REPUBLICANISM AND LIBERALISM AS FOUNDATIONS OF MODERNITY

Republicanism and liberalism, as foundations of Modernity, are presented in terms of how they are interconnected and condition one another, as expressed in the conception of Jurgen Habermas' deliberative democracy. Firstly, both concepts are concisely defined; republicanism stresses the principle of virtue and community, while liberalism reveals the freedom of the individual and of particular provinces as the basic point in the development of a free order. Secondly, the author shows how Habermas links the two in the concept of deliberative democracy as inseparable parts of the modern political order. After that, the way is discussed in which Habermas uses the concept in his analysis of the European Union, i.e. of the possibility of deliberative democracy in the space of Europeization and globalization. The author concludes that, viewed from the perspective of Europeization and globalization, the effective potency of republicanism has become significantly reduced, while the potency of neoliberal tendencies has grown, with decidedly fatal consequences.