Democracy as a process : The applicability of Norbert Elias’s theory to political science

Abstract

This essay adapts Norbert Elias’s transition theory – presented in The Civilizing Process – to Hungarian politics,  specifically to the period between 1989–1990, following the  change of regime. The first part of the essay summarises  what figurational sociology meant for Norbert Elias and outlines how the analysis will be based on these two terms.  The second part explores the limits of “condition” centred  political science in the period following 1990 and comes to  the conclusion that there is a strong relation between the  mainstream teleological approach to democracy and “condition” centred political science. In the third part, the  author introduces the concept of an open-ended transition  as the key element of post-regime change figurational  political science and outlines a figurational approach to  political science. The essay ends with a short summary which states that, following the post-transitology era, new  approaches need to be applied when describing Hungarian  politics.