The legality of power and the secrecy of politics Cover Image

Legalność władzy a tajność polityki
The legality of power and the secrecy of politics

Author(s): Marcin Mazurek
Subject(s): Politics, Political Philosophy
Published by: Instytut Studiów Politycznych PAN
Keywords: secrecy; politics; power; legitimacy; subjectivity; emancipation; legality

Summary/Abstract: This article is devoted to the secrecy of politics in the context of sources and mechanisms of the legitimization of state power. The author formulates a thesis according to which the category of secrecy is inapplicable and inadequate beyond the form of power that is based on broad, purposive and rational legitimacy. Secret politics – which is in principle heteronomous and unjustifiable on the basis of the broadly understood idea of representation – is a technique that allows the power to mediate between the subjective motivations of individuals and social groups and the objective good of a political community. This, in turn, exposes the multifaceted contradiction between real political subjectivity and autonomy and the ‘objective’ metaphysical horizon that lies at the foundations of this subjectivity.

  • Issue Year: 2017
  • Issue No: 20
  • Page Range: 83-97
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: Polish