Abstract

Hannah Arendt has designated the twentieth century as the century of totalitarian policies of evil. As if detached from this responsibility, being primarily an ethical category, has not been analyzed as a political issue. This text attempts to situate responsibility within the political. The aim is to use Hannah Arendt's political philosophy as a framework and extract relevant categories and arguments so as to set the parameters for the concept for political responsibility. ;Although the text is written against the backdrop of the recent history of the Balkans, it is primarily focused on theoretical queries: the relevance of Arendt's theory today; the difference between guilt and responsibility; the scope of personal responsibility/guilt. The text addresses a significant issue of collective responsibility; and, if it does exist, how is it to be construed. ;Therefore the thesis brings together all the issues relevant to responsibility, the most significant being the category of judgment, but includes also forgiveness and time, refugees and space. The text is geared toward the construction of citizenship as the bearer of responsibility and the primary guarantor of the future