Z TRADYCJI POLSKIEJ NAUKI O POLITYCE (CZ. 3). JÓZEFA SIEMIEŃSKIEGO ROZUMIENIE KULTURY POLITYCZNEJ (1882–1941)
From the tradition of Polish political science (part 3) Józef Siemieński’s perspective on political culture (1882–1941)

Summary/Abstract: The author is considered to have been a forerunner of political culture studies in Poland. Our knowledge of the beginnings of political culture studies and historical political science is incomplete with the most widely known approach to it being the legal one. The writers, including J. Siemieński, analysed systemic institutions, the way they operate as well as Poles' involvement and the role they played in them. At the turn of the XIX and XX century polemics concerned causes for the fall of the Noblemen's Polish Republic – one of the focal issues around which revolved the effort of Polish humanists. It was reflected both in science and political journalism. Józef Siemieński took part in the disputes of that period. His first writing, the work of the young researcher remaining within the Warsaw milieu, dates back to 1907. He started a polemic with the renowned 'Cracow school of history', successfully joining the 'optimistic' stream of historiography. The questions of understanding of the term 'political culture' were developed by the author in further published works, included in the series entitled Nationality Issues, issued in Polish Weekly in 1912. The term political culture as 'the legal-national ideal' appears in the texts. The author referred it to the context of the nation and the state, indicating the role of political culture in building national awarness, not only of Polish people, but also of Lithuanian, Belarussian, Ukrainian and Jewish populations.

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