Substantialist state phobia in contemporary political thought

• Authors: Malendowicz Paweł
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

State phobia is aversion to the state, stemming from fear of the state. In the article, aversion to the state is analyzed in two dimensions: substantialist and accidentalist. Substantialist criticism relies on perceiving essential evil in the criticized phenomenon, which is embedded in the nature of the phenomenon as such. Accidentalist aversion refers to accidental and unnecessary defects; it has an occasional nature. The subject matter of the paper is substantialist state phobia in contemporary political thought. The following concepts were analyzed: anarcho-capitalism, national anarchism, tribalism, primitivism and anarcho-transhumanism. The purpose of the paper is to identify arguments addressed against the state, as well as to analyze determinants of state phobia in selected currents of political thought. The hypothesis is an assumption that substantialist state phobia is determined by the process of maximizing the idea of freedom in political thought, which generates aversion or hostility towards the state. In order to verify the research hypothesis, the author analyzed source texts (ideological, program, propaganda and journalistic texts) of the above-listed political movements, their leaders and acolytes. The political thought under discussion may perform both constructive and destructive functions with respect to a democratic state. As a result of the analysis, the hypothesis was partially confirmed.

Keywords

EN

state phobia; radicalism; political thought; anarchism

• Publisher: Instytut Zachodni. Instytut Naukowo-Badawczy im. Zygmunta Wojciechowskiego w Poznaniu
• Journal: Przegląd Zachodni
• Year: 2020
• Issue: 3 (376)
• Pages: 239-252

Contributors

author

Malendowicz Paweł

• Wydział Nauk o Polityce i Administracji, Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego