THE POLISH-AUSTRIAN POLITICAL COMPROMISE IN GALICIA IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: THE ROLE OF ARISTOCRACY AND REGIONAL INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

The article analyzes the Polish-Austrian political compromise in Galicia in the second half of the nineteenth century as a specific model of interaction between the imperial center, the Polish aristocracy, and regional institutions. At this time, the Polish aristocracy became one of the key partners of the Austrian authorities in the administration of Galicia: its role was determined not only by social background or financial status, but above all by its ability to act as a political intermediary between the imperial centre and local society. It was precisely this mediating role that made the Polish elite a vital factor in stabilising authority in the region. Having lost their own statehood, the Polish elites sought opportunities to legally maintain their political influence in Austrian-ruled Galicia. It has been demonstrated that Galicia offered such an opportunity, as it was here that the Austrian authorities were prepared to gradually expand the scope of regional self-government in exchange for loyalty. The Galician autonomist movement of that time combined Polish political aspirations with the Austrian need for stability. Unlike a purely descriptive study of relations between the Polish elite and Austrian authority, the focus is placed on the mechanisms through which this compromise was institutionally shaped: the participation of the nobility in the administrative system, the functioning of the Galician Diet, control over the educational and cultural sphere, and the use of autonomy as an instrument of regional stabilization. The study argues that cooperation between Vienna and Polish conservative circles ensured the relative governability of the province, but at the same time consolidated an uneven distribution of power. Particular attention is paid to the Ukrainian question as the main limitation of administrative model. The article concludes that the Polish-Austrian compromise contributed to the development of regional institutions, but created preconditions for the further aggravation of Ukrainian- Polish international contradictions