Political Concepts

Niniejszy artykuł ma na celu krytyczne zestawienie dwóch perspektyw, istotnych dla badań szeroko rozumianej historii idei, czyli szkoły Cambridge z niemiecką tradycją Begriffsgeschichte. W pierwszej części tekstu wskazuję na główne podobieństwa między nimi, takie jak czas czy sposoby powstania. Część druga służy omówieniu i problematyzacji głównych kategorii badawczych, wypracowanych w ramach obu nurtów metodologicznych, takich jak akty mowy i pojęcia. Kolejno, w części trzeciej analizuję poziomy kontekstu, w ramach których pracują przedstawiciele obu tradycji, a także wskazuję na słabości czynionych w tej kwestii rozstrzygnięć. Część czwarta służy przytoczeniu zewnętrznych perspektyw, m.in. metod, wypracowanych przez Michaela Freedena, które pozwalają zobaczyć w nowym świetle brytyjską i niemiecką tradycję. Wreszcie, w podsumowaniu wskazuję na sensowność rozwoju tego typu refleksji oraz na wyzwania, przed którymi stoi historia idei w Polsce.

The expression “political concepts” refers to concepts essential to any serious reflection on political life. This includes authority, democracy, equality, freedom, justice, power, and further concepts that represent fundamental political values and principles.  However, political concepts are political in a double sense: they refer to some central idea or issue of great political relevance, but the meanings of these concepts are also topics of perpetual debate. Political concepts are not simply used to describe political life, but constitute significant sites of political disagreement.

Hstórico de los lenguajes y conceptos políticos despierta un interés creciente entre démicos cada vez más amplios. Junto a muchos historiadores, no pocos estudiosos sociales, filosofía y humanidades han encontrado en la obra de Reinhart Koselleck de inspiración y un estímulo para sus trabajos. s reunidos en este volumen, escritos por reconocidos especialistas, ofrecen un pa-los principales enfoques y desafíos metodológicos que afronta hoy día la historia , así como algunos trabajos específicos sobre ciertos conceptos fundam entales de la d. :ombina reflexiones teóricas y orientaciones generales sobre la investigación en la conceptos con una serie de textos referidos particularmente al caso de España y al roamericano, ámbito en el que los estudios en este campo han alcanzado un desa-iderable en los últimos años.

Laiklik kavramı, farklı dini gruplar arasındaki eşitliği ve devlet ile din arasındaki ayrımı vurguluyor. Mustafa Kemal tarafından kurulan Türkiye’nin laik sistemi dünyadaki diğer herhangi bir laiklik sistemden farklıdır. Türkiye’nin laiklikleri ve Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi laiklik konusunda farklı anlayışları vardır.

Law as integrity as a dworkinien theory is mainly a theory of legal argumentation. The judicial argumentation is controversial and not a theoretical demonstration. It aims at the discovery of one best legal answer as far as legal disagreements are not merely verbal but genuine disagreements : they are argumentation around different conceptions of the same concept. But the proposition of one best legal answer never would have the consequence too stop the process of argumentation.

This collection of new essays on political and legal theory concentrates on themes dealt with in the work of Felix Oppenheim, including fundamental political and legal concepts and their implications for the scope of morality in politics and international relations. Among the issues addressed are the relationship between empirical and normative definitions of 'freedom', 'power' and 'interests', whether governments are free to act against the national interest, and whether they can ever be morally obliged to do so.

This open-access article explores how both the present and change are imagined and enacted in relation to gender's conceptual future. Its jumping off point is the current British struggle over definitions of gender and sex, and how law and public policy should respond. Two contrasting conceptions have become particularly dominant within wider public discourse: gender as sex-based domination; and gender as identity diversity. The article explores the conceptual lines of friction and the part institutional arenas, particularly law reform debates, have played in shaping the dispute. In its second half, the article locates these conceptual lines in different conceptual tasks. Prefiguring, destabilising, and critiquing gender are all oriented to forging a different conceptual future for gender, but they also seem to rely on different conceptions of what gender means and involves. Arguing that concepts should be approached as invariably plural, rather than as subject to a single right definition, this article asks whether different conceptions of gender can interrelate in less antagonistic, more fruitful ways including in the development of statutory law. This article draws on utopian thinking to explore the challenge of gender's conceptual future.

This article explores how both the present and change are imagined and enacted in relation to gender’s conceptual future. Its jumping off point is the current British struggle over definitions of gender and sex, and how law and public policy should respond. Two contrasting conceptions have become particularly dominant within wider public discourse: gender as sex-based domination; and gender as identity diversity. The article explores the conceptual lines of friction and the part institutional arenas, particularly law reform debates, have played in shaping the dispute. In its second half, the article locates these conceptual lines in different conceptual tasks. Prefiguring, destabilising, and critiquing gender are all oriented to forging a different conceptual future for gender, but they also seem to rely on different conceptions of what gender means and involves. Arguing that concepts should be approached as invariably plural, rather than as subject to a single right definition, thi...

This paper introduces some of the peculiarities embedded in contemporary research on the concept of militant democracy in relation to the concept of constitutionalism. As it is well known, there is an inherent tension in militant democracy, whereby militant measures, restricting rights in the name of upholding free and open political competition, can damage democracy. Thereby, militancy might remain fundamentally at odds with modern understandings of constitutionalism. As a result, besides efforts to limit the scope of militant democracy to a few narrowly defined restrictions, attempts have surfaced to distinguish between 'militant democracy' and 'militant constitutionalism' , or to classify non-legal measures against extreme political actors as a version of militant democracy. The paper highlights the contributions of these approaches in its second section; nevertheless, the assessment of the broadening of the original concepts reveals the costs of such extensions. In the third section, the paper encourages thinking about the relationship between militant democracy and the pandemic that broke out in 2020. While it seems that particularly the challenges posed by a public health threat to democracy are unrelated to militant democracy, notably because there is no 'actor' , whose rights can be restricted in the name of democracy protection, a connection with militant democracy arises through the question of restricting the spread of disinformation. As disinformation are often produced by actors opposed to democracy, a 'dual justification' for restricting them could be envisioned: protecting public health as well as protecting democracy. The paper concludes with identifying some difficulties with this approach, particularly in terms of determining who the 'arbiters of truth' shall be.

Mirrors for princes, in general, give advices to the rulers about the subtleties of political art. Another aim of these books is to define and explain the administration of the state and the duties of rulers based on experience. In consequence of this they reflect the practical ethics of the period in which they were written. As such, they resemble practical handbooks written for rulers. Another point regarding the mirrors for princes works in which the political understanding of the era can be observed is that they generally use sacred texts in order to prove the political legitimacy or invalidity of the power, as well as the rightfulness or the unlawfulness of the claims to the throne. Evidences from the Qurʾān and the ḥadīth literature was almost always used to support such advocated opinions. In fact, during the Middle Ages when religion and politics were considered coupled, it was unthinkable that religious elements should not be included in the works of state administration. The important point here is that the verses and ḥadīths were sometimes removed from their contexts and interpreted and explained in a way to support the ideology of the author or the ruler whom the author presented his work. In this study, we will try to reveal the subjects in which the verses and ḥadīths used in the mirrors for princes, which is a genre that has emerged within the Islamic culture and civilization. Thus, we aim to prepare a background for the future studies, which will focus on a specific verse or ḥadīth.

Summary: The first political splits in Islamic history occurred immediately after the death of prophet Muḥammad. These differences were resolved by the agreement of the majority of Muslims on Abu Bakr's name. Until the second half of the rule of the third caliph ʿUthmān, Muslims came together around the unifying power of the idea of conquest. Nevertheless, substantially as a result of economically based problems the period of tranquility in Islamic society came to an end and was replaced by disputes. Disputes turned into conflict and ultimately seperation fused with the massacre of ʿUthmān in the capital Medina turned into a big fire with the Battles of the Camel and Ṣiffīn, the emergence of Khārijīs, the formation of the Shia and the deepening of the intellectual divisions after the all of these. Islamic history has witnessed a clash of different religious views and beliefs. along with deepening of intellectual disagreements as a result of political debates

In the Islamic political thought, especially the first two centuries process was formed around the views of the jurists, muḥaddiths and theologians. The first sources used by those who tried to justify their opinion in the differences of opinion experienced during this period were the Qurʾān and ḥadīth literature which Muslims accepted as the determining factor in all their acts. The views based on the Qur'an and the hadiths, which are the two main sources of Islamic religion, had been used to influence the people, legitimize the actions and refute the claims of the opponents. On the other hand the sort who gave direction to political thought changed and political thought adhered a new path with Turks and Persians served as bureaucrats and soldiers and took an active position in the state. Especially Persians carried the culture of advice to Islamic thought, which is the product of both Greek and Hind civilization. Such books had brought in the İslamic society with translation movements began in the Umayyad period and peaked with the Bayt al-Ḥikma in the Abbasid period. Together with these books, the ideas of these civilizations on ideal state administration, politics and morality were recognized by Muslim scholars.

These type of works, which are famous in terms of Islamic thought as mirrors for princes, have been written by Muslim scholars since the middle of the eighth century. Mirrors for princes are political, moral and religious content books that gives the rulers practical advice to maintain their power in accordance with the religious orders and prohibitions, and to the consent of Allāh’s who grant them this authority and people which appointed for their administration. Mirrors for princes are mostly theoretical books since they are mostly focused on what should be. In addition, since they are written for names that currently hold power, they are centered on how the rulers can maintain and increase their power and with which practices the state will maintain its existence for a longer period.

The basic point of political thought and political interpretation are concepts and definitions. When the concept meaning of a word is mentioned, it is generally considered that there is a general definition. However, the concepts reflect the meaning that the user assigns to him in the context of his thoughts, perceptions, criticisms, explanations and analyzes. Concepts such as fair, honest, brave, hero, beautiful, rich, good and clean express what the person imposes on the meaning. In other words, everyone’s experience determines the content of the concept so far. The meaning of the concepts varies with the age and its user of that concept. Even concepts such as justice, merit and consultation can change meaning in different periods and geographies. The concepts, which are often used to facilitate understanding, are sometimes used to judge, to mold or mislead the interlocutor. In this context, it is imperative to enter the mind of the user in order to make concept analysis.

In Islamic civilization, the principles of management are explained with concepts. The idiosyncrasies that Muslims expect from an ideal ruler are defined as justice, consultation, merit, trust and legitimacy and a broad corpus has been written about the concepts related to the administration, especially those mentioned. One type of this corpus is mirrors for princes.

In Islamic history, there are many Mirrors for princes who are written in different time periods by names coming from different geographies and different backgrounds. Although the advice given in Mirrors for princes indicate a great similarity to each other, the preferred arguments and examples in the foundation of the counsel are different. While the persons in active politics mostly based their opinions on political arguments, scholars with scientific tradition supported their advices with religious arguments.

Verses are the leading religious elements highlighted in Mirrors for princes. While explaining the concepts and emphasizing the importance of the advices, many verses have been exploited. Some verses are used only by one author, while some verses are the subject of their work by many authors. In the same way, ḥadīths and the sentences accepted as ḥadīths were also used to reinforce the emphasis and meaning. At this point, sometimes the context of the verses and ḥadīths were not taken care of. In this study, we aim to address the use of religious elements.

In the literature, different opinions have emerged about who is ülü’l-emr and the limits of obedience to ülü’l-emr that used describe the names of senior executives and leaders of society. The reason for the difference is that each sect or religious school provides an interpretation on the basis of grounding its own views in explaining the verse. Justice is the most emphasized concept among the advices given to the rulers in mirrors for princes. Justice, which is shown as the most important feature of a sovereign, has been regarded as extremely important for the state to existences until the Doomsday. In addition, justice has been described as the most important condition for the maintenance of the state/sovereign authority. Consultation was important to make the right decision.

Verses and ḥadīths were used in the explanations about the personal characteristics of the sovereign. Some features such as being compassionate, keeping promise, controlling anger, patience, honesty, blessing, extravagance, self-esteem, break a promise, revoke a promise and arrogance have become the subject of politics.


When the mirrors for princes are considered as a whole, it is seen that religion and state are considered as inseparable twin brothers, taken one step further the understanding that accepts religion and the world as brothers especially is a product of the old Persian tradition. In this understanding, religion was accepted as the root and was given the duty of its patronage to political authority. It is seen that in the Mirrors for princes verses and ḥadīths hold a significant amount. As the reason for this can be said that along with religion takes place on the basis of morality, the authors of the Mirrors for princes, which put deep meanings on the relationship between religion and the state in the period that we are dealing with, consider both institutions to be complementary and integrative.

In the final years of legal apartheid, the small community of Quakers in Cape Town, South Africa sought to apply their tradition of political and theological nonviolence to the systematic injustice of their social context. Drawing on archival evidence, this article examines the writings of Hendrik W van der Merwe, a prominent white Afrikaner sociologist, activist, and Quaker. I argue that van der Merwe developed an unusual account of Quaker pacifism that cast nonviolence in terms of engaged mediation rather than civil resistance or critique, and I demonstrate how this ethical and political position required a specific conceptualization of “violence” as an idea in order for its account of peacemaking to be intelligible as an interpretation of that Quaker tradition. The study of the development of van der Merwe's ideas has a twofold significance: it uncovers a form of anti-violence politics that has been widely neglected within political theories of nonviolence and pacifism, and it illuminates the concrete political stakes of ongoing debates about “narrow” and “wide” definitions of violence.

The relationship between openness and populism in the political rhetoric produced by the Finns Party (previously known as the True Finns) is ambiguous. The  party  won  a  record  number  of  seats  in  the  2011  parliamentary  election,  becoming  Finland’s  third-largest  party,  with  thirty-nine  of  the  two  hundred  seats: thirty-four more than in the 2007 elections. This chapter analyses the connections between populism as self-identification and the increasing demands for openness (avoimuus) directed by party activists against  the  government.  Critics  often  claim  that  the  Finns  Party  promotes  a  closed society. I argue that openness as a concept in their political ideology, now self-defined as populism, rests on an essentialist view of the nation state and elements of xenophobia, and is used as a tool for exclusion. Exclusion as a political strategy is not unique to the Finns Party in Finnish politics. It is their choice of terms, intended to differentiate themselves and emphasize their innovative character, which sets them apart, not their political goals.

Entre 1956 y 1959, Hannah Arendt trabajaba en el proyecto de
una obra con el título de Introducción a la política.1 y que debía publicarse
en la editorial Piper.2 Como es sabido, Arendt jamás escribió
este libro, sin embargo, recientemente Piper lograba concretar por
fin su antiguo proyecto editorial al alentar a la socióloga alemana Ursula
Ludz a que compilase los materiales que Hannah Arendt había
escrito en relación con el libro a lo largo de tres años. Ludz realizó un
minucioso trabajo de reconstrucción, ordenación y presentación de
los diversos fragmentos (conservados sin fecha alguna) que vieron la
luz en 1993 con el título de Was ist Politik?

Innovation has become a crucial part of the vocabulary of contemporary political governance and its conceptual equipment. As innovation has emerged as an ever-more significant political issue, the discourse on innovation has become intertwined with the notion of network. This paper argues that certain ontological elements inherent in this discourse tend to lose their openness when they are defined as policy-oriented concepts, and uses the innovation system concept as a case study to illuminate this. Insofar as innovation, the production of something novel, is the basis of contemporary economy, then political language has to strive both to attain what is new and, at the same time, to make it governable. It seems, however, that when a concept receives its political formulation, that is, when it becomes a means for governance, then the unifying process attendant to the production of a field of governance will replace the perspective of change. This essential tension is investigated in what follows through innovation policy as articulated mainly in the Finnish policy discourse.

Much of the debate over stateness in Latin America assumes that states should sustain basic levels of stability, and if they cannot, the question is why not. This article departs from the assumption of stability, by asking how the relationship between states and
other actors has evolved over time. This departure requires a shift in focus: from stateness as referring to states and how they should operate, to stateness as referring to the relationships between states and other actors, and how they change over time. The article argues that such relationships can be understood as emergent complex adaptive systems (CAS), and considers three specific CAS mechanisms: networks, arms races, and moral hazards. This conceptual shift in how to think about states is especially challenging in a region historically accustomed to hierarchical governance.