Andrzej W. Jabłoński

This paper is a contribution to the discussion concerning the methodological and theoretical orientation of the Polish political science community. It aims to answer the question posed in the title by analysing representative texts by Polish political theorists. The scholarly output of four well-known political scientists – Filip Pierzchalski, Kamil Minkner, Artur Laska and Łukasz Młyńczyk – was examined. The interpretation of selected texts by these authors made it possible to show the applications of the category of “understanding” in the concepts of interpretationism, narrativism, understanding naturalism and integral approach. The conducted study indicates that understanding is perceived as the main, albeit multi-variant, task of political science, determined by ontological and axiological perspectives. The analysis proper is preceded by a presentation of the main problems of the subject under discussion, including the meaning of the key terms such as understanding, interpretation, communication, and knowledge.

The subject of this essay is conceptualization of political institutions as an important research field for the theory of politics. An article is divided into seven parts. The first section reminds of the traditions in the institutional political studies. The second part embraces a conceptual analysis and traces a tendency in the political science literature to stretch the concept of institution beyond its original meaning. Third part puts attention to the functional approach to the conceptualization of political institutions. And the next part an author points out the many disciplinary aspects of the new institutional analysis, which requires an involvement of many disciplines such as political science, law, political sociology and economy. The last three sections are devoted to the relationships between political actor and institutions, the mechanisms of institutional power, and the role of social networks in the institutional analysis. 

Presented article offers a general overview of the interpretive approaches in the social and political sciences. The article starts with the definitions and etymology of the term “interpretation” and its synonyms. In the section 1 the author refers to the interpretive methodology of Max Weber and its actuality in the academic disciplines such as ethnography, sociology, history and law. The section 3 explains the usefulness of interpretive methods in doing research within a qualitative methodology in the social and political sciences. Sections 4 and 5 describe the nature of relations between interpretation, understanding and explanation. The last section brings attention on the application of interpretive methodology in the political science and political theory. Instead of a summary the author shares a reflection on the condition of science and a future of interpretative studies.