In this article, we assess the effects of democratic transition, the introduction of a capitalist economy, the creation of a newly independent state and international economic and political integrations on the employment potential of political science graduates. While we particularly focus on Slovenia, we will also consider the broader challenges faced by many professions across Europe. The empirical study is based on a series of tracer surveys carried out since 1969, as well as an analysis of political science programme curricula, enrolment and graduation statistics and official data on employability. The statistical and survey data is supplemented by stakeholders' views. Our main finding is that, paradoxically, under socialism, the pressures on political science supported internal professional integration so that the profession was better able to adapt to the initial democratisation than to market-induced domestic changes and the challenges of global competitiveness (including the Bologna HE reform). The recent international financial and economic crisis has only reinforced these challenges. Keywords: political science, democratisation, Europeanisation, financial crisis, Slovenia Autori u clanku procjenjuju ucinke demokratske tranzicije, uvodenja kapitalistickoga gospodarstva, stvaranja nove neovisne drzave i pristupanja medunarodnim gospodarskim i politickim integracijama na mogucnosti zaposljavanja diplomanata studija politickih znanosti. Iako je paznja usmjerena na Sloveniju, clanak otkriva opcenite izazove s kojima se suocavaju mnoge struke diljem Europe. Empirijsko istrazivanje temelji se na nizu "tracer" istrazivanja provedenih od 1969., na analizi kurikula studija politickih znanosti, statistici upisa i diplomiranja i sluzbenih podataka o mogucnostima zaposljavanja. Statisticke i istrazivacke podatke podrzavaju i stajalista dionika. Glavni nalaz autora jest paradoks da su, u socijalizmu, pritisci na politicke znanosti poticali unutarnju strucnu integraciju, tako da se struka mogla bolje prilagoditi pocetnoj demokratizaciji nego trzistem izazvanim domacim promjenama i izazovima globalne konkurentnosti (ukljucujuci bolonjsku reformu visokog obrazovanja). Nedavna medunarodna financijska i gospodarska kriza samo je ojacala ove izazove. Kljucne rijeci: politicke znanosti, demokratizacija, europeizacija, financijska kriza, Slovenija