Our times are often said to be post-ideological. As with most words which begin with a prefix "post-" we are not entirely sure what this is supposed to mean. But it is of the utmost importance to persist in asking questions regarding the ideology and its current condition. What is to be understood by this term? What, if anything, distinguishes ideology from political doctrine? Is the ideological bias a distorting but ultimately contingent feature of our thinking or is it a necessary and

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... ble aspect of the latter? What is the difference between ideological and scientific claims? What is the role of ideological phenomena in the activities of social and political movements? These and similar questions are vital not only to any serious political science but have much broader implications. The articles collected in the volume edited by Professor Maria Marczewska-Rytko and Professor Wojciech Ziętara bear testimony to this in more than one way. What is immediately noticeable about the book is its sheer scope. Not only did the scholars from quite an impressive number of scientific establishments contribute to the volume, but they also analyzed a wide variety of ideologies, doctrines as well as social and political movements. Yet the book is clearly structured, divided into three parts: 1) devoted to the theoretical issues in this field of study; 2) dealing with political ideologies and doctrines; 3) focusing mainly on social and political movements as well as political parties. As it is often the case with publications of this kind, the quality of individual articles can vary significantly. Moreover, due to the ambitious scope of the volume, I must be very selective and restrict myself to a few seemingly scattered remarks provoked by some of the contributions. This does not do justice to many other articles collected here, but I trust that an attentive reader will discover them on his/her own. Let us go back to the question of the allegedly post-ideological character of the contemporary politics. The best known and the most influential variant of the "end of ideology" thesis