Research Approaches and Strategies in Polish Theoretical Political Science

This article attempts a retrospective analysis of the research approaches and strategies that have served Polish political theorists as metatheoretical and methodological tools. Its structure is divided into two sections, one focusing on research approaches and the other on research strategies. The former are primarily concerned with cognitive issues in political science, while the latter deal with their object of study. The text takes into account the often implicit or merely declarative nature of methodological approaches, which, for obvious reasons, was a challenge for the analysis itself. The starting point was the traditional division of political science into empirical and normative theories. This followed directly from the distinction of the functions of science between explaining and understanding. Besides this division, constitutive for political scientists, Polish theoretical political science is shown through the prism of approaches such as interpretivism, constructivism and critical theory, as well as the most popular methodological strategies: content analysis, critical discourse theory or textual analysis.