The Johan Skytte Prize
The Johan Skytte Prize was established by the Skytte Foundation in 1994 to be awarded annually to a scholar who, in the view of the Foundation, had made the most valuable contribution to the discipline of political science. After international nominations each year the candidates are evaluated by a Prize Committee, presided over by the holder of the Skytte Chair. The Prize is awarded at a solemn ceremony in Uppsala on the Saturday closest to October 1 (the day of the donation), often in the presence of the Minister of Education, the Governor, the Archbishop, Rector Magnificus and most of the professors of political science in the country. The Prize Committee has the ambition of considering all areas of the discipline. A look at the work of the awarded laureates indicates, however, that democracy – in theory as well as in practice – is a dominant theme in modern political science.