Modelowanie percepcji transformacji politycznej. Podejście systemowe

The book presents an answer to this issue by presenting a research procedure allowing for identification of key processes driving political transformation from the point of view of political actors.

Researchers are provided with a framework for analysis of perspectives towards continuity and change used by political actors in a complex environment. It is a qualitatitive data analysis framework that could be used for the analysis of a wide range natural language texts. This makes it a valuable, stand-alone, or a supplementary analytical tool to be used along with other methods, including process tracing, and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). The framework is based on a five-step procedure involving basics of graph theory, cognitive mapping tools, and system identification models.

The book consists of five chapters – theoretical, methodological and empirical. The first chapter presents theoretical background of the procedure, by discussing roots of the differentiation between political continuity and change. The second part seeks for intersections between systems approach and modelling processes used in science. It also describes system identification models as conceptual tools applicable to an analysis of views of political actors. In the third chapter, details of the modeling procedure are explained by showing each of the steps, with their relationships with remaining ones. All applicable tools are shown in the context of a simple example. The following chapters help in understanding the practice of modeling procedure by presenting two case studies of the method implementation. Chapter four and five show the way in which the procedure is applied, by following the same sequence, explaining types of necessary choices and their consequences for the final result of an analysis. Two examples are drawn from the history of Polish political transformation of the end of 20th century. More than 50 figures and 30 tables show practical ways in which the modeling procedure is conducted.

The procedure could be used by a wide variety of researchers, including but not restricted to, students of communication, political theory, political philosophy, ideology, transformation studies, as well as researchers focusing on decision and policy-making.