Review article
POLITICAL THEORY IN SERBIA: STANDARDS AND SELF-REFLECTION
Đorđe Pavićević
; Faculty of Political Science, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Srbia
Abstract
In this text, the state of political theory in Serbia is looked into with regard to
the achieved level of self-reflection and professionalisation. Political theory
is developing as a special way of research into politics which, in addition to
refusing to fit to any discipline-related definitions, has its own professional
standards of argumentation, approaches, theories and heroes; however, it has
no well-balanced methodological instruction and no professional training. It
is a pluralised field of research which tends to reject the delegitimizing and
self-positioning practices, the aim of which is to pass judgement, exclude or
label, and develops standards of justification and criticism. The second part
of the text puts forward the assertion that political theory in Serbia is far from
achieving these standards. This is not due to lack of relevant works, but to lack
of self-reflection on what has been accomplished so far. There are two reasons
for such a state of affairs. First, a rather unfortunate history of the discipline:
it developed initially within the ideological surroundings of marxism, which
did not leave much room for theory, and then through political disorder and
conflicts of the 1990s, which encouraged delegitimizing practices and selfpositioning
rather than criticism and self-reflection. The second reason has to
do with inadequate institutionalisation of political science and social sciences
in general, which apparently leaves enough room for political theory, but not
for professional self-identification.
Keywords
political theory; science; discipline; professionalisation; standards; self-reflection; delegitimisation
Hrčak ID:
47215
URI
Publication date:
23.12.2009.
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