Pomiędzy utopią a predykcją (refleksje publicystyczne)

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