The Orientation Frame of Politics

Short Title

THE ORIENTATION FRAME OF POLITICS

Full Title

The Orientation Frame of Politics: The Role of Semantics in the Formation of Political Institutions

Brief Description

The aim of the research is to examine what kind of role the semantic descriptions of politics played, play or can play in formation of basic political institutions.

Research Period

2010.10.01. –  2013.09.30.

Research Type

Basic research

Research Manager

Balázs Brunczel

Researcher

Balázs Brunczel

Contact

brunczel.balazs@tk.mta.hu

Support

OTKA (Hungarian Scientific Research Fund)

Research Summary

The basic thesis of the research is that comprehensive semantic descriptions referring to the whole of politics play a key role in the establishment, functioning and change of the most important political institutions. I call these semantic descriptions orientation frame of politics. In the first, methodological part of the research—relying mainly on Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory and framing theory—I define this orientation frame and its characteristics. The second part, dealing with the history of ideas and society, examines the historical transformations of the orientation frame. In the third, actual political part, on the one hand, I argue that the functional shortcomings of present politics can be described in such a way that the former orientation frame cannot fulfill its function; on the other hand, I collect and examine practices—e.g., democratizing the relationship between science and society—tending toward the emergence of a new orientation frame.