ÖZP 2010/2  S.223-241

Tamara Ehs

On the Origins of Austrian Political Science - A Look Back in the Year of Bologna 2010

Keywords: Austrian Political Science, Bologna Process, First Republic, History, Policy Studies, Staatswissenschaften

The end of the first phase of the so-called Bologna process coincides with a generational change in academia, and in Austria also with the jubilees of 40 years of ÖGPW (2010) and ÖZP (2012). However, that?s not the only reason for a stock-taking of Austrian political science among students and teachers, but above all the trigger are the protests and strikes of the past months that sketched concrete utopias - for the university in general as well as for political science in particular. Nevertheless, a thorough overview on the historical development of the discipline and its political implications is missed out. But increased awareness of it could help positioning the debates regarding Austrian policy on universities and recollecting the actual social relevance of a critical political science. Hence, my contribution deals with the early attempts of political science during the democratic years of the First Republic of Austria which are hardly known. But these years give an impression on problems in scientific theory as well as politics that are still with us today.