Krakowskie Studia Międzynarodowe nr 2, 2010 (Miscellanea Americana)

The present volume of Krakowskie Studia Międzynarodowe [Krakow International Studies] is as diverse as America is. Many of the problems discussed here seem from the European perspective – or at least the Western European one – exotic, even parochial, but this is a misunderstanding of what the United States is. In Ame­rica they are real since America is a baroque, extremely pluralistic country, with the citizens devoid of an apologizing attitude towards the democratic process and debating fiercely in public. The first essay, by Marta Dębska, “A Brief History of Americanization”, is a general, concise historical-comparative study which explains the meaning of this term, crucial for America. Andrzej Bryk takes up an issue which Dębska touches on in the conclusion of her essay. Marta du Vall analyzes the very interesting phenomenon of American com­passionate conservatism as a new version of the welfare state, an issue which has been in the air for a long time. Maciej Brachowicz discusses the topic of abortion, which in the American context is especially contested. The subject of Tocqueville and slavery has always fascinated students of America, and Wojciech Kaczor is no exception. He analyzes the problem from the point of view of a French aristocrat. In turn Piotr Musie­wicz analyzes the question of the 19th-century movement reforming the doctrine of the Anglican Church and the repercussions of this reform for the American Episco­pal Church. Rafał Marek takes up another topic connected with this religious side of American life, the issue of the Orthodox Church in the United States in the context of American church-state relations. Marta Majorek takes up the work of one of the best-known scholars and thinkers of anarchism, Robert Paul Wolff, living proof of the robust presence of the anarchist streak in the American psyche full of mistrust of state power. Beata Szyjka addresses the topic of the visa lottery in the United States, pla­cing it within the historical, legal and social context of American immigration law. The last article in the volume is an exception to the entirely Polish group of mainly young students of America publishing in this volume. It is written by one of the most distinguished American scholars of political philosophy, Catherine H. Zuckert of the University of Notre Dame. It is devoted to the work of Ralph Elli­son. As usual the American volume of Krakowskie Studia Międzynarodowe con­tains its Archive section. This time we publish an excerpt from a work by Richard John Neuhaus