The author of the article argues that constitutions are written in a well-thought-out manner, in view of the scope of matters to be considered, their subjective content, particular sequence and internal composition. Constitutional issues mostly reflect general experiences of a number of countries, but also unique solutions of the country’s own historical experience. The Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 1997 is an act founded, in principle, on liberal-democratic philosophy which takes into account experiences from systemic transformation since 1989, and reflecting political and axiological compromises made during the preparation thereof. In the conclusion, the author finds, above all, that the Constitution meets the current standards of European constitutional law. Apart from some deficiencies mentioned in the article, the author does not find need for any considerable modification or supplement, unless a substantial change is to be made in the philosophy of political system on which it is framed.
Karachay-Circassia, is very small both in the territorial and demographic aspect and is widely considered as one of the most politically unstable state-subjects of the Russian Federation. This instability is implied by a combination of many factors occurring against a relatively stable historical and cultural background. This background consists of: multiethnicity, colonization and sovietization, deportations, migrations, ethnic segmentation of the society, ethno-clanishness, ethnic and territorial conflicts and the geopolitical situation. The latter has often decomposed the natural development of nation-creating and state-creating processes. Moreover, it has also been the main cause of numerous tragedies of the local populace which sometimes has put its very biological existence under threat.
At the turn of the 21st century, under the influence of “quick transformation” undergone by the international relations, we have rather to do with “a carnival” of theoretical approaches competing with each other. Undoubtedly, it hampers the discourse about the research area within the scope of what is usually de" ned as international relations, and about epistemological condition of the discipline with over 100 years of tradition. In this theoretical chaos there are being posed questions if the international relations are “clearly de" ned domain of intellectual reflection, if they have specific features distinguishing” them against other social sciences, or if it is possible to create universal mega-theory in the international, dynamic, diverse and energetic environment, and if yes, then further questions are appearing. They concern two issues: ontological beings around which the international relations, seen as “autonomous,” scientifically clear discipline, would consolidate, and methods of acquiring knowledge about it. Those who doubt, especially philosophers and sociologists, pose also questions if and how much it is possible to get objective knowledge, that is not burdened with the reflex of subjective system of values, ideas and experiences of a researcher.
Emergence of parties and party systems in Central and Eastern Europe after the fall of Communism, in comparison with the emergence of parties and party systems in Western Europe, was different in at least two ways. First, they were forming up in the time of crisis of political parties in general. Western political parties, as Martin Seymour Lipset and Stein Rokkan indicated were a result of sociolopolitical cleavages (Lipset, Rokkan 1967), which enabled them to formulate their programmes and define their electorates. However, since the late 1960’ there have been many changes, due to new socio-political context. Relations between parties and their electorates started to diminish as a result of new sociopolitical differences and the parties themselves started to look for new supporters (tried, with the help of media, to become catch all parties). Parallel to this, ideologies stopped playing the main, defining role in the process of voting for the party. But still, as Lipset claims in an article describing party systems in postcommunist Europe, parties must have steady voter alignments based on sociopolitical divisions in order to successfully take part in consecutive general elections, until then they are unstable.
The following review presents a recently published monograph written by Tapio Raunio and Thomas Sedelius which tackles the issue of formal and informal aspects of the semi-presidential model of the political system. The book covers three cases: Finland, Lithuania, and Romania. The authors have thoroughly discussed both the institutions for coordinating cooperation between presidents and prime ministers and the informal paths of presidential influence. Such influences are factors that destabilise the regular coordination of exercising the executive power. It is found that the key factors that destabilise cooperation of presidents and prime ministers are: the political culture of a particular society and the type of political leadership presented by each president.
Tekst jest próbą skonfrontowania tezy o tzw. „apolityczności” władzy sądowniczej z politologiczną analizą jej funkcjonowania jako instytucji systemu politycznego. Podstawą przeprowadzonej analizy jest ukazanie politycznej wielowymiarowości judykatywy z jednoczesnym ukazaniem odrębności jakie odróżniają ją od legislatywy i egzekutywy. W dalszej kolejności omówione jest zjawisko judykalizacji polityki czyli zwiększania zakresu wpływu orzecznictwa sądów powszechnych na polityczny proces decyzyjny oraz jego konsekwencje dla funkcjonowania demokratycznych systemów politycznych. W jego ramach zaakcentowana została tzw. polityczność bezpośrednia i pośrednia, będące efektem złożonych relacji łączących władzę sądowniczą z pozostałymi organami władzy państwowej.
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The text aims at juxtaposing the thesis of the so-called “apoliticality” of the judiciary with the political-scientific analysis of its functioning as an institution of a political system. At the outset, the analysis is focused on demonstrating the multidimensionality of the judiciary, highlighting at the same time the features distinguishing it from the legislature and the executive. Further on, the phenomenon of judicialization of politics is elucidated. Judicialization is viewed as increased influence that the jurisdiction of the common courts exerts on the political decisionmaking process and its ramifications for the functioning of democratic political systems. The analysis encompasses deliberations on the so-called direct and indirect politicality understood as the off shoot of complex relations established between the judiciary and the remaining bodies of state authority.
The aim of this article is to present the legitimacy of power in Russia. The special emphasis is placed on the correlations between Russian political culture and the legitimacy of the power of Vladimir Putin. Taking into consideration that social acceptance and support given to the authorities are the result of the relationship between the values pursued by the government and the values recognized by the society, the author presents the example of this mechanism in Russia. As many theorists note, investigation of the degree of legitimacy of the authorities should be determined by the compatibility of arguments that are used by the rulers and values and attitudes approved by the society. Therefore, this paper will present the relations between the authorities and society as well as the perception of Vladimir Putin’s domestic and foreign policy by residents of the Russian Federation.
The paper's objective is to provide a methodical review of facts and artifacts of social dialogue in Poland. The author states number of questions regarding the nature of social dialogue in Poland such as its alleged superficiality, efficiency in solving industrial disputes and viability as a source of political legitimisation. While admitting that social dialogue retains a superficial character, the author remarks that such statement may by true only if one limits its attention to instrumental functions of social dialogue. The question concerning social dialogue's potential to prevent escalation of conflicts remains open. Finally, Polish social dialogue is described as possibly able to serve as a significant source of legitimisation to the political system.
The Federal Council (Bundesrat) is one of the main public authorities in Germany. It is one of the four federal public authorities, which – in accordance with the listing included in the Basic Law (Grundgesetz), are Bundestag, Bundesrat, Bundespräsident and Bundesregierung. Their exceptional status results from the fact that their competences are explicite listed in the Basic Law, not – as in the case of other public authorities – in ordinary law. As the Federal Council is one of the main public authorities, it cannot be understood at the same time as a part of another authority. It is an enormous institutional misunderstanding to present the Bundesrat as the second or higher chamber of the German parliament.
The purpose of the article is to analyse the definitions of the role that Catholic Church plays in the public sphere, as well as to propose the typology of forms of its impact on the political system. The term ‘Church’ is understood here as the ‘hierarchical Church’ rather than the community of believers. In the political science the Church is defined as a religious organisation, an institutionalised religious community, a group of interests, a political player or a political subject. The Church exerts influence on the political system by means of classical lobbying and moral sanctions. The power of this institution depends on: the religious structure of the society, the model of relations among religious denominations, the presence political parties that support the Church and, last but not least, the tradition.
Constitutional model is a broad concept combining different political and legal aspects, among which two main aspects (namely negative and positive ones) can be distinguished. The constitutional lawgiver avoids negative models, bearing in mind bad experiences of its own country and/or other countries, and at the same time willingly draws inspiration from positive model. It should be noted that, in this context, three models may be used, a systemic model which involves the reception of the entirety of values and constitutional arrangements (both formal (in book), contained in the provisions of law, and actual (in action), arising out of political practice), or institutional, referring to one or more specifi ed institutions in the country, and political, which shows the standards of behavior in specifi c situations of political life. The author characterizes each of these models using the examples of system of government existing in constitutional modern states.
The meaning of dialogue can differ. In a very narrow sense it is defined as a reciprocal conversation between two or more persons. However from scientific point of view it should be first of all understood as an universal value, one of the most important premises for social actions. Dialogue should be than seen either as a form of bilateral or multilateral relations on global or regional scale or as a method of reaching political decisions inside the political system, functioning as a stabilizing factor. A constructive dialogue is constituted by three basic rules: rule of mutual understanding; rule of mutual respect; rule of integrity of each side’s convictions and behavior. Coexistence of these aspects creates practical mechanisms for solving problems of human condition, civilization threats and social and cultural conflicts in a globalized world.
The author of the article discusses the issue of local security in Poland in the period after the turbulent changes in 1989. He presents how changes to the country’s political system led to a considerable redefinition of national security. He also determines how the situation influenced the development of a new strategic culture.
Views of the National Party (1928-1939) merit special attention, given both the Party’s prominent role in the political life of interwar Poland and the interesting combination of various elements derived from diverse ideological trends within the Party’s programme. The ideological legacy of the National Party reflected, to a large extent, the key constituents of the National Democracy’s political thought, such as nationalism, representation of all social classes, national integrity and the concept of the nation-state. The National Party underwent major evolution and was subject to internal divisions which makes the image of its political thought much more complex. Based on an analysis of the National Party’s political thought, several conclusions can be formulated. The National Party developed its own views regarding political systems. These were, to a large extent, determined by their own system of values based on the national idea. The National Party’s political system projections were mainly inspired by (1) the successes of the “new type” states; (2) pressure from totalitarian systems; and (3) the influence of the economic and spiritual crisis. The National Party leaders wanted to make the political system more efficient. Nonetheless, views in favor of directly imitating any foreign political systems could hardly be found in the Party’s political thought. The National Party’s ideologists and journalists invariably stated that there was no pre-defined political system, but its form had to be adjusted to the specificity and unique character of a given national body. Although inspiration was drawn from external political systems, the Party’s political thought did not lose its independence.
The main object of analyses provided in the paper is one of the key problems of contemporary Poland’s democracy, i.e. the “destructive” model of political rivalry. Action aimed at discrediting a rival in direct “confrontation” proves more beneficial than long-term planning resulting in realization of positive reform plan. As a result political elites cater to their own political needs forgetting about their social role in regard to citizens. As a consequence the gap between the society and politics grows even bigger. The society becomes more and more depoliticized. Indicators of associating oneself with political parties are the lowest in the whole of European Union. Most of the citizens admit they have no-one to vote for, they do not associate themselves even with the party they are voting for the general perception of politicians is extremely critical. It seems that it is important to put clearer emphasis on the fact that the whole of the political stage is responsible for said negative phenomenon.
Applying systems analysis in political science research is still one of the important dimensions of political science methodology. Reconstruction of the functional model of the social system seems to be an attractive proposition for policy researchers. Signed by the name of Jeffrey Charles Alexander, the American version of neofunctionalism is one of the responses to the crisis of traditional forms of structural functionalism. The main purpose of the reconstruction of T. Parsons’s theory was its revitalization consisting in restoring the possibility of its application in contemporary social research. The reinterpretation of the classical approach was to a large extent “forced” by harsh criticism of the current approach and focused especially on attempts to overcome the limitations contained therein, which manifested in the impossibility of correlation of functional theorems with newly developing research currents Jeffrey Alexander restored relevance and emphasizes suitability for interpreting and explaining political processes and phenomena. Understanding the concept of functions and functional relations in the political environment allows for effective application in the analysis of contemporary political systems. Therefore, changing the method of functional analysis is a useful methodological tool in developing a political theory.
In the case of Armenia the armed conflict concerning territorial claims to Nagorno-Karabakh constitutes the key issue. Developing strong executive authority stemmed from the belief that a strong President will handle the difficult period of political and economic transformation. Recent attempts to increase the parliamentarization of Armenia’s political system represent an effort to shape an officially parliamentary, but actually barely changed system preserving the strong position of the chief of state or another decision-making center.
Article refers to the ratio Party activists groups „Change” to the recent history of Polish-Russian relations. In what way it is portrayed in contemporary Poland. They show their importance for historical policy pursued for in elite of the Third Republic. It shows the importance of symbols. We analyzed the documents that have been issued by this group. The author also reached the journalistic speech, as well as representatives of the scientific Party „Change”.
The study focuses, in the context of the position of Carpathian Ruthenia in the political system of the First Czechoslovak Republic, on the issue of the parliamentary elections, specifically on the representation of Carpathian Ruthenia in the Czechoslovak National Assembly. Within the issue of the parliamentary election, it highlights particularly the uneven limitations of the rules for election to the National Assembly for Carpathian Ruthenia, putting at disadvantage the easternmost tip of interwar Czechoslovakia in the central legislative body of the country. From the perspective of the political situation, it also summarizes the political stratification of the voters of the easternmost tip of the Czechoslovak Republic of that time, from the perspective of the Carpathian-Ruthenian results of the four parliamentary elections of the First Republic.
The purpose of this paper is to make a contribution to the understanding of the domestic patterns of the political competition in Turkey. Moreover, the paper will also focus on the new doctrine of Turkish foreign policy implemented after the electoral victory of the pro-Islamic Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi – AKP) in November 2002. In this article the AKP political platform is analyzed as a moderate pro-Islamic party because of its past connections with the Islamic National Outlook Movement of Necmettin Erbakan. In literature on the topic, all the Islamic political parties were connected to the political thought of N. Erbakan and known as the organizations of the National Outlook Movement tradition (Milli Görüş Hareketi). It should be noted that on this point, the first party was the National Order Party (Milli Nizam Partisi), second, the National Salvation Party (Milli Selamet Partisi), third the Welfare Party (Refah Partisi) and fourth the Virtue Party (Fazilet Partisi).
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