Understanding Politics

Table Of Contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• About the author
• About the book
• This eBook can be cited
• Contents
• Introduction
• Political Science Above Divisions. Unity of Social Sciences versus Autarky of Disciplines
• Part I: Political Science as a Multi-Paradigm Structure of Knowledge
• Chapter 1: Perception Boundaries of Political Science – in Search of the Research Strategy
• 1.1. Detailed Methodology as a Research Perspective
• 1.2 The Formation of Theoretical Reflection on Politics
• Chapter 2: Paradigms of Research on Political Science: Heuristic and Factual Foundations of a Political Scientist
• 2.1. Political System as an aspect of the System of Government
• 2.1.1 Institutionalism: Law and Cultural Norms
• 2.1.2 Systemic Analysis: Functions of the State
• 2.2. Analysis of the Social Content of Politics
• 2.2.1. Confrontational (Marxist) Paradigm: The Politician as a (Biased) Arbitrator in Conflicts About Distribution of Goods and Embodiment of Group and Common Values
• 2.2.2. Theory of Public Choice – the Social Cost of Institutions
• 2.3. The Aspect of Political Awareness and Social Engineering Techniques of its Formation – Interpretationism
• 2.4. The Aspect of International Relations: Studies on Security, Rivalry and Cooperation
• 2.4.1. Realism
• 2.4.2. World-Systems Theory (I. Wallerstein, J. Abu-Lughot, S. Amin, G. Arrighi)
• 2.4.3. Institutional Liberalism
• Chapter 3: Methodological Particularities of Political Science’s Analysis
• 3.1. Logical Structure of Knowledge in the Humanities: The Problem of Syndromicity of Political Phenomena
• 3.1.1 Anthropological Premises
• 3.1.2. Politics in the Social World of Man: The Level of Sociology
• 3.1.3 Methodological Premises
• 3.1.4 Axiological (Ideological) Premises
• 3.1.5 The Level of a Political Scientist’s Reflection
• 3.2. A Political Scientist’s Time Horizon: Political Science as a Pilot Study of Political History
• 3.3. The Layer of Historical Events Instead of Mass Processes: Between Idiographism and Nomothetism
• Part II: Pragmatic Methodology of the Science of Politics – Procedures
• Chapter 4: Understanding Politics – Humanistic Interpretation, Causal Explanation and Integral Explanation
• 4.1. The Role of Explanation in Understanding of Political Actions and Phenomena
• 4.2. Humanistic Interpretation of Political Action
• 4.3. Causal Explanation of Political Phenomena – the Directive of Integral Explanation
• 4.4. Model Explanation in Political Science Analysis on The Example of the Crisis of 2007/2008 Neoliberal Globalisation.
• Chapter 5: The Procedure of Evaluating Politics and Politicians
• 5.1. Politics as a Domain of Risky Actions
• 5.2. Who, Why, How? Disputes About Facts
• 5.3. Disputes About Values: The Axiologies of Politics
• 5.4. Alternative History in Assessing the Degree to Which Opportunities Have Been Seized
• 5.4.1. The Methodological Status of Alternative History
• Chapter 6: Practical and Prognostic Functions of Political Science – Methods and Problems of Predicting the Trends of Political Life
• 6.1. Limitations of the Practical and Prognostic Functions of Political Science
• 6.2. Alternative History and Predicting Scenarios of Systemic Changes
• 6.3. 2050 World Condition Report. The Fifth Configuration of Capitalism?
• Part III: On the Non-Pragmatic Methodology of Political Science
• Chapter 7: Types of Statements in Political Science: Political Theory as the Heuristic Structure of Research
• 7.1. Laws of Science and Historical Generalisations in the Research on Politics
• 7.2. General Theory of Politics and Historical and Aspect-Related Theories of Politics
• Chapter 8: Theory of International Relations in the System of Sciences on Politics
• 8.1. International Relations in the Perspective of a Nation-State – the General Theory and Empirical-Historical Theories
• 8.2. The world in the globalist perspective: from the Malthusian trap to the Meadows trap. Integrative analysis.
• 8.2.1 Determinants of Civilizational Convergence Over the Last Five Thousand Years
• Chapter 9: Construing Narratives in Political Science – Between Thought and Reality
• 9.1. Types of Narratives in Political Science
• 9.2. The Semantic Structure of Narrative on Political Science
• 9.2.1. The Information (Logico-Grammatical) Layer
• 9.2.2. The Rhetoric Layer
• 9.2.3. The Theoretical and Ideological Layer
• 9.3. The Issue of Truthfulness of Political Science’ Narrative – From Rhetoric to Death of Hunger
• Selected Bibliography
• Abstract
• Series index