Az állam mint uralmi forma: a politikaelmélet nézőpontjai
The state as a form of rule: political theory aspects

Summary/Abstract: As a result of a political decision, ’state science’ was re-established in Hungary, after its abolition during the Communist regime. Alongside ’political science,’ this new 10-semester university program is now also available to students (its official English translation is ’Science of Public Governance’). In the past 30 years some monographs and textbooks have been published about the state (and ’state science’) in Hungary, yet political science has largely ignored them. In this new situation, however, it seems to be necessary to see how political theory can make sense of and explain the state. This paper is an attempt to do so. Its basic claim is that the state is a special form of domination (its most convincing justification is probably that of Thomas Hobbes). It follows that the political form of social coordination, that is, where the reasons for obeying public power can be freely discussed, precedes the state. But the state is a successful and convincing justification precisely because it is able to curtail, indeed, eliminate political freedom and the conflicts inherent to the condition of freedom. This is what Hobbes’ account implies. Therefore, political theory, as the philosophical frame of free discourse about these matters, is and remains a challenge to the state. However, political theory can also easily come to serve the interests of the state. Two examples of such abuses are discussed: one is the liberal-functionalist approach that reduces political theory to issues of (just) distribution; the other is the sort of state mysticism that was influential before the Second World War but seems to have preserved its seductive potential.

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