Reason of State in Contemporary Polish Political Thought

Joanna Sanecka-Tyczyńska

Reason of State in Contemporary Polish Political Thought

Translated by Marcin Pedich

Berlin · Bruxelles · Chennai · Lausanne · New York · Oxford

Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek

The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available online at http://dnb.d-nb.de.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Sanecka-Tyczyńska, Joanna, 1981- author

Title: Reason of state in contemporary polish political thought / Joanna Sanecka-Tyczyńska.

Description: Berlin ; New York : Peter Lang, [2025] | Series: Studies in politics, security and society, 2199-028X ; 63 | Translated by Marcin Pedich -- Title page verso. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2025023962 (print) | LCCN 2025023963 (ebook) | ISBN 9783631927656 hardcover | ISBN 9783631927663 pdf | ISBN 9783631941201 epub

Subjects: LCSH: Political science--Poland--Philosophy--History--20th century | Political parties--Poland--History--20th century | Poland--Politics and government--20th century

Classification: LCC JA84.P7 S26 2025 (print) | LCC JA84.P7 (ebook)

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2025023962

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2025023963

The cover image courtesy of Benjamin Ben Chaim

This publication was financially supported by the University of Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland.

The project is financed from the state budget funds allocated by the Minister of Science under the “Excellent Science II” Programme – module “Support for scientific monographs”.

ISSN 2199-028X

ISBN 978-3-631-92765-6 (Print)

E-ISBN 978-3-631-92766-3 (E-PDF)

E-ISBN 978-3-631-94120-1 (E-PUB)

DOI 10.3726/b23083

© 2025 Peter Lang Group AG, Lausanne (Switzerland)

Published by Peter Lang GmbH, Berlin (Germany)

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Table of Contents

Introduction

CHAPTER 1 The Existence of the State

1.1. Sovereignty

1.2. Territorial Integrity and Inviolability of Borders

1.3. Collective Identity

1.4. Political Potential

CHAPTER 2 Legal and Constitutional Order

2.1. Model of the State

2.2. Version of Democracy

2.3. The Limits of State Power

2.4 Self-Governance

CHAPTER 3 Economic and Social Potential

3.1. The Economic Model

3.2. Regional Development of the Country

3.3. Social Order

3.4. Social Dynamics

CHAPTER 4 Political Subjectivity in the International Environment

4.1. Foreign Policy Model

4.2. Poland in the International System

4.3. Poland in the Regional Environment

4.4. Poland in the European Union

CHAPTER 5 State Security

5.1. Political and Military Alliances

5.2. Public Safety

5.3. Defence Potential

5.4. Energy and Environmental Security

Conclusion

List of Sources and Studies

Introduction

The concept of raison d’état or national interest has been widely used in political journalism, statements made by politicians, and official state documents. At the same time, it is an ambiguous term, which results from a simplified and often colloquial understanding of state interest.

Despite the difficulties and challenges of a theoretical, etymological, and methodological nature, the issue of raison d’état has been an interesting research area for the author for three main reasons. Firstly, it is an important norm referring to central state authorities. It specifies the hierarchy of policy objectives and the means of achieving them, including those which are non-negotiable with foreign entities.¹ State interest could be considered a political value, a motivation and justification for political actions.

Secondly, the relevance of the examination of state interest can be evidenced by the timeliness of the issue. Despite the dynamic development of globalization processes and re-evaluations of traditional domestic politics (e.g. the phenomenon of “post-politics”), raison d’état and national interest constitute an important determinant of the political debate.² While globalization, internationalization, and regionalization of economic and political processes increasingly influence the policy of individual states, there are still nation states that need to shape the conditions for the implementation of their state interest. The issue of raison d ‘état seems all the more topical because the forecasts of some researchers have not panned out. Contrary to what was predicted in the 1990s, the beginning of the twenty-first century did not turn out to be a post-state era and there was no “end of history”.³ On the contrary, the 21st century has seen a growing importance of the state as an actor in international relations, and the primacy of state over other entities and political phenomena has been preserved. In the first fifteen years of the 21st century, the state concentrated political, military, and economic power, constituting the basic political organization of the nation and society, without being an obstacle to international integration. It seems that the idea of raison d’état will remain valid in the near future. The political situation in the world (including the economic crisis of 2007, the Russian-Georgian conflict of 2008, the Russian annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, the so-called migration crisis in Europe, which has been growing in political importance since 2014) have only strengthened political thinking in terms of state interest, and it can be assumed that this trend will continue. The 21st century has brought decomposition: at the level of the international system, in relation to the quality of international relations, and in the geopolitical space. New challenges for Poland have arisen, resulting from Russia’s imperialist policy, the decline in the level of security in Central Europe, the crisis of the European Union, the strategic and doctrinal reorientation of the North Atlantic Alliance. The date of February 24, 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, was a real turning point.

Thirdly, the attractiveness of the discussed research topic is supported by the specific Polish understanding of state interest. A characteristic feature of Polish contemporary political thinking about raison d’état has been its positive connotations. In Poland, unlike in most European countries, the concept has been treated with approval and reverence; it functioned alongside terms such as the common good and national interest.⁴ The concept of state interest, absent in the language of politics and Polish political thought for centuries, gained great popularity at the end of the 19th century, and especially in the 20th century. While in the West the term was commonly associated with Machiavellianism, absolutism, and putting the interest of the state above the good of the citizens or justifying the illegitimate actions of the government⁵, and had de facto been made obsolete, in the Third Polish Republic it has been treated as a virtue.⁶ The specific Polish understanding of state interest probably resulted from the particular character of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which regained their sovereignty (one of the main components of raison d’état) after 1989, liberating themselves from dependence on the Soviet Union. The importance of the nation-state and its interests in the region, has thus been greater than in Western Europe.⁷

The subject of research was determined with a view to filling a gap in our knowledge. The existence of this gap is evidenced by the fact that raison d’état in political thought has not received a scholarly overview, and political science literature has been dominated by studies of the state interest of individual countries in historical terms and studies on its theoretical aspects.

The topic seemed important from both a theoretical and practical standpoint. On the one hand, the presented research project constitutes a non-schematic approach to raison d ‘état as a category of political thought. In this matter, what seemed crucial was the need to organize and catalogue the interests that make up raison d’état, as postulated by various currents of political thought in Poland in the 21st century. On the other hand, the research could contribute to the understanding of contemporary politics and political decision-making processes by determining what raison d’état is for individual parties, how it is defined, and what content is attributed to it. This is possible because, by referring to the raison d’état of the state, political parties have: (1) developed a catalogue of political values; (2) characterized and integrated them; (3) interpreted them, (4) relativized them in relation to the political situation, (5) formulated and ordered the goals, and (6) selected methods and means of political action.

In addition, the author is convinced of the importance of the subject, in which the state is in the centre of attention. The researchers aimed to illuminate the evolution of the meaning, function, and role of the state against the background of the changing conditions of political life. The idea of state interest could help respond to the challenges facing the liberal democratic state. Thomas Poole, a lawyer and political scientist, described raison d’état as an auxiliary concept, which defines the boundaries between what is national and what is international in the complex modern world, as well as between the internal structure of the state and its external actions.⁸

The title of the book needs to be clarified in four main areas: subject, object, space, and time. At the subject level, it refers to Polish parliamentary political parties representing various political trends. The nationalist orientation is represented by the League of Polish Families (pol. Liga Polskich Rodzin), conservative – by Law and Justice (pol. Prawo i Sprawiedliwość), liberal – by the Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (pol. Platforma Obywatelska RP), rural – by the Polish People’s Party (pol. Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe), social-democratic – by the Democratic Left Alliance (pol. Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej) and the Labour Union (pol. Unia Pracy), while Samoobrona⁹ could be classified as a non-standard (populist) party.¹⁰ The listed parties were selected on the basis of four criteria: (1) representativeness for a given political trend, (2) representation in the Polish Parliament (Sejm and Senate of the Republic of Poland), (3) representation in the European Parliament and (4) actual participation in the process of exercising power through participation in the government. The last condition appeared to be particularly important, because participation in government gave these parties a real impact on the decision-making process and the possibility of implementing the assumptions of the Polish raison d’état.¹¹

The subject of research of this book is the political thought of contemporary Polish political parties, above all about raison d’état. Both titular terms required clarification and explanation. Political thought refers to “any form of reflection on political reality, regardless of the degree of development, internal coherence and systematization, as well as theorization and specification.”¹² Its main subject is politics as a form of social activity through relations and mechanisms related to the exercise of power, the aim of which is to implement one’s own political order and satisfy specific interests. The scope of the concept also includes descriptions and assessments of all facts and factual clusters, which are considered to be political in a given historical time and cultural context. Whereas the essence of political thought is the vision of an ideal order, which arises from inspiration and in confrontation with the observed and subjectively described reality, consisting of political actions taken by political entities and political processes initiated by them. Therefore, formation of ideologies consists in designing the desired political order, which could be a correction or complete negation of existing reality.¹³

Contemporary Polish political thought has been analysed in three dimensions: ideological, conceptual, and programmatic. The ideological dimension encompasses political views with the highest degree of generalization, including: ideological inspirations (reception of other ideological trends and scientific theories); pragmatic inspirations (attitude and assessment of political reality in relation to both the past and the present); pattern or paradigm (a set of ideas incontrovertible within a given trend of political thought), which consists of: political identity and a system of values and beliefs. Elements of the ideological dimension also include: the manner of political thinking and the way of constructing political thought, i.e. the character of ideology building efforts. Projects related to public spaces are the most important in the conceptual dimension. They are characterized by variability, as it is through them that adaptation to changes in political reality takes place. Concepts include specific proposals for organizing political institutions, assessment of individual spheres of political reality and visions of their ideal shape, as well as specifying potential directives for action and the range of alternative means and methods of political action. The programmatic dimension of political thought should be understood as a set of proposals for the implementation of ideas constituting concepts or creation of conditions for their implementation in the future. Tactical objectives (minimal and maximal) have been defined in political programs; political actions have been designed; methods and means have been selected and the boundaries of compromise agreements with other participants in political relations have been set.¹⁴

A diverse influence of, on the one hand, analyses of political reality and, on the other hand, idealistic concepts could be observed on all three levels of political thought. The impact of reality grew as ideologies took shape. Therefore, political thought should be treated simultaneously as the intellectual basis of political activities and the subjective record of the political process, specific to a given entity and consistent with its system of values.¹⁵ These theoretical planes of political thought (ideological, conceptual, and programmatic) undoubtedly serve to conceptualize the research results. Nevertheless, only the confrontation of the theoretical layer with political actions could facilitate a holistic discussion of political thought.

The second term that requires clarification is raison d’état itself,¹⁶ which belongs to so-called significantly contentious concepts. This term, introduced by Walter B. Gallie, points to the ambiguity and indeterminacy of the studied term, so that its full meaning can only be captured using a concept that allows for different understandings, that is, different conceptualizations of the term.¹⁷

There are many scientific definitions of state interest. Their analysis allowed for various approaches to be defined. Raison d’état has been defined as: the reason for the existence of a sovereign state; acting according to realistic principles; the need to use exceptional measures; ensuring the security of the state and the citizens; searching for objective principles, determinants of foreign policy; justification for immoral actions of the authorities. The definitions associate raison d’état with the state as its essential and sole carrier and clearly suggest that it concerns the values and needs most important to the state, although they are never specified. This would be, in any case, impossible, mainly due to the highly individualized nature of this category and its variability in time and space.

There are four concepts of raison d’état in subject literature: that of subject, object, space, and time. In theory, the subjective scope of raison d’état is limited to but one subject - the state itself. In practice, raison d ‘état is a complex entity, because it is created and implemented on behalf of the state by people. Among them one has to distinguish those directly determining its shape, such as leaders and governments and those with potential to do so, such as experts in various fields, politicians, opposition groups, non-governmental organizations, or religious associations. The ruling elites specify the state interest, determine the principles of internal and external policy, guided by their preferred system of values.¹⁸

When considering the state as the subject of raison d’état, it must be emphasized that state interest as a separate political category is the result of the formation of the modern state. It is a state-centric category and therefore it is inappropriate to identify it with national interests.¹⁹ The concept of raison d’état emphasizes the state as a political organization of the sovereign (the political nation). It contains both national and public interest. Ryszard Stemplowski’s statement that there is always one state interest and the concept of national interests assumes their multiplicity (which requires additional conceptualization already at the basic level) seems accurate.²⁰ In a democratic state, the understanding of state interest most often requires distancing oneself from the following two positions: that breaking the law is allowed for the good of the state (legal relativism) and that raison d’état is a moral justification for the state’s actions (moral relativism).²¹

The spatial scope of the issue corresponds to its subjective scope, as state interest is implemented within the territory of a given country (i.e. as an internal matter) and on the international arena in relations with other countries. Therefore, it is not necessary to limit the discussion of raison d’état to one of these two aspects. They both complement each other: in international relations, the problem of the existence of the state, its sovereignty or subjectivity is resolved, while stable internal development often determines the strength of the state on the international arena.

The objective aspect involves determining what interests fall within the scope of raison d’état. There is a consensus in political science that these are the basic, overriding, most important, universal interests of the state.²² These “vital” state interests undoubtedly include: existence, security, internal system of the state, as well as national identity, stability, and development prospects. This approach means that raison d’état covers only the most important national interests. Kazimierz Łastawski defined state interest as a value expressing “real national interests”. He also pointed to the variability of the context in which these interests are pursued and the impact of raison d’état on state strategy.²³

The time scope of the study of raison d’état takes into account its historical change.²⁴ Therefore, the conceptual content and interpretation of state interest are not timeless. They have been subject to evolution along with systemic changes and transformations of the international environment. One has to agree with Eugeniusz Sadowski that state interest has usually been interpreted within a historical perspective or in the context of current events. In the former case, continuity and durability are emphasized, in the latter – timeliness and dynamics. However, synthetic understanding of this issue has been lacking, because state interest, although it expresses current needs and interests, has also largely been determined by history.²⁵

The multiplication of typologies of meaning has been a problem in conceptual analysis of political theory. The concept of state interest is no exception. Two new approaches to raison d’état have appeared in foreign-language literature, which diminish the importance of the nation state and emphasize the strategic dimension of state interest. The first concept of “new raison d’état” emphasizes the multifaceted international “anchoring” of the state: participation in international organizations, alliances, economic ties, etc., which on the one hand cause new problems and challenges, but on the other hand provide new instruments to pursue state interests. According to Karl Dieter Wolf, governments striving for increasing independence could pursue the strategy of „democratization through internationalization”, which is constitutes so-called „new raison d’état „ in the era of globalization and the domination of democratic governments. The scholar showed that contemporary ruling elites use international institutions to gain influence on the domestic political scene and to convince the internal opposition to their preferred policy. The common foreign and security policy of the European Union can serve as an example.²⁶ Wolf’s position can be applied to governments created by liberal political circles, which found support in EU authorities, and not necessarily to governments created by conservative parties. The case of Poland under the rule of PiS (the Law and Justice party) showcased the opposite situation. In 2005-2007, it was the political opposition that could count on support from EU institutions.

The second modern concept of state interest is the so-called raison du Monde or global interest, closely related to globalization. In the opinion of Philip G. Cerny, state interest has been replaced by a transnational, globalizing raison d’état or global state interest. While the state still has an invaluable role to play, this mission would manifest more in international relations than in internal politics.²⁷ In addition to state interests, states formulate supranational goals of an increasingly global nature.²⁸

In foreign-language literature, the concept of raison d’état has been replaced by the term state or national interests.²⁹ Three elements are considered archaic in the concept of raison d’état: (1) justifying “immoral” actions of the authorities (political activity is subject to legal norms and constitutional principles); (2) maintaining state secrets does not fall within the definition of an open and transparent democratic state; (3) the argument of protecting citizens does not help in solving the terrorist issue, because another aspect – human dignity as the highest constitutional value – cannot be violated (torture or the death penalty cannot be used against a terrorist). Nowadays, even the existence of the state cannot be defended without limits. Thus, the term raison d’état (referred to as an old, mysterious phrase) has lost its relevance, but at the same time, in democratic countries it has been fortified with national and international legal principles, ceasing to be a legally undefined political maxim. Defining the hierarchy of goals and finding cautious and feasible ways to achieve them in the context of the vital interests of the state is a matter for politics.³⁰

The dissertation uses the author’s definition of state interest. It was assumed that it is real and not an abstract concept and that it refers to a specific entity (the state) along with all the internal (identity, axiological system, legal system, social and economic order) and external (geopolitical location, place and role in the international environment) conditions. In general, raison d’état is a system of the most important interests of the state, on which its existence, security, and broadly understood development depend. In a detailed approach, it is necessary to take into account auxiliary concepts defining raison d’état: the common good, national interests, as well as its creators, areas of implementation, and the system of links with other analytical categories.

The spatial dimension of the research topic covers the area of the Republic of Poland, and the chronological scope of the dissertation consists of the years 2001–2015. The starting date is 2001, important for at least two reasons. Firstly, new political entities appeared on the Polish political scene in 2001: the Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (pol. Platforma Obywatelska Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej; January 24, 2001), the League of Polish Families (pol. Liga Polskich Rodzin; April 21, 2001), and Law and Justice (pol. Prawo i Sprawiedliwość; May 29, 2001). Secondly, parliamentary elections were held on September 23, 2001, which initiated the fourth term of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland and the fifth term of the Senate (from October 19, 2001).³¹ The final year was 2015, which marked the end of the 7th term of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland and the 8th term of the Senate.

The Polish raison d’état was re-evaluated and redefined in this period. While after 1989, the main priority for Poland was to gain membership in the North Atlantic Treaty and the European Union and to regulate Poland’s relations with neighbouring countries (normalization of relations with Russia and Germany after the Cold War), in 1999 Poland achieved the former and since then efforts have been made to develop the priorities of Polish policy within NATO. A significant change in the further functioning of the state and the implementation of the Polish raison d’état took place on 1 May 2004 after joining the European Union. Integration with Western Europe has brought about political, legal and economic problems related to adapting to the new realities. At the same time, there was a need to redefine the Polish raison d’état in the new conditions of European integration, while maintaining national identity and heritage.³²

The main research objective of the dissertation was an analysis of contemporary Polish political thought through the lens of raison d’état in a systemic and problem perspective. Two specific goals have been derived from the main objective: (1) determining the content and scope of the concept of raison d’état in political thought of various ideological currents in Poland and (2) determining whether and to what extent the articulated content of raison d’état translated into specific practical actions.

Detailed research objectives stemmed from the basic concepts that make up the research catalogue of political thought. The analysis included political views on topics such as: the state, sovereignty, political identity, the political system, social order, economy, foreign policy, and security. Determining their relation to state interest was crucial for the dissertation.

There are two approaches to raison d’état in political science. In the first one, it is the only and binding norm, directing the actions of state authorities. In this context, academic research is based on analysis of state documents, legal acts reflecting state interest. The second approach allows raison d’état to be treated as a category of political thought, thus emphasizing the multiplicity of approaches to it, as each party defines and formulates its own concept of state interest. In order to fully understand the problem, it is crucial to analyse not only the records of political thought, i.e. all kinds of traditional sources³³ used by scholars of political thought, but also their traces, i.e. records of decisions made by politicians who participated in the exercise of power or were active in the political arena.

The dissertation assumes that it is a category of political thought. In the third Polish Republic political parties have defined and promoted various concepts of raison d’état. The diversity of approaches resulted from differences in the assessment of the role of the modern state. Forming long-term strategic goals by the government cabinets of the Third Polish Republic depended on the adopted vision of the state and the role of Poland in the international environment. The concept of state interest was sometimes treated instrumentally as a decisive argument, which was meant to prove the correctness of certain actions, thus preventing a rational debate about political decisions. Recognizing which elements constituted state interest in the political thought of a specific party was undoubtedly a problem, because politicians, on the one hand, were eager to refer to final concepts, such as state or national interest, usually understood arbitrarily, without defining their essence. On the other hand, they ignored raison d’état, focusing more on the concept of national interest, the common good, or the priorities of state policy. Therefore, it seemed justified, following the conclusions of R. Stemplowski, to use the concept of state interest as an analytical category, while at the same time explaining the terminology used by the authors of these statements.³⁴

Contemporary Polish political thought is characterized by a plurality of views on raison d’état, leading to a multiplicity of interpretations of its essence and methods of implementation. Using the category of state interest is tantamount to political thinking about a specific, exemplary model of the state, economy, and society. The mix of political views regarding raison d’état reflects a wide spectrum of interests in various areas of the state’s functioning. For those in power, they formed the basis for the planning and implementation of current state policy.

As emphasized by the political scientist Andrzej Wielomski, differences in the understanding of raison d’état were fundamental, irreducible, and had two causes. First, the definition of state interest is the result of reflection on political reality, and the basic problem is the difference of perception of the same facts by different people. The emerging contradictions resulted from a different diagnosis of the situation and priorities. Secondly, the definition of raison d’état is influenced by factors of an axiological nature. Each political view was conditioned by the adopted hierarchy of values and beliefs of the person adhering to it.³⁵

The main hypothesis of the dissertation is that contemporary Polish political thought, as seen against the European background, is characterised by the use of the use of the category of raison d’état by all ideological trends, despite significant axiological differences. They all defined it as a set of key important interests of the Republic of Poland. The second research hypothesis refers to the dichotomy in contemporary Polish political thought – while in 2001-2015 there was a consensus around what raison d’état was, and politicians of various ideological origins considered it necessary to respect its indisputable determinants, political disputes were caused by the clash of different visions of the state, when it was necessary to clarify the catalogue of its interests, the goals resulting from them, and the methods of their implementation. They were described in different ways, depending on what values were considered fundamental for the Polish state. The third hypothesis is that the dispute over the scope of the concept of raison d’état in contemporary Polish political thought is in fact a dispute over the role and importance of the nation state, in both internal and international relations. This leads to the fourth hypothesis that two main positions clashed in contemporary Polish political thought: the first boiled down to the thesis that the territorial and sovereign nation state is the basic actor in the internal and international arena, and the processes of integration and globalization only strengthened its functions; The second is based on the belief that the nation state in the 21st century plays a limited role, as evidenced by some of its competences being ceded to international organizations, the loss of sovereignty in favour of joint governments, and the “blurring” of territory and borders with the growing role of cross-border regions. The fifth hypothesis consisted in confirming or rejecting the opinion that the concept of state interest in social-democratic, popular, and liberal thought has taken the form of “new raison d’état” of a supranational nature, meaning that the interests of Poland should be coupled with the interests of the Western world, and the common denominator is to be liberal democracy, economic community, protection of human rights, and pacifism. In the concept of “new raison d’état”, implemented transnationally, internal actions are justified by the need to comply with international directives. The sixth hypothesis comes in the form of the claim that in conservative and national political thought, raison d’état, reserved for nation states, is understood as a set of interests of a single state entity and include not only military and economic attributes, but also “spiritual strength,” i.e. moral and ethical values, constituting the basis of the political order and the starting point for the development of the Republic of Poland.

Verification of each of the hypotheses required an analysis of detailed issues. This purpose was served by answering research questions: How did politicians understand and implement Polish raison d’état in the first fifteen years of the 21st century? How did you define its subject - the state? How was the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state understood in the context of international integration and globalization? What was the political potential of the state for politicians and how did they associate it with state interest? What political system and socio-economic model was considered to be the most appropriate for the implementation of Polish raison d’état? What foreign policy model was consistent with Polish raison d’état according to politicians of various ideological options? How did political parties perceive the geopolitical situation of Poland and the resulting opportunities or threats in the context of state interests? What ideas have emerged to ensure multidimensional security for the state and the nation? To what extent was the category of raison d’état a real signpost for those in power, and to what extent was it only a slogan used for the purposes of internal policy?

Literature providing the necessary knowledge on the subject study can be divided into three main bibliographic groups.³⁶ The first set of publications refers to state interest. It is dominated by papers dealing with it in historical terms,³⁷ the theory of state interest³⁸ (in constitutional law, economics, foreign policy of the state, the relationship between raison d’état and national interest, sovereignty, democracy, human rights, globalization, etc.), and in the views of political entities.³⁹ Foreign-language subject literature is dominated by studies devoted to state interest in the early modern period,⁴⁰ few works refer to the present day.⁴¹ There is a noticeable lack of recognition of raison d’état as a category of political thought.

The other bibliographic category consists of academic writings on contemporary political thought of various ideological currents in the objective and subjective aspect.⁴² The third group includes studies relating to contemporary parties and party systems.⁴³ It is worth pointing out the breadth of the bibliography and emphasizing that when choosing literature, especially in the third bibliographic group, the author was guided by the criterion of its suitability for research on political thought.

When examining contemporary political thought, we encounter a rich source base. The analysed sources of political thought have been generated by three types of entities:(1) individuals, appearing in various roles in the public sphere (politicians, ideologists, publicists, advisers, including intellectuals and academics); (2) groups – political parties, organizations, associations; (3) authorities - including state, interstate, and supranational authorities (the president, representative bodies and the government, ministries and local government representations, as well as international institutions and coalitions created in the international environment). The first two groups bring together the creators of political concepts, the third refers to the arena in which political thought is executed.⁴⁴

The analysis of sources, divided into four basic groups, formed the basis of the monograph. The first collected testimonies of political thought in the form of political party platforms (programs, resolutions, manifestos, ideological and electoral declarations, resolutions, instructions, guidelines, studies by party leaders, decision-makers, theoreticians, ideologues, experts, publicists, acting in public life as spokespersons for political circles, resolutions and statements from national party conventions, interviews, official speeches of the main representatives of the party acting as programmatic texts, etc.).⁴⁵ Their contents reflect the priorities of contemporary Polish political parties. The research used source materials contained in academic studies⁴⁶ and collections of documents concerning the activities of political parties.⁴⁷ The second group of sources includes transcripts from the sessions of the Sejm and Senate of the Republic of Poland, the European Parliament, and parliamentary committees (permanent and extraordinary). This is a particularly important set of documents, as parliament was the stage for public justification of state interest. The third set of sources consists of official state documents: presidential, governmental, and ministerial (strategies, regulations, etc.) The fourth group includes press sources (materials found in political periodicals and political parties’ press releases, as well as opinion-forming journals). The press proved to be an extremely useful and communicative medium, as it reacted quickly to changes in social sentiment, reflected different views and opinions and positions representative of a specific social or political group. Press sources had the value of universal accessibility and were relatively easy to analyse. Party press releases and the national press (dailies, weeklies, and monthly journals) turned out to be invaluable in the research process. Selected magazines and newspapers represented various ideological profiles – from social-democratic and liberal, through conservative, to nationalist.