Roman Bäcker

Nicolaus Copernicus University | umk · Department of Politics Theory

The paper aims to determine the extent of the rationality of Vladimir Putin’s decision to begin a war with Ukraine. Its central argument is that this decision was irrational on three levels. Firstly, the Russian decision-making elites failed to foresee the ability of the Ukrainian army and people to resist efficiently. It might have resulted from t...

The article is of methodological nature and aims to evaluate the content validity of Carl Joachim Friedrich and Zbigniew K. Brzezinski’s totalitarian syndrome, that is, the extent to which this theoretical framework accurately represents the social phenomena to which it refers. It introduces the critical analysis of the individual concepts extracte...

Celem artykułu było zbadanie, jaki jest poziom dialogiczności w tygodnikach opinii w Polsce. Hipoteza zakładała, że redakcje często poruszają te same tematy, ale w dyskusji trudno znaleźć merytoryczne odpowiedzi na argumenty drugiej strony sporu. Badanie wykazało, że dziennikarze poruszają te same kwestie zdecydowanie rzadziej, niż mogłoby się wyda...

Before 2014 Putin used semantic structures characteristic of authoritarianism and façade democracy to shape Russian political discourse. After the annexation of Crimea, we identify the decrease of authoritarian discursive elements, the occurrence of references to democratic values, and the prevalence of totalitarian discursive elements. This quanti...

This article aims to identify the dynamics of the Russian political regime and explain its sources. The article addresses the research problems of what the dynamics of the Russian political regime entailed from the beginning of the Russo- Ukrainian war to the end of Putin’s third presidential term as well as the sources of the dynamics. It verifies...

MILITANT DEMOCRACIES’ TRAJECTORY OF CONTINUANCEThe theoretical category of militant democracy in Karl Loevenstein’s meaning is described well in world scholarly literature. Notwithstanding, there is no comprehensive typology of militant democracy which would allow for identifying and diversifying various political regimes which meet the distinctive...

Tekst odpowiada na pytanie: jaki jest sens prowadzenia badań politologicznych? Wtedy, gdy ma się odpowiednią motywację i (co równie ważne) wie się, jak to można zrobić. W tym drugim przypadku musi się postępować w odpowiedniej kolejności. Po pierwsze, należy wyznaczyć granice pola badawczego, a po drugie, określić oryginalne, niebanalne problemy i...

Цель статьи заключается в проверке гипотезы о значительном влиянии партийных военизированных структур на формирование российской политической сцены при одновременном допущении, что, чем более важную роль они играют, тем в большей степени российский правящий класс организован в рамках тоталитарного партийно-государственного аппарата. Новейшая научна...

How did Russian political regime change after the “White Revolution”? The article makes a methodological, theoretical, and empirical contribution to the field of studies on the dynamics of non-democratic regimes, and especially the nature of the alterations within Putin's Russia. The research field is the Russian political system determined by its...

In the article the author presents his analysis of the current political events in Ukraine, beginning with the origin of the Euromajdan and the mistakes of president Yanukowych that eventually led to his removal. The Ukrainian society is depicted with strong emphasis on the high level of political awareness that is characteristic of that society an...

GLAMOUR TOTALITARIANISM IN INFORMATION AGEThe totalitarianism of the information civilisation is, in comparison with the 20th century, much more varied, much more attractive externally and usually less likely to use violence. However, in its essence it does not differ from its predecessor of the industrial era. Its definitional features include pol...

THE THEORETICAL CATEGORIES OF TOTALITARIANISM AND EMPIRICAL RESEARCHWhere can a given political regime be placed at a given moment in the continuum between the ideal type of totalitarianism and authoritarianism? A precise response to the question is possible after we determine the subtypes in the intensity of the various features of the relevance c...

Research problem A problem is a question which concerns some lack of knowledge. A number of research problems types may be distinguished. The questions about facts are fundamental. However, they are particularly significant in natural sciences. In social sciences (e.g., what is the structure of the ruling elite in prerogative states?) their signif...

Both in the Polish and Russian language the term ‘nation’ is understood in a slightly different way than the English word ‘nation’. It is understood not only in cultural but also political terms, and in numerous contexts it is used to denote ‘the people’ or an ‘ethnic nation/ethnos’. Thus, when we use words ‘nation, nationality, narodnost’, sometim...

It is frequently beyond many researchers’ abilities to understand Russia, whether as a whole or only a part. This can be exemplified by many Sovietologists’ failure to forecast the implosion of one of the greatest superpowers at the end of the 20th century. The present paper does not attempt to present a comprehensive discussion of all the possible...