Enemy in political narrations of manichaean antagonismThe text is an attempt to draw the reader attention to the importance of mechanisms and potential effects of political narrations of Manichaean antagonism. The author assesses that these type of narrations, par­ticularly when they grow to the status of the official political propaganda, constitute the significant threat to liberal democracy. An axiological antagonism is determining the creation of a state of political war, makes impossible the dialogue and the cooperation between political groups. The rival is taken as the enemy, and political arche is an aspiration to destroy him. Such a scheme is a great challenge for the political pluralism. Antagonistic narrations, especially marked with Gnostic and Manichaean elements most often apply ma­nipulative reductions in complex reality, relying on such public instructions as: low political competence, mistrust, authoritarian and paranoid tendencies.

Neuropolityka to interdyscyplinarny obszar badań, znajdujący się na przecięciu nauk, łączący nauki polityczne z neuronaukami. Nie jest to jednak kolejny kierunek, który, zakłada determinizm biologiczny. Opiera się na przekonaniu o przenikaniu się natury i kultury w człowieku, warstwy cielesnej i umysłowej. Celem artykułu jest przybliżenie czytelnikowi historycznych i teoretycznych aspektów tego wciąż rozwijającego się obszaru badawczego. Naszkicowane zostały również narzędzia badawcze oraz główne kierunki badań neuropolitycznych. Autorzy wskazują na pozytywne jak i negatywne, skutki płynące z badań neuropolitycznych, oraz perspektywy stojące przed naukami o polityce i neuronaukami. Neuropolitics – Genesis, Assumptions, Development Prospects Neuropolitcs is an interdisciplinary research area, located at the intersection of various sciences, combining political science with neuroscience. However, it is not another direction that, as it may seem assumes biological determinism. It is based on belief about the interfusion of nature and culture, physical and mental dimensions in man. The aim of article is to familiarize the reader with the historical and theoretical aspects of this still developing research area. Also the research tools and main research directions of neuropolics were outlined. Authors indicate the positive and negative results of neuropolitics research and perspectives for political science and neurosciences.

The main purpose of the article is to present social engineering as a strategy of social management aimed at monopolizing political power. Social engineering strategies are based on the broad ambitions of steering systems and the long horizon of social changes planning. Social engineering here, is closer to culture engineering, socialization, indoctrination aimed not only at modifying the behavior of controlled systems, but above all at causing permanent changes in the structure of values, emotions, myths, archetypes, and stereotypes. The author presents the main levels, directions of social engineering strategies resulting in a monopoly of political power in areas of: communication, culture, socialization, influence and decision making.

The aim of this paper is to show the relationship between the besieged fortress syndrome, understood as a specific social engineering tool, and populism understood as a type of propaganda narrative. Particular attention has been paid here to the emotional aspect related to arousing the atmosphere of the siege. These are negative emotions, which in the siege syndrome are directed beyond the boundaries of the social system, and in the case of populism, negative emotions are directed towards the indicated intra-system entities. An important assumption is a thesis that negative emotions in both phenomena constitute only a starting point for arousing positive emotions towards the community subjected to socio-technical pressure, and above all, positive emotions that are supposed to create a strong bond between the political leader, the propaganda promoter of the threat, and their supporters or followers.

“CHICKEN GAME” AS AN EXPLANATORY AND PROGNOSTIC MODEL IN POLITICS The main aim of the article is to present one of the game theory models: chicken game. This model is highly valuable in the processes of analysis and forecasting of the behavior of political decision-makers. Chicken game combines the basic assumptions for game theory based on a rational model and elements of optimizing the results of political games through psychological influence, resisting blackmail, and intimidation of other players. The widespread use of such tactics and strategies justifies a closer and in-depth analysis of this model.