Kształtowanie się systemu biurokratycznego w Rzeczypospolitej w czasach stanisławowskich
Development of the Bureaucratic System in the Polish Republic in the Times of King Stanisław August Poniatowski

Summary/Abstract: The article touches upon several issues connected with the development of the bureaucratic system in the second half of the 18th century. Prior to the ascension of Stanisław August to the throne, there had been no administrative system based upon expert, professional clerical staff in the Polish Republic. Moreover, there had been no system of norms determining the legal status of civil servants, and the civil service corps had been extremely small in numbers. In the doctrine of those times, there was a radical push for the necessity of establishing modern state and local administration. Those postulates, put forward by scholars and political activists, met with favourable conditions. The process of modernisation of the administration was concluded with the reforms introduced by the Four-Year Sejm. Unfortunately, it had been impossible to create a fully modern bureaucratic system before the fall of the Polish Republic. It is possible, however, to trace back the process of its creation, manifesting itself in a significant increase in the number of civil servants (compared to the previous periods), establishing professional expertise as the basis for the administrative process, and the introduction of payment for services rendered by the civil servants.

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