POLITICS AND NONPOLITICS - POLITICAL STEE RING AS A CREATIVE PROCESS

If we conceive of politics in the broadest sense as an autopoietically operating subsystem of a functionally differentiated society, the exp ectation that politics ought to guide society past the pitfalls of acu te dangers seems to be dangerously overburdening it. On the other hand , if politics regards itself as a form of autopoiesis there is a tende ncy towards an equally dangerous underutilization of politics. Underst anding politics as a creative process of interweaving politics and non -politics can provide a way out of this dilemma.