The origin of political power is one of the key issues discussed in political philosophy. Generally-speaking, two main positions can be indicated – political power is viewed either as a consequence of the political nature of man or as the result of a social contract. Regardless of which position a particular researcher finds more compelling, he or she will admit that the very fact of political power’s existence influences the shape of the community in which that power emerged or which it created. The next issue of Horizonty Polityki will be devoted to this topic, i.e. the relationship between political power, its model and functioning, and the community it commands. We are particularly interested in such matters as:

1. the different ways of understanding the community and its relationship with political power within the history of ideas;
2. the relationship between hypotheses concerning the origin of political power and its models, as well as related ways of understanding the community;
3. contemporary challenges surrounding the community-building role facing political power within the context of pluralistic societies and multi-directional development;
4. the relationships between civic-political communities and religious communities and the possible role of political authority in shaping those relationships.

We are open to diverse and interdisciplinary analyses, whether from the perspective of the humanities (e.g. philosophy, theology, history), the social sciences (e.g. political science, sociology, psychology), or the natural sciences (e.g. evolutionary psychology, biological anthropology), as the subject matter is so complex and significant, both from a practical and purely cognitive perspective, that it requires as comprehensive a discourse as possible.