History of the Department of Government

State Council Johan Skytte endowed the professorial chair in eloquence and political science at Uppsala University on the 1st of october 1622. At that time, Skytte had been named chancellor for the University which, under the reign of Gustav II Adolf, was again to become a centre for education and learning in the rising superpower Sweden, following a period of decline after the Reformation. The purpose of the professorship in eloquentia et politice was to enable future Swedish diplomats and government officials to be educated in accordance with the latest discoveries and knowledge, and by the finest teachers. Inherent in 'eloquence' was the ability to express oneself in Latin in a fluent and logically coherent manner so as to be able to make convincing oral arguments. Skytte personally considered the oratorical skills of Swedish diplomats to be totally decisive, in terms of both foreign relations and domestic governance, to safeguarding Sweden's status in Europe, heavily influenced as he was by Ramist doctrine. Ramism was a doctrine which, in contrast to the rigid scholasticism of Aristotle, emphasized the living. spoken word as the basis for all knowledge.

Johan Skytte also purchased a stone building, an entire floor of which served as the professor's residence. The small select group of future statesmen who studied there would also live in the Skytteanum. The building was in central Uppsala, very close to the cathedral. Construction of the university's new main building, the Gustavianum, also commenced in 1622, on a site just a stone's throw away up the hill. Even though the Skytteanum was in disrepair and in need of extensive renovation when Skytte purchased it, it stood in a prestigious location. By 1626 it was ready. Johannes Simonius had already been summoned from the University of Rostock to assume the professorial chair in 1625. Not only was the Professor Skytteanus to teach future diplomats and government officials, the Deed of Endowment also required him to offer annual 'saintly orations' in honour of Johan Skytte and his successors, to profess the Swedish faith, to live a blameless life, and to protect and cherish the building. A plaque still adorns the short pathway to the cathedral, offering Skytte's warning that 'God's wrath' will strike anyone who has damaged the building

In parallel with the emergence of the social sciences on the scientific scene in the 1900s, the Skyttean Professorship gradually became embedded in a dynamic and modern department of Government. The Skytteanum no longer offers sufficient space, and the department has now spread out to the immediate environs around Gamla Torget (the old town square) by the Fyrisån River, but the professor still lives in the Skytteanum. The current professor, Li Bennich Björkman, is the 21st in the succession and the first woman to hold the chair. Graduate students study here daily in the many rooms that fill the building in a classic university environment, one which both exudes respect for the past and welcomes modernity. Seminars are conducted every Friday in the traditional manner, where scientific findings are discussed, with opponents designated and texts distributed in advance. They are no longer in Latin, but rather in what is perhaps today’s equivalent of Latin, English, as well as in Swedish.

Johan Skytte's hope when he specified eloquence as the first component of the professorship is still very much in evidence under the ancient roof of the stone building. After students in the department of Government leave the university, they can be found both out in the world in the UN, the EU or any of the other bodies that bind the international system together, and in the Swedish Government Offices, the Swedish Parliament or Swedish government agencies. They also work at the university as researchers and teachers. Sweden's days as a superpower are long past, but Johan Skytte's vision continues to be translated into daily practice.