Pomiędzy utopią a predykcją (refleksje publicystyczne)

Abstract

The article presents the vision of the development of countries and societies as seen in three
works from the 1990s: Francis Fukuyama’s End of History, Samuel Huntington’s The Clash of
Civilisations and Benjamin Barber’s Jihad vs McWorld. The author compares these visions to the contemporary world, together with their utopian and dystopian aspects, wondering which
of them more accurately predicted the directions of its development. Treating these works as
an entry point, he considers the alternatives of the dominating liberal democracy, analyses
the features of the more and more popular neomedievalism and the flaws and advantages of
direct democracy. Talking about direct democracy, he describes the only functioning example
of such political system in Switzerland. Describing its details and specification, he wonders if
the system analogous to the Swiss one could be useful somewhere else. By referring to this
problem in the context of technological advancement, he considers the issue of developing
direct democracy with the use of electronic media. In the end, the again refers to the works
by Barber, Fukuyama and Huntington, expressing his regret for the lack of other, equally bold
visions of the world and political systems development in contemporary times.
Key words: political system, liberalism, direct democracy, neomedievalism