Permanent Council

The Permanent Council (Polish: Rada Nieustająca) was the highest administrative authority in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth between 1775 and 1789 and the first modern executive government in Europe. As is still typically the case in contemporary parliamentary politics, the members of the Council were selected from the parliament or Sejm of the Commonwealth. Even though it exerted some constructive influence in Polish politics and government, because of its unpopularity during the Partitions period, in some Polish texts it was dubbed as Zdrada Nieustająca - Permanent Betrayal.

The establishment of an institution of permanent council, an early form of executive government in the late years of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, was originally recommended by the political reformer Stanisław Konarski. It was intermittently under consideration, as permitted by Poland's intrusive neighbors, during the period of government reforms, beginning with the Convocation Sejm of 1764. The Permanent Council was actually created in 1775 by the Partition Sejm, when Empress Catherine the Great of Russia and her ambassador to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Otto Magnus von Stackelberg, became convinced that it was a way of securing the Empire's influence over the internal politics of Poland (control over the Sejm and the King). The Council had remained in continuous operation and was therefore largely immune from szlachta's liberum veto obstructionism, which could be pursued only during the sessions of the Sejm. The Council was also much less prone than the Sejm to other distractions from minor gentry. Empress Catherine and Ambassador Stackelberg believed that the Council would be dominated by anti-royal magnates and that it would put an end to the King's push toward reforms.

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