“Political Journal”: To the 230th Anniversary of the First Publication

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the “Political journal”, published in Russia from 1790 to 1830. The Journal was fi rst published as a Russian-language version of the German journal “Politisches Journal nebst Anzeige von gelehrten und andern Sachen” and was originally known in Russian as “Political journal with the testimony of scientists and other things, published in Hamburg by the Society of Learned Men, Translated from German”. A distinctive feature of the “Political journal” was its pragmatic perspective on the political situation in the world, which allowed the reader not only to draw a conclusion about a particular event, but also to see the whole picture of what was happening in the world, understanding the causal relationship. Soon after the fi rst publication, the “Political journal” captured the interest of the Russian public, and by the beginning of the 19th century reading the Journal became one of the distinctive elements of the “enlightened” intelligentsia. The “Political journal” can be considered the fi rst publication focusing specifi cally on political science in Russia and one of the most enduring publications of that time. Despite the fact it has changed name over time, it was published for 40 years. Overall, the article reaches the conclusion that the “Political journal” should not be considered as an example of Russian journalism, but rather as an important part of the Russian school of political science.

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