Revolution of nihilism. National socialism and political realism in Hermann Rauschning’s thought

The article deals with the political realism of Hermann Rauschning. Briefly discussing the historical backgrounds of Rauschning’s views, the theory of political realism with its version in the German author, the distinction of two types of realism, and the compilation of theory and practice. The author wanted to emphasize the defensive character of the Rauschning’s realism aimed at defending the state of possession before the National Socialist revolution. Rauschning did not require realists to create new approaches- it was based on the premise that continuing the policy of peaceful development of relations between states would sustain a prosperous situation. In the topic of two types of realism, Rauschning listed the perfect realism, based on the previously mentioned defense of state of possession and national-socialistic realism, which was based on subordinating the rules of political action to abstract purposes. According to Rauschning, such action distorted the sense of realism, because on the one hand it blurred the boundary between real policy conditioning and ideological flattening; On the other hand, it provided the opportunity to pursue a political scenario that was incompatible with the vital interests of the community, which fell under the jurisdiction of the authority. The author also listed extensively the dangers associated with the distorted use of the determinants of the theory of realism, which led to the loss of primordial significance by universal political concepts.

The aim of this article is to explain current definition and application of punctuated equilibrium theory, which is as influential as any conceptual framework concerning policy process in political science, stimulating thought and research over the last two decades. Baumgartner and Jones borrowed the concept from studies of the evolution of species, but – as author shows – without operationalized definition, and turned it into a metaphor that can have mostly pedagogical use.
Author explains how punctuated equilibrium is useful for analyzing policy change in political systems other than the United States, but in the European political systems, political parties and their preferences must be taken into account. It is also presented how punctuated equilibrium is in fact a much-improved version of the incrementalism theory, rather than an application of biological insights to politics. Author differentiate successful application of the punctuated equilibrium in the description of the policy process from the explanation of Baumgartner and Jones about how those identified patterns in modern democracies were caused.

The concept of raison d’état (reason of state) is very popular in Poland, and it will apparently remain relevant as long as the Polish state exists. The idea is commonly used in official statements by politicians, political journalism, and in various government documents. Raison d’état is an ambiguous concept, which results from simplified and often popular opinions on what is and what is not the raison d’état. Conceptual chaos, intuitive judgments and notions appear to be the reason why political scientists are discouraged from systematized and in-depth studies on this political category. The paper is divided into three parts. The first part discusses definitions of raison d’état and the accompanying problems. The second one deals with the theoretical aspect covering the subjective, objective, temporal and spatial scopes of the concept. Two new definitions of raison d’état were mentioned which diminish the importance of the nation-state at the expense of international organizations. The third part presents methodological approaches in studies on raison d’état understood in two ways: as a system of vital interests of the state and as a category of political thought.

Artykuł poświęcony jest kategorii post- -prawdy i jej wątpliwemu znaczeniu dla badań politologicznych w ogóle i dla teorii polityki w szczególności. W tekście przedstawiono liczne zastrzeżenia pod adresem koncepcji post-prawdy, przede wszystkim definicyjne i teoretyczne, jak również starano się wykazać, iż koncept post- -prawdy opiera się na rozumowaniu potocznym i nie spełnia kryteriów naukowości, co wyklucza post-prawdę z katalogu kategorii naukowych. Rozważania osadzono w szerszym kontekście teoriopolitycznym i właśnie na potrzeby teorii polityki wyprowadzono odpowiednie wnioski.

In this paper I would like to present an interpretation of David Hume’s political theory. Therefore, a method of investigation can be recognized as hermeneutical one. Main threads which I would like to emphasize are: concept of stability, distribution of power, role of an opinion in political dimension and a conservative attitude toward a change. I claim that important lesson for political science can be taken from his theory. Generally speaking, this lesson consists in refusing the so-called political regime fetishism and focusing on the relevant issues of social stability. These issues are strictly determined by the opinions, hence the proper subject-matter of political science is identified with them. As one of the conclusions I propose a thesis that politics is, and ought only to be slave of opinions, what is an allusion to a famous sentence from A Treatise of Human Nature that the reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions.

Transgressive character of writing in the field of theory of politics

The thesis of this paper is the claim that the characteristic of writing in the field of theory of politics is its trangressiveness, i.e., exceeding certain norms. It means that it is arguing with scientificity pattern, i.e., formal rules that constitute the current criterion of scientificity. Adopting a theory of politics perspective, inspired by Pierre Bourdieu’s achievements, allows to show that definition of science is the stake in the game in the scientific field and the subfield of theory of politics. The aim of this paper is to show that the transgressive character of theory of politics writing is not unscientific, but it is rather a form of negotiations of the very norms of science by crossing the rigid patterns of writing, and its unconventional form is determined by its subject.