VZNIK A ROZVOJ POLITOLÓGIE NA SLOVENSKU V DEVÄŤDESIATYCH ROKOCH V KONTEXTE PÔSOBENIA MIROSLAVA KUSÉHO

This study reflects the development of political science in the 1990s, when Miroslav Kusý established Department of Political Science at the Comenius University in Bratislava. His organisational efforts and international contacts became a key condition in the process of the institutionalisation and recognition of a new social science discipline. We argue that there were several general trends in the development of political science in the 1990s, which are only slowly changing. First, there were almost no traditions in doing political science research. Second, the institutional development (establishment of a political science association, departments, faculties, research institutes, etc.) was a prerequisite for the advancement of political science. Third, political science in Slovakia has depended and partly still depends on the performance of other societal disciplines; therefore acquiring the autonomy is very slow and unbalanced. Fourth, political research focuses almost exclusively on Slovakia therefore the comparative approach and conceptual innovations continue to be rather rare. Finally, the critical academic debate was (and still) is missing.