A ’Rump’ Statehood and the Polish Liberalism

Author(s): Tomasz Żyro / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2015

This article is revised version of speech that was given at Oxford University. It deals with the origins of polish liberalism. Author states that there are two sources of liberalism that look like globular clusters. The first one sprung from a tradition of ancient feudal liberties. And the second source: liberalism stemmed from an opposition both to a practice of absolutist state and to the political ideology of absolutism. Finally, article tracks down the intellectual history of Polish liberalism

A nap árnyékában

Author(s): Zádor Tordai / Language(s): Hungarian

After the communist system has collapsed, the socio-political and economical situation has changed in Central and Eastern Europe. In his essays Zádor Tordai is focusing on the analyses of the socio-political results of the system change in Central and Eastern Europe and its interpretation – from the view of a philosopher.

A Need for Dialogue to Develop Tolerance

Author(s): Corina Yoris-Villasana / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2016

The authoress claims that civic education must be grounded in a deep sense of belonging, which, in turn, involves values such as freedom, equality, civility, justice, pluralism and, above all, ensures the development of dialogue and tolerance in the individual, dialogue and tolerance which are essential attributes of a democratic attitude. Tolerance and dialogue are the pivots of citizenship in a society which is to function peacefully. She concludes that by developing these values individuals can better participate in the pursuit of social ideals.

A nem-politikaitól a biopolitikáig: Roberto Esposito a politikai közösség lényegéről

Author(s): Lajos András Kiss / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2020

In contemporary Italian political philosophy, Roberto Esposito is the author, besides Giorgio Agamben and Antonio Negri, who attributes a central role to the biopolitical approach in his works. Esposito’s standpoint is special. By Agamben’s interpretation, biopolitics has exclusively negative connotations; Negri uses the same expression in a mainly positive context; Esposito represents a third standpoint. Sometimes the positive, sometimes the negative side of the linking of life and politics appears in his writing, depending on the actual situation. Esposito interprets the actual appearances of biopolitics in the connection of two fundamental concepts, namely communitas and immunitas. Communitas means the historically changing practice of political cohesion of community; immunitas is a summarised expression of the different versions of individual endeavours and ambitions. It is clear from the beginning of the modernity that the political contests can be interpreted as an opposition of the principles of common and own. Besides the concepts of communitas and immunitas, the impolitical has an important role in the works of the Italian thinker. The aim of the idea of impolitical is to preserve the foundational function of the political, in the form of immunisation, for the neutralisation of the conflicts and the political itself. Consequently, the impolitical is a kind of mediator between the political system, i.e. institutionalised politics and the diffuse content of political, which can only be explained in the level of conceptual representation with a deficit.

A népek önrendelkezési joga

Author(s): Ištvan Balint / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 1/2018

Peoples` right for autonomy has became one of the most complicated questions, a key issue in Europe. We have reached the fourth wave of validation of this right. It was after the World War I, when the validation of the right for autonomy was enacted in a larger extent for the first time, later after the end of colonialism and finally, in the aftermath of the dissolution of three multinational states – The Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Nowadays, we again face the issue of national autonomy due to the rise of nationalism – as a result of the economic crisis. The differences between those who are interested in creating territorial or national autonomies and those who are against such demands are becoming more and more expresses. To make matters worse, the legal framework for setting up autonomies is quite chaotic. Following an overview of the international framework for establishing various types of autonomies, the author puts forward the following questions: Is it possible to provide the right of autonomy of a certain nation only by hurting the rights of another nation and what to do in such situation?

A pedagógia elnyomottja

Author(s): Tamás Tóth / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 28/2021

The most common way of articulating educational problems and questions is by speaking the language of social sciences, and using the grammar of political logics. What is the proportion of disadvantaged students? Does this and that project for inclusion appear to be effective? Since when has the school been reproducing inequalities? And so on. What I would like to discuss here is that it is possible to talk about education educationally and along educational logics. While the logic of the political refers to the way the social is born, the logic of the educational signifies the way birth becomes social – namely, our collective and political attitude toward the fact that newcomers are constantly coming into our common and old world. I will present four educational logics characteristic of our epoch, which are discussed in depth by the proponents of an experimentative critical pedagogy. They do understand these logics of the educational in a radically different, twisted way if compared to the mainstream educational discourse, thus laying the groundwork for a new kind of radical left-wing pedagogy. In agreement with them, I want to argue here that pedagogy is not the praxis of the future, but of the present, in which it is more important not to know certain things than to want to know everything, because this is how we can break the chains of the prevailing order here and now: by putting gods and masters into brackets, and ignoring the expectations of the society, as well as the hopes of yesterday which constantly defer revolution.

A Physcialist Theory of Managing Impediments to Democracy and Peace Building in the Balkans

Author(s): Rory Conces / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2019

The post-conflict societies of Bosnia and Kosovo continue to be plagued by the deleterious effects of ethno-nationalism and ethnic enclaves. Unfortunately, this mix impedes both democracy and peace building within these Balkan countries. One way to promote such building is for these enclaves to collapse, thereby allowing multiethnic societies to develop. This essay proposes that enclaves be dealt with physically by ridding them of those evocative objects that help to create and maintain enclaves. By getting physical in this way, however, we find ourselves in a dilemma, caught on the horns of legality and expediency. Yet there is a promising path between the horns that involves civic design. This essay offers a physicalist theory of managing these impediments to democracy and peace building, beginning with four hypotheses, followed by an abstraction and mathematization in the form of a matrix, a dilemma arising from

A Physcialist Theory of Managing Impediments to Democracy and Peace Building in the Balkans

Author(s): Rory Conces / Language(s): English Issue: 03+04/2018

The post-conflict societies of Bosnia and Kosovo continue to be plagued by the deleterious effects of ethno-nationalism and ethnic enclaves. Unfortunately, this mix impedes both democracy and peace building within these Balkan countries. One way to promote such building is for these enclaves to collapse, thereby allowing multiethnic societies to develop. This essay proposes that enclaves be dealt with physically by ridding them of those evocative objects that help to create and maintain enclaves. By getting physical in this way, how¬ever, we find ourselves in a dilemma, caught on the horns of legality and expediency. Yet there is a promising path between the horns that involves civic design. This essay offers a physicalist theory of managing these impediments to democracy and peace building, beginning with four hypotheses, followed by an abstraction and mathematization in the form of a matrix, a dilemma arising from these hypotheses, and possible solutions.

A Pluralist Democracy

Author(s): Göran Rosenberg / Language(s): English Issue: 68.14/2002

The democracies of today can remain democracies only if they are able to negotiate pluralism and communality, conflict and justice, rationality and identity. What must we do to meet this challenge, asks Göran Rosenberg and presents a possible answer: federation. But where are the political thinkers and leaders who could formulate and win popular support for a power-sharing treaty in Europe?

A Pnyx of Research Fields. Multidisciplinarity about Sortition and Democracy

Author(s): José Luis Bellón Aguilera / Language(s): English Issue: 60/2019

This article conveys the objectives and results of an international and multidisciplinary − or interdisciplinary − research project still in operation, until the end of 2018. Based in the University of Cádiz (Spain), this project deals with ancient, modern and contemporary discussions, representations and narratives of Democracy, focusing on the contrast and comparison between a democratic system based on sortition, namely − broadly speaking − selection by lot to public offices and representative democracy. The article discusses the relevance of the investigation, the applicability of the results and the real effects of the action research part. It also argues that − paradoxically − scientific autonomy is indispensable if that kind of research seeks to achieve tangible impact in society and its political fields. In short, this article asks about the inevitable fragility of the interaction between ethics, political commitment, and investigative objectiveness in humanities and social sciences.

A Podemos és a baloldali populizmus

Author(s): Omar Hassan / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 22/2017

This article examines the rise of Podemos in 2014 and its trajectory since then. Podemos was born right after the rise and fall of the Indignados movement, which was responding to the global economic crisis and subsequent austerity policies. Hassan argues that Podemos successfully avoided Indignados’ weaknesses, the traps of anti-political and anarchistic sentiments. The essay argues that Podemos’ political activity is more than an instinctive populism, as the party consciously and directly uses Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s post-Marxist theory of populism. However, Hassan formulates a fundamental criticism of both Laclau and Mouffe’s theory and of the politics of Podemos. As he follows the political trajectory of Podemos from 2014 to 2016, Hassan reveals that the party’s politics based on the theory of populism gave up its anti-capitalist stance, weakened its own internal democracy and consequently detached the party structure from the mass movement.

A politika élő húsa

Author(s): Zsolt Kapelner / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 11/2018

A populizmus és a népszuverenitás paradoxonja

Eszmetörténeti vázlat

Author(s): Botond Bakcsi / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2019

In The Social Contract, Rousseau outlined very accurately the problem of the foundation of the social order, a problem that was rather revolutionary in its era from a theoretical point of view, and since then has had several significant implications in modern political thought: “before we examine the act by which a people elects a king, it would be good to examine the act by which the people is a people.” Examining this very act has not lost anything of its relevance, particularly if we imply that contemporary populism brings again into the foreground the question referring to the concept of the ‘people’, which has serious political implications and which could have even more ones worldwide in the future. An analysis of Donald Trump’s inaugural address may raise some fundamental issues relevant to the connection between populism and democracy. The concept of the ‘people’ generated by the performative speech act of “You the People” renders a particular interpretation to the idea of popular sovereignty. The present essay attempts to consider the topic of populism setting off from the paradox lying within the concept of popular sovereignty.

A SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF POLITICS AND DEMOCRACY

Author(s): Albert Ogien / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2016

This paper endorses a pluralist conception of politics, which articulates three proposals : 1) the order of politics is scattered throughout society ; 2) its institutionalization takes place in a multitude of ways which are not confined to those acknowledged by State administrations ; and 3) forms of political action manifest themselves under modes that often go far beyond the usual bounds set by official political. In such a perspective, politics is not conceived of as if it were totally detached from the daily life of the members of a society. It thus contends that in their political dealings citizens make use of an ordinary conception of politics and democracy which endows them with a specific idea of the common good and of the rights a State should guarantee to nationals. This contention is empirically put to test through two case studies of political claim staking: civil disobedience and gatherings (encampments, occupations). The article eventually suggest that democracy should be seen as a method for organizing ordinary social relations on the basis of a principle : respecting the plain autonomy and unconditional equality of any citizen.

A sokféleség két formája és a homogenizáció

Author(s): János Tóth I. / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2019

Diversity is the unity of sameness and non-sameness (difference). In a basic situation, the more significant the difference, the greater the diversity. However, the organic systems based on relatively homogeneous groups, sub-units and structures are governed by special rules. The heterogenization of groups, that is, their dissolution decreases diversity. I propose to present this paradox effect of homogenization through examples taken from biology and social studies. The structural diversity of humanity is closely linked to the objective and subjective sameness and identity of individuals. There are three fundamental, political approaches to relate to human diversity: hierarchy, the approach that emphasizes difference; equality that emphasizes sameness, and equality that emphasizes difference. The first approach belongs to the outworn past, therefore the battle for defining the future takes place between the remaining two approaches. The aspect that these approaches are debating is whether it is the individual form of diversity (globalization, deconstruction) or its structural form (emancipation, sovereignty) that must be promoted.

A synesis mint politikai fogalom Aristotelésnél

Author(s): Attila Simon / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 2/2015

According to Book 6 of the Nicomachean Ethics, the primary task of phronēsis (practical wisdom) is to deliberate about the things that are good in general for each person. However, phronēsis concerns not only individuals but also the community: practical wisdom is a political virtue as well. In my paper, I argue that the intellectual excellence called sunesis (comprehension) by Aristotle opens up the social dimension of practical wisdom, and thus provides an important means for the political application of phronēsis (EN 6. 1142b34−1143a32). To support my argument I interpret two further passages where sunesis appears in a clearly political context: in relation to legislation (EN 10. 1181a18) and to political deliberation (Pol. 4. 1291a28).

A Theory of Argumentation: The Case of Ethical, Political, and Utopian Thinking

Author(s): Łukasz Perlikowski / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2021

A relevant problem in political philosophy and political theory is the distinction between political and utopian arguments. The boundary between these two types of argumentation may be blurred, which leads us to the point when we often deal with contaminations of both ways of thinking in individual positions. This involves, for example, presenting a utopian argument as a political argument and vice versa. The main purpose of the article is to organize these issues by applying the argumentation model developed by Stephen Toulmin to the analysis of both theoretical approaches. The three main problems of this work are: 1) the distinction between political and ethical arguments; 2) identifying the proper structure of political argumentation; 3) evaluation of the coherence of the idea of a realistic utopia (proposed by John Rawls).

A Time of Crisis—A Crisis of (the Sense of) Time: The Political Production of Time in Communism and Its Relevance for the Postcommunist Debates

Author(s): Costica Bradatan / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2005

A haunting theme in today’s debates over postcommunism is the necessity of facing the past. Ironically, what those people in East Europe and Russia having to face their past lack most is precisely a proper understanding of what the past is. This is because one of the major losses they suffered under communist regimes was their proper sense of time. In my article, I analyze how in the communist context, time (and people’s sense of it) was produced politically and how the communist political imaginary presupposed as one of its essential ingredients a systematic disruption of (and interference into) people’s sense of time. In the final part, I briefly point to the fact that a successful confrontation with the past can start only with a recovery of these people’s sense of their temporal situation in the world.

A timeline, interrupted

Author(s): Mateusz Mazzini / Language(s): English Issue: 06 (44)/2020

The past does not exist. It is what one makes of it. From a purely axiological point of view, every one of us is constructed of different pasts and we have different memories at our disposal. The non-existence of the past as a tangible point of reference is a subject of individual or collective creation and interpretation; it is the founding assumption of any sociological research devoted to mnemonic subjects. That is the case because, put simply, we all have a past – and it does not matter how that past came about in our minds. It has been somehow socially constructed. It is a result of much more than a mere sum of our individual memories. As observed by all the great theoreticians of collective memory – ranging from the early writings of Emile Durkheim to our contemporary Jeffrey Olick – memory is inherently plural and inherently social. Collectivities, argues Olick, have memories just like they have identities. The relation between the two is of mutual intertwining – they construct each other and they are mutually complementary. What makes the content of both is, however, beyond the control of an individual, especially if the past employed in the process is a past which we have no direct recollection of.