Abstract. The article presents an attempt to make sense of Adolf Bibič's oeuvre as a whole. It reveals his broader intellectual (and also political) project along with his coherent and systematic analysis of what may also be understood as the 'possibilities' of political science. We claim that Bibič's various analyses and interventions actually pivot on the question of the future or, even better, the role and position of political science in it. We name this aspect of Bibič's oeuvre the 'political science of the future', which necessarily returns to the history of political ideas and political history to even be able to understand the current political relations and their contradictions. The ambition and capacity of the 'political science of the future' is not merely an explanation of what exists since, as Bibič states, political science is the key science for facing the challenges of the future and, accordingly, vital for our existence – political and physical. Keywords: Adolf Bibič, political science, future, state, democracy, citizenship.
Concerns have been raised over the possible link between the growing political polarisation and fears of autocratisation in Slovenia. Faced with a lack of empirical data, we seek to answer two questions. First, how has political polarisation developed in Slovenia? We show that Slovenia has experienced massive increases in both ideological and affective polarisation on the levels of the citizenry and political parties. Second, what has been the effect of political polarisation on liberal democracy in Slovenia? A GLS (generalised least squares) model for the period 1992 to 2022 confirms negative effects only for affective, but not ideological polarisation regarding V-Dem's liberal democracy and judicial constraints on the executive indices. Keywords: Slovenia, affective polarisation, ideological polarisation, autocratisation, SJM
The democratisation and economic growth of the Asian Tigers, specifically South Korea and Taiwan, brought structural changes to the academic systems of these countries, particularly in the fields of political science and international relations. The article aims to provide a comprehensive and hybrid view on the regularity of political science in the academic environments (university systems) of East Asian countries with a focus on South Korea and Taiwan through the observational analysis method and a historical-sociological mechanism. The findings are summarised, where it is argued that the pentagonal democratic citizenship system (legal, political, cultural, social, economic) as well as the establishing of structural and updated political-economic relations with the main powers in the international system are the two crtitcial factors that have contributed to the adjustment of political science in East Asian countries, including South Korea and Taiwan. The article concludes that, along with the international and domestic developments in South Korea and Taiwan, political science underwent structural changes and is becoming more regulated and structured. Keywords: South Korea, Taiwan, political science, democracy, institution
Abstract. The aim of the article is to examine the relationship between the state, democracy and the Carl Schimitt's concept of the political. That is going to be done by reconstructing the concepts of Schmitt's political theory and finding out whether they can be used to explain the ideology of the new right-wing populism and illiberal democracy. As it turns out, the Schmitt's reduction of the political to the friend/enemy antagonism makes the core of the illiberal democracies' ruling narrative. The Schimtt's understanding of the political doesn't defend the state as a political space but by cancelling of the liberal elements of democracy ruins the state institutions. The analysis shows that Schmitt's notion of the political cannot be used to build effective democratic state institutions. Namely, in his definition of the political, politics actually exists only on the outwards, towards some other nation, some other political unity, but not within the state itself. Keywords: state, the political, Carl Schmitt, illiberal democracy
Discussions of political metaphors provide fertile grounds for understanding issues in political theory and political practice. The article departs from the established theoretical and methodological approaches to political metaphor (e.g., classical, conceptual, hermeneutical, cognitive) to introduce (post)structuralist and (post)Marxist methodological and theoretical bases. It maintains that the established approaches to the study of functionalities and ontologies of political metaphors are possible, primarily by researching their functioning in political discourses and as events in the power/truth dispositive. Metaphors can be researched as specific political technologies (strategies of power) that influence/create regimes of truth. Keywords: political metaphors, political theory, linguistic theory, political discourse, power, knowledge
V magistrskem delu se osredotočamo na raziskovanje vloge in pomena podobe ter ugleda političnih akterjev v kontekstu sodobne demokracije. Podobo in ugled vidimo kot dve izmed ključnih determinant, na osnovi katerih se nekonsistentni in neodvisni volivci ter državljani nasploh odločajo, komu nameniti svoj glas na volitvah in zvestobo v daljšem časovnem obdobju. Dejstvo je, da se sodobni volivci distancirajo od političnih strank in sledijo bolj kratkoročnim vzgibom presoje kot na primer podobi, osebnosti in uspešnosti političnega akterja. Sodobna demokracija je tako v 21. stoletju doživela razpotje, hkrati smo priča politični pasivnosti državljanov. Politični akterji se zato vedno bolj obračajo k orodjem političnega marketinga za mobilizacijo državljanov z namenom, da si izborijo zmago na volitvah in se v politični areni obdržijo daljše časovno obdobje. Politični marketing uporabljajo za identifikacijo volivčevih potreb in želja, na osnovi katerih nato (iz)gradijo podobo in ugled političnega akterja. Cilj magistrskega dela je ugotoviti, kakšno vlogo in pomen ima izgradnja podobe in ugleda političnih akterjev v različnih pristopih političnega marketinga ter v sodobni demokraciji, spoznati trende sodobne demokracije, ki se osredotočajo na personalizacijo politike, znotraj katere bomo analizirali pomen podobe in ugleda, teorije in modele (iz)gradnje podobe in ugleda ter ponudili sistematičen model (iz)gradnje podobe in ugleda, ki ga je mogoče aplicirati v praksi. Na tem področju namreč zaznavamo manko raziskovanj, saj večina avtorjev priznava pomembnost podobe političnega akterja pri volivčevi izbiri, hkrati pa zanemarja konceptualno razumevanje, kako se podoba sploh (iz)gradi ter katere tehnike in strategije se uporabljajo v tem postopku. ; In the master's thesis, we focus on exploring the role and importance of the image and reputation of political actors in the context of modern democracy. We see the image and reputation as two of the key determinants, based on which inconsistent and independent voters and citizen generally decide to whom to give their vote at the elections and loyalty in a longer period of time. It is a fact that modern voters distance themselves from political parties and follow more short-term decision-making motives, like image, personality and success of the political actor. In the 21st century, modern democracy is thus at a crossroads because we are witnessing political passiveness. Political actors thus increasingly turn to political marketing tools for the mobilization of citizen in order to win the elections and remain in the political arena for a longer period of time. They use political marketing to identify the needs and desires of voters, based on which they then build the image and reputation of the political actor. The goal of the master's thesis is to find out the role and importance of building the image and reputation of political actors (in different approaches of political marketing) in modern democracy, identify the trends of modern democracy with focus on policy personalization, within which we will analyse the importance of image and reputation, theories and models for image and reputation building and offer a systematic model for image and reputation building, which can be applied in practice. In this field, we namely perceive a lack of researches, since the majority of authors recognize the importance of the image of the political actor in the voter's decision-making process, but neglect the conceptual understanding how the image is even built and which techniques and strategies are being used in this procedure.
My thesis is based on the premise that the change of the political system from socialism to post-socialism was not based on the otherwise branched out political education in socialism, but rather, on other factors of which the essential one is the third wave of democracy that swept across the Central, South and East European countries. (Inter)active citizenship can develop synergistically together with a positive attitude towards one's own country and with a stimulative influence on the citizens; with co-operation among the various (civil) groups and with modern education for citizenship (not only as the school subject of Citizenship Education and Ethics) as well as with its alternative goals together with the democratic and spiritual political culture. In view of the projected deadline for stability of democracy, which is expected to last 50 to 60 years, both types of culture are only at the initial phase of development in the new Slovenian state. ; Izhajamo iz teze, da spremembe političnega sistema iz socializma v postsocializem niso temeljile na sicer razvejenem političnem izobraževanju v socializmu, temveč na drugih dejavnikih, med katerimi je bistven tretji val demokracije, ki je zajel tudi srednje-, južno in vzhodnoevropske države. (lnter)aktivno državljanstvo se lahko razvija sinergično s pozitivnim odnosom do lastne države in spodbudnim vplivom na državljane, s sodelovanjem med različnimi (civilnimi) skupinami, s sodobnim izobraževanjem za državljanstvo (ne le s šolskim predmetom državljanska vzgoja in etika) in njegovimi alternativnimi cilji hkrati z demokratično in duhovno politično kulturo. Obe vrsti kulture sta v novi slovenski državi glede na predvideni rok za stabilnost demokracije, ki naj bi trajal 50-60 let, šele na začetni razvojni stopnji.