Lewiatan, Behemot, obywatel – liberalne zmagania z suwerennością
Leviathan, Behemoth, citizen – liberalism confronting sovereignty

Author(s): Sławomir Szarejko
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, Political Theory, Political Sciences, Security and defense
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: political liberalism; doctrine of sovereignty; political authority; liberal state
Summary/Abstract: This article explores how liberalism, using several easily identifiable concepts (law of nature, rights of the individual, social contract), obscures the role of politics. Liberal discourse not only indicates the basis of political authority but also posits a relation-ship between the legitimate political order and the emancipation of the individual. The liberal political theory rejects the absolutisation of established power. Nevertheless, it reproduces the relations of domination and legitimises the existing order, as long as it may be presented as a product of rational and peaceful communication. Thus, liberal political theory functions as a discourse of power and domination masked by an act of voluntary submission by which subjects constitute themselves as wanting to be ruled over.

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