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1

Fikcje polityczne i legitymizacja władzy w demokracji

100%

Potz M.

Wrocławskie Studia Politologiczne

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2014

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vol. 17

36 - 52

EN

The article seeks to analyse the content and the role of “political fictions” of (social) contract and representation in a democratic political system. It begins with a model of democratic legitimation within which the two conceptions serve as transmitters of ideas making the actual unequal distribution of power on which any political system rests acceptable to the ruled. By providing justification for the origin of the existing power relations, explaining their mechanisms, providing role models for rulers and allowing to by-pass the question of direct responsibility for political decisions, the fictions of contract and representation ultimately contribute to the stability of a democratic political system.

2

American Shakers – Dying Religion, Emerging Cultural Phenomenon

100%

Potz M.

Studia Religiologica

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2014

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vol. 47

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issue 4

PL

Through analysis of doctrine, cult, social and political organisation and the relations with the outside world, the article traces a dual development in the history of Shakerism, an American communitarian religious group: its rise and decline as a religion that has led to its almost complete extinction, and the accompanying process of its absorption into the mainstream of American culture. This became possible when, in the 20th century, Shakers – celibate communitarian pacifists – ceased to be perceived as a serious challenge to the American values of individualism, private property and the traditional model of family. Instead, their image was romanticised and material aspects of their culture emphasised, thus making Shakerism a sort of antiquarian curiosity, despite the survival of a small community of believers.

3

A contemporary religious political movement: LDS Church’s nation-wide political campaigns

100%

Potz M.

Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska, sectio K – Politologia

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2016

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vol. 23

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issue 1

EN

Drawing empirically on the examples of the Church of Latter-Day Saints’ (Mormon) participation in anti-ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) ratification campaign and its latest attempts to influence other political issues of moral consequences (such as same-sex marriage) in the United States, the paper attempts to analyse the dynamics of a contemporary religiously motivated political movement.Despite being, on any of these issues, a part of a wider coalition of political actors, the Mormon church displayed a specifically religious motivation, justification and modus operandi. Owing to strong religious legitimacy of their power – based on the doctrine of continuous revelation and enhanced by a sort of “personality cult” of the Church President-Prophet developing in late 20th century – the leadership of the church has been capable of effective grassroots mobilization, achieved through a disciplined universal priesthood structure.While, from the theoretical point of view, this Mormon political movement is of a traditional, “old” variation (ideological and social cohesion of members, well-defined, stable membership, hierarchical leadership etc.) it has nevertheless been relatively successful in modern political environment. The Mormon engagement, at least in the anti-ERA campaign, had made a difference certainly in Utah, and probably elsewhere as well.

4

Empowerment through religion: religion’s survival strategies in democratic politics

100%

Potz M.

Przegląd Politologiczny

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2016

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issue 4

93-106

PL

Utraciwszy status dominującej formuły legitymizacyjnej w świecie zachodnim, religia została też instytucjonalnie oddzielona od państwa i, w myśl ideologii liberalnej, zepchnięta na margines życia publicznego. Pomimo tych niesprzyjających okoliczności, religia – zarówno jako system idei i norm, jak i w wymiarze instytucjonalnym – zdołała obronić się przed marginalizacją, zapewniając sobie szczególny status wśród innych ideologii. W nauce objawia się to swego rodzaju metodologicznym agnostycyzmem, nakazującym traktować twierdzenia religijne jako niewspółmierne z naukowymi, a zatem niepodlegające krytyce. W polityce, organizacje religijne uzyskały w wielu państwach zachodnich szczególną pozycję, a wolność religijna została ukonstytuowana jako szczególny przypadek swobody wypowiedzi. W swej działalności politycznej organizacje religijne stosują zarówno metody identyczne z innymi aktorami politycznymi (lobbying, masowa mobilizacja itp.) – co nadaje im legitymację w ramach demokratycznych systemów politycznych – jak i specyficzne strategie religijne. Działania te są w artykule analizowane głównie na przykładach polskich i amerykańskich. Uzbrojone w takie narzędzia, religijne podmioty polityczne mogą wywierać znaczący wpływ na demokratyczne systemy polityczne.

EN

In contemporary Western world religion has long lost its status of a default legitimating formula and has been relegated, in liberal political philosophy, to the private sphere. Institutionally, religious organizations have been largely separated from government institutions. Despite these adverse circumstances, religion – both as a system of ideas, values and norms and in its institutional expression – has adopted effective survival strategies guarding it from social and political marginalization. Religion has been accorded special status among other ideologies. In science, it results in a sort of methodological agnosticism, which treats religious and scientific statements as belonging to two incommensurable spheres. In politics, religious organizations are often granted special legal status among other political actors and religious freedom has been constitutionalized as a special case of general freedom of expression. As judicature and political practice show, religious arguments can often trump non-religious claims when fundamental value conflicts arise. In their political activity, religious organizations have used strategies characteristic for other political actors (lobbying, mass mobilization etc.), thereby gaining democratic legitimacy, as well as unique, religion-specific strategies. Armed with these and other empowering tools, religion can continue to influence democratic political systems in significant ways.

5

The Unfulfilled Promise? Deliberative Democracy vs. Political Participation

100%

Potz M.

Polish Political Science Yearbook

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2010

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vol. 39

108-125

EN

The article aims to, first, critically assess the idea and practice of deliberative democracy and, second, find it a proper place in the democratic theory. I start with defining the concept as it emerges from the works of some of its most prominent proponents (such as Fishkin, Cohen or Habermas), reiterating several of the important arguments in support of it. I then present various criticisms of deliberative democracy, regarding philosophical assumptions that inform it (the idea of common good, the conditions of rational deliberation etc.) and its modus operandi (its alleged procedural superiority over aggregative methods). I then off er further criticism of deliberative democracy as a model of democracy, an alternative to the dominant model of representative democracy, arguing from its ineff ectiveness in influencing political decisions. Instead, in the final section, I propose to establish deliberation as one of the two criteria of classifi cation and assessment of democratic systems, thus restoring its importance in the democratic theory.

6

Perspectives on Transformation

63%

Potz M., Stępień-Kuczyńska A.

International Studies. Interdisciplinary Political and Cultural Journal

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2011

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vol. 13

4-5

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1 Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska, sectio K – Politologia

1 International Studies. Interdisciplinary Political and Cultural Journal

1 Polish Political Science Yearbook

1 Przegląd Politologiczny

1 Studia Religiologica

1 Wrocławskie Studia Politologiczne

2 2016

2 2014

1 2011

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6 Potz M.

1 Stępień-Kuczyńska A.

Fikcje polityczne i legitymizacja władzy w demokracji

American Shakers – Dying Religion, Emerging Cultural Phenomenon

A contemporary religious political movement: LDS Church’s nation-wide political campaigns

Empowerment through religion: religion’s survival strategies in democratic politics

The Unfulfilled Promise? Deliberative Democracy vs. Political Participation

Perspectives on Transformation