This article employs selected, basic theories of intergroup relations to examine and interpret the anti-Polish sentiments after the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom. It argues these theories have a universal utility for analyzing and explaining inter-group conflicts in multiracial and multicultural societies. The value of this article lies in applying a novel combination of theories to study these sentiments; it also critically reflects on the existing literature regarding the intergroup relations.
The article shows the influence of ethno-social problems on the Ukrainian-Polish relations in Right-Bank Ukraine. Author in the debate with researchers of the issued problem proves that at the late 18th and early 19th centuries Polish-Ukrainian relations weren’t of antagonistic character neither in the ethno-social nor in the ethno-political sphere. The author doesn’t idealize relations between Ukrainian peasants and Polish landowners, but argues that the nobility understood sense of human dignity and needed the support of the local inhabitants, especially after the defeat of the rebellion in 1830-1831. Peasants realized that their socialeconomic situation wouldn’t change: Russian landowners would come instead of Polish landowners. Therefore, there appeared political organizations aimed at complete emancipation of the peasants, transferring the lands to the property of peasants without compensation and the complete political equality irrespective of the social origin, religion and nationality.
Three traditions of the understanding politics, which have been traced in this article are: 1. politics as participation, 2. politics as conflict and the exercise of force, and 3. politics as a governing process. The first tradition was founded by the ancient Greek philosophers, especially Aristotle. Its main thesis was the unity of politics, society and ethics. Politics in this tradition was understood as a civic activity motivated by the ideas of justice and public good. This classic tradition constitutes a marginal current of the contemporary empirical theory. The second (modern) tradition in political theory understands politics as a sphere of conflict to be resolved by the exercise of force. It takes the origins in the Machiavellian and Hobbesian political writing. The third tradition – politics as a governing process- is a dominant paradigm of the contemporary theory of politics. Its key concepts are: group pluralism, public policy, performance politics and governance.
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