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In my presentation I analyze the connections between political theory and globalization. The term "political theory" has here a very special meaning, which doesn't coincide with its customary usage. The term with this meaning stems from Luhmann, but we can use it without accepting Luhmann's whole theory.
To understand this special meaning of political theory we have to draw a distinction between two types of the political system's description. The first type is the description by the science, this is a scientific theory about politics, and Luhmann refers to this as theory of politics. The second type is the self-description of the political system, and this is what Luhmann calls political theory. In the following I will talk about this second one. Let us now look at some characteristics of political theory by Luhmann.
Firstly, it is not a scientific theory. Therefore the term "theory" is not the best choice of Luhmann because it is a bit misleading. Hearing this term we usually think about something written, structured or well formed. But the political theory is not such a thing. Under political theory we may actually understand concepts on the politics, which are not written and structured but they provide a coherent picture on the politics, and therefore they can orient the practice of politics.
Secondly, political theory is needed for the proper functioning of political system. With the help of political theory politics can formulate alternatives therefore this theory gives certain direction for the politics. Luhmann says that the most important achievements of modern politics - like sovereignty, representation or human rights - are implemented with the help of political theory.
Thirdly, political theory is usually about the state. By Luhmann we can find more definition for the state, one of them is that the state is the self-description of the political system. We said that political theory is also the self-description of politics, so the two terms are very close to each other.
Therefore under political theory we have to understand concepts on the state. E. g. in the 19th century this was - of course not exclusively but maybe dominantly - the concept of state of the law or that of liberal state, and in the 20th century the concept of the social or welfare state. These state-concepts played important role in implementing the liberal and social rights.
The political theory has a special character, namely it must comply double requirements: the requirements of the politics, and those of the science. Regarding the political requirements - because political options must compete on the parliamentary elections - political theory must provide attractive, popular and acceptable options for the people. Today this means mainly that political theory must be able to provide options for fulfilling the social claims. On the other side, political theory must comply certain scientific requirements, namely it must provide financially, organizationally realizable and operable programs. It is easy to admit that these two requirements can confront, and especially today they do it. Namely the claims toward the welfare state can not be fulfilled because of the financial limits. In our theoretical framework this means that there isn't any operable political theory today, and problems or shortcomings of the welfare state are partly due to the lack of such a theory.
It is important to discuss the question of the connection between political theory and ideologies because they seem to be very similar, maybe the same. Their connection is not clear by Luhmann but we can try to reconstruct it. On the one hand, we said that the achievements implemented by political theory are e.g. sovereignty, representation, human and social rights. But these achievements are usually connected to definite ideologies. We may say that political theory in the 19th century was mainly formed by liberalism and in the 20th by social democracy.
But there is another possible aspect of the connection between political theory and ideologies. We may say that political theory is broader than ideologies and it gives a framework, a context, in which the alternatives of the ideologies can be formulated. According to this, if we have a proper political theory, we can see the ideological alternatives clearly. This can also describe our present situation: today we can not see the clear alternatives of ideologies and this can be attributed to the lack of any proper political theory.
Now I turn to the question of globalization. We said that political theory is actually about the state. But it is easy to admit that today we can not talk about the state without the globalization, because the globalization strongly influences the possibilities and characteristics of the state. We can conclude that the political theory today can not avoid the question of globalization.
Summing up, I see the importance of analyzing political theory in three points.
Firstly, political theory is a good tool for describing the problems and shortcomings of our society, especially those of the welfare state.
Secondly, political theory provides arguments for the importance of theory of globalization. And this means that globalization is not only theoretically important, but practically as well, because political theory has practical functions.
And thirdly, analyzing political theory shows that not only a political program, an alternative is lacking today, but the framework or context in which such alternatives could be formed.
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