom.

The Bumpy Road to Relevance: Croatia, Hungary and Lithuania in Perspective

This chapter examines how has the relevance of political science developed in Croatia, Hungary and Lithuania, that is how is the profession engaged with important audiences, namely the student body, society at large and pragmatic politics. Similar to the Western context the normative and pragmatic understanding of relevance appear in these emerging political science communities while identity formation and the achievement and preservation of legitimacy also define how political science can become relevant. The concept of relevance is built on three dimensions related to three potential fields of engagement: knowledge provision, social presence and practical impact. This chapter highlights that the profession continues to be beset by problems relating to the issue of relevance but differences between the countries are pronounced. Moreover, the three main aspects of relevance have not been achieved to the same level within the same country although we can duly expect a degree of adjustment as the three aspects are interconnected and will influence one another. This chapter argues that the development of relevance is a two-way process: government and university policies act as the external context, while the profession’s interests, commitment and ambitions constitute the internal force marking the way forward.

The Institutionalisation of Political Science in Post-Yugoslav States: Continuities and New Beginnings

The institutionalisation of political science in the four countries emerged after the break-up of Yugoslavia—Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia—has not been a uniform process. Despite the discipline’s foundation at almost the same time and in the same state, there are considerable differences among them in terms of stability and autonomy. Some of the most salient, albeit certainly not all are numbers of institutions, professors, students and study programs, development of political science fields, state funding, and hiring procedure. Our investigation on the roots of differences between them covers two periods. The first one deals with the Communist Yugoslav period, when the first institutions of political science were founded, and the discipline went through three decades of development under autocratic regime. Second period deals with the following three decades of institutionalisation, from first multi-party elections in 1990 until 2020. We finish the chapter with concluding remarks which could also be perceived as a guideline for further research in the field.

The Adaptation of New Countries to Existing (Old) Institutional Frameworks

Political science as an independent academic discipline emerged in Europe after the Second World War. Moreover, up until the 1990s, it was mainly a preserve of Western Europe. The discipline began to develop in Central and Eastern Europe only after the 1989/91 political upheavals. When political science was institutionalised as a discipline in Western Europe, it was helped by international organisations such as the International Political Science Association (IPSA) and the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR). It would seem, however, that European cross-national organisations do not currently promote and facilitate European political science successfully, as only a few Central and Eastern European institutions participate fully in international cooperation. The current field of European political science is organisationally fragmented, which makes it difficult to enable new countries to adapt to existing institutional frameworks, and to create an institutionalised pan-European political science discipline. Resolving this problem is vital if European political science is to develop more fully.

The Institutionalization of Political Science in Small States: A Comparative Analysis of Estonia, Iceland, Malta, and Slovenia

The chapter explores the relevance of population size in relation to the internationalization of political science in higher education institutions by comparing the situation in Estonia, Iceland, Malta, and Slovenia. Moreover, the chapter also examines if the legacy of the former communist regime aids or hinders the institutionalization of political science in the higher education of Estonia and Slovenia. The findings suggest there is a north-south effect as the northern States have integrated political science more thoroughly and more easily into their higher education system. Moreover, the findings suggest a tendency for hyper-active internationalization in the states formerly under the communist regime. Finally, smallness proves to be a mixed blessing, although the small states in the study have been able to use their small size to their advantage.

Conclusion: A Discipline Viewed from the Fringes—Opportunities Taken and the Risk of Deinstitutionalisation

This chapter concludes the volume. It first sums up the main interests at stake regarding the institutionalisation of political science as an academic discipline. It then analyses the key findings and unresolved questions concerning the growth of the discipline at the turn of the current century in Central and Eastern Europe. It also examines possible harbingers of political science’s deinstitutionalisation within the region.

Political Science in Central European Democracies Under Pressure

The chapter examines the challenges that six Central European Democracies (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) have faced in the development of political science during the last three decades. We argue that political science as a new social science has gone through many structural reforms: it has acquired a relatively well-institutionalised position, gained autonomy and managed to form its identity. Nevertheless, its position is endangered by the erosion of its legitimacy.In this chapter, we show that political science as a new social science in the Central and Eastern Europe region has acquired a relatively stable position. The discipline has gained autonomy and managed to form its own identity, and has shown a capacity to cope with several challenges that have arisen. However, some of the structural reforms, including the commodification of higher education and the proliferation of political science at universities and other teaching institutions, have recently undermined the stability it had previously gained, as it progressively suffers from a loss of public recognition. We argue that the oversimplified, technocratic approaches of governments in recent years have impaired the legitimacy of the social sciences, and of political science in particular. This common trend is observable in all of the selected countries, albeit with certain variations from one country to another.

The Institutionalisation of Political Science in ECE: The Grounding of Theory

The chapter aims to establish a theoretical framework regarding the institutionalisation of political science as an academic discipline, by building on the experiences of 16 selected countries. Whether a discipline is institutionalised revolves around three issues: the process, that is, how institutionalisation develops; the outcome, that is, which properties appear indispensable; and what contextual factors matter most in influencing either process or property. Based on a critical review of the literature, the properties of stability, identity, autonomy, reproduction and legitimacy have been defined. These embody a well-institutionalised science: one that should have stable existential patterns, a clear academic profile; one that should be able to independently define its own rules and norms while getting external agents to accept them, and be able to ensure its own reproduction and to maintain a legitimate position. The chapter also examines the specificities in the latecomer political science communities’ institutionalisation patterns. Formation conditions, potential starting points, stability concerns and the issue of ‘regionality’ are specifically considered. As the institutionalisation tasks had to be dealt with in a ‘compressed period of time’ academia here faced the free world of opportunities and adjustment requirements at one and the same time.

Introduction: The Then and Now of Political Science Institutionalisation in Europe—A Research Agenda and Its Endeavour

The introductory chapter introduces the research project that the book’s chapters are built upon and identifies key questions that are addressed within the book’s thematic frame. The COST Action ‘ProSEPS’ project (Professionalization and Social Impact of European Political Science) collected updated information about the situation of the political science profession in Europe. Despite the widely acknowledged process of continental integration driven by the European Union (EU), the academic landscape has been and still is characterised by a great variety of traditions, institutions and resources. On this basis, this chapter explains that institutional development has been chosen as the major focus that could possibly introduce as well as explain the sources of this variety. It identifies the empirical, theoretical and comparative issues at stake and introduces the cases covered in the book and its structure.