Volume 35 (2006)

Freedom of Speech in Europe and in the United States of America. A Few Remarks on the History of the Idea and its New Challenges

  • Author: Wiesław Wacławczyk
  • Institution: Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (Poland)
  • Year of publication: 2006
  • Source: Show
  • Pages: 7-15
  • DOI Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/ppsy2006001
  • PDF: ppsy/35/ppsy2006001.pdf

One can hardly overestimate the meaning of freedom of speech in the European tradition. It dates back to the times of the ancient Greece, although it was only John Milton who wrote the first tract devoted to the subject in question. In his Areopagitica (1644), Milton skillfully defended the principle of a free flow of ideas by stressing out that an open and undisturbed clash of various information and opinions is a condition of discovering truth in life. The best-known and most frequently quoted fragment of Areopagitica reads: “And though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the ! eld, we do injuriously, by licencing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the wors, in a free and open encounter. Her confuting is the best and surest suppressing”.

Europe history freedom of speech United States of America international relations

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Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons as the Source of Endangerment for the Contemporary World and the Reason for the International Law Regulations Being a Subject of Abuse

  • Author: Wojciech Stankiewicz
  • Institution: University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn (Poland)
  • Year of publication: 2006
  • Source: Show
  • Pages: 16-32
  • DOI Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/ppsy2006002
  • PDF: ppsy/35/ppsy2006002.pdf

Among the kinds of CB Weapons, the chemical one might be considered as the one with the longest history of widespread warfare applicability, whereas the biological one as the developed problem of the recent two centuries but also having its roots in ancient eras. The consequences of the usage of CBs are acknowledged by the international conventions dealing with the CB phenomenon. Although the provisions provide solutions and declarations of the minimised usage of CB weapons as the method of warfare and the limited laboratory testing in accordance to the sake of all mankind, the problem still exists. Nowadays, it is especially discussed after the events of 11.09.2001, which brought about the airborne attack on the the two towers of the World Trade Centre in New York and the proceeding events of the Bacillus anthracis4 intoxication spread across the United States of America. 

international law Toxin Weapons

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The Universalistic Conception of The Civilization in The Social and Philosophical Thought of Pope John Paul II

  • Author: Arkadiusz Modrzejewski
  • Institution: University of Gdańsk (Poland)
  • Year of publication: 2006
  • Source: Show
  • Pages: 33-42
  • DOI Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/ppsy2006003
  • PDF: ppsy/35/ppsy2006003.pdf

Karol Wojtyla (1920–2005), later to become Pope John Paul II (since 1978), was one of the greatest contemporary thinkers. He was a Christian philosopher and Catholic theologian. His thought exerted an in! uence on diverse generations and representatives of many cultures, religions and nations. He was an authority not only for Catholics but also for many infidels and even atheists. He often made controversies because of His firm opinions. He was an aim of liberal as well as conservative critique. The liberals criticized Him due to His uncompromising and conservative attitude to female priesthood, homosexuality, contraception and abortion. The conservatives accused Him of apologizing and conciliatory tone of His voice in relationships with other religions, especially with Jews and Muslims. Because these parts of His thought became most controversial, they were and usually are commented on and analysed by world mass media. But few people found Him a leading contemporary theoretician of civilization despite the fact that He constructed a coherent theory of civilization that is unfortunately distracted in His numerous papers. And my article is dedicated to this theory. I would like to present the core of His civilization’s conception.

Pope John Paul II philosophy social problems

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Deliberative democracy and citizenship

  • Author: Dorota Pietrzyk–Reeves
  • Institution: Jagiellonian University in Kraków (Poland)
  • Year of publication: 2006
  • Source: Show
  • Pages: 43-64
  • DOI Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/ppsy2006004
  • PDF: ppsy/35/ppsy2006004.pdf

The model of deliberative democracy poses a number of dificult questions about individual rationality, public reason and justification, public spiritedness, and an active and supportive public sphere. It also raises the question about what kind of civic involvement is required for the practices of democratic deliberation to be effective. The aim of this article is to examine the last question by looking at the role and value of citizenship understood in terms of participation. It argues that deliberative democracy implies a category of democratic citizens; its institutional framework calls for the activity and competence of citizenry, and consequently, the participatory forms of deliberative democracy come closest to the democratic ideal as such. Also, the model of participatory-deliberative democracy is more attractive as a truly democratic ideal than the model of formal deliberative democracy, but it certainly faces more dificulties when it comes to the practicalities, and especially the institutional design. This problem is raised in the last section of the article where the possible applicability of such a model to post-communist democracies is addressed. The major dificulty that the participatory-deliberative model poses for the post-communist democratization can be explained by a reference to the cultural approach towards democratization and to the revised modernization theory presented by Inglehart and Welzel. The problem of the applicability of such a model in the post-communist context seems to support the thesis presented here which suggests that active citizenship, civic skills and civic culture are indispensable for the development of deliberative politics.

democracy Citizenship deliberative democracy models of democracy

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The Prospects of the Grand Coalition in Germany

  • Author: Hiltrud Nassmacher
  • Year of publication: 2006
  • Source: Show
  • Pages: 65-83
  • DOI Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/ppsy2006005
  • PDF: ppsy/35/ppsy2006005.pdf

The pressure for reforms is similar in all established democracies, including Germany. This is true for all policies. Lower income caused by economic development and ageing societies is a burden on all budgets. ! is increases the pressure on political actors to speed up the decision-making process. In 2005 the grand coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD was welcomed by the German people. Many commentators assumed that the political deadlock would be overcome by the government of the two major parties. Because the second chamber (Bundesrat) is the major veto-player in the German federal system, the current CDU/CSU majority in the Bundesrat was a high hurdle for the former red-green government (1998 to 2005), as until 2006 about 80 percent of all laws had to pass the second chamber. This led to early elections. People hope that the grand coalition under Chancellor Angela Merkel will overcome this restriction, which the SPD-led government could not evade. 

Germany Grand Coalition politics

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Parisian "Kultura" and the Question of United Europe

  • Author: Iwona Hofman
  • Institution: Marie Curie-Skłodowska University of Lublin (Poland)
  • Year of publication: 2006
  • Source: Show
  • Pages: 84-96
  • DOI Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/ppsy2006006
  • PDF: ppsy/35/ppsy2006006.pdf

Let us not concern ourselves with speculations whether Jerzy Giedroyć, when he founded the Literary Institute in 1947 and soon a€ erwards published the first issue of “Kultura”, already suspected that his two creations (especially the magazine) would play such an important role in shaping political ideas of Polish exiles and become his true magnum opus. ‚The fact remains that in spite of its distance from the centers of Polish immigration, the government in exile, and the large Polish immigrant community, the new monthly, while still looking for new contributors and readers, and remaining in opposition to Mieczysław Grydzewski’s “Wiadomości” - which sought to cultivate pre-war traditions - quickly achieved the unquestionable status of a platform for free speech, a forum for the bold exchange of views (these o€ften being unpopular and going against the dri€ft of Polish public opinion in the West), and a leading channel of communication with the homeland. Even though the subtitle (Sketches. Short Stories. Reports) hinted at the editorial sta„ff’s interest in literature, “Kultura” from day one tackled di… cult geopolitical and political problems arising from the situation in post-war Europe. Its publications were characterized by topicality and realistic assessments, which can be clearly seen while studying consecutive annual sets, for example with regard to the process of European unification.

United Europe geopolitical Parisian "Kultura"

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Populism and National Identity

  • Author: Beata Ociepka
  • Institution: University of Wrocław (Poland)
  • Year of publication: 2006
  • Source: Show
  • Pages: 97-107
  • DOI Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/ppsy2006007
  • PDF: ppsy/35/ppsy2006007.pdf

Populism became a signi! cant factor of political debates in Eastern and Western countries of the EU and a new force in European party systems in the nineties. The frame for the discussion on populism is made by the representative form of democracy and responding to it dual system of media of communication. The popularity of populist parties and movements nowadays reflects the crisis of representative democracy. It is accompanied by the growing role of media in politics, which might be seen as the result of citizens’ dissatisfaction with the existing models of intermediation. The media also play a crucial role in the process of identity creation, at the same moment they illustrate the dificulty of defining identity anew.

national identity Populism European Union politics

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Polish emigrants in conditions of integration and unification of the world

  • Author: Andrzej Chodubski
  • Institution: University of Gdańsk (Poland)
  • Year of publication: 2006
  • Source: Show
  • Pages: 108-119
  • DOI Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/ppsy2006008
  • PDF: ppsy/35/ppsy2006008.pdf

The formation of the global civil community causes the e€ acing of division into “the natives” and “the strangers” within the framework of individual states. Integration and unification processes give a new dimension to such notions as: emigration, diaspora and national identity. Emigration is more and more o‚ en comprehended as civilization phenomenon. Its positive economic, political and cultural advantages are the focus of attention; the countries that receive emigrants very o‚ften reap the economical benefits and the emigrants themselves solve the problems of unemployment in their own countries; migrational movements, on the other hand, help solve political and social problems, make the global integration, and mixing of cultural and civilization norms easier. Emigration itself helps to achieve cultural compromises, get used to mutual dissimilarities and accept di€fferences.

Polish emigrants national identity Emigration

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The Desired Public Policy Model for Poland during the Transformation Period

  • Author: Mirosława Skawińska
  • Year of publication: 2006
  • Source: Show
  • Pages: 120-130
  • DOI Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/ppsy2006009
  • PDF: ppsy/35/ppsy2006009.pdf

While entering the transformation period, Poland started changes in economics, which was run by the state and was characterized by the lack of market equilibrium and low degree of satisfying the nation’s needs. The change of the state’s role in the economic system became the major challenge for Poland, which started transformations of the system in 1989. The ending of this major phase of transformation can be gauged not only by the degree of state’s withdrawal from the role of the owner and a manager, and replacing this role by a stable set of systemic rules, but also by introducing new market organizing institutions and the degree of € nancial independence of economic entities from the domination of politics.

public policy Poland Policy Model Transformation Period

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The Influence of External Factors on the Process of Transformation in Poland. The Case of the Polish Presidential Elections of 1989

  • Author: Ewa Suwara
  • Year of publication: 2006
  • Source: Show
  • Pages: 131-139
  • DOI Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/ppsy2006010
  • PDF: ppsy/35/ppsy2006010.pdf

In the first half of 2001 the US Department of State, following a request from the National Security Archive (a US non-governmental organisation), declassified documents relating to the Round Table negotiations, the presidential elections, the crisis over choice of a prime minister and the creation of government (coalition) in Poland in 1989. Those documents, highly confidential until their release, allow us to look at the most important events in the transformation in Poland from a different perspective, which has not yet been extensively analysed. In essence, they indicate the role of external factors which have influenced the political situation of Poland – the transformation and actual decomposition of communism. They include cables detailing the US embassy’s participation in, and its analysis of the events during Poland’s ‘revolution’.

Presidential Elections polish elections Transformation in Poland

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Liberalism vs. Solidarity or Freedom vs. Socialism? Conflicting and Misleading Framings of Mediated Messages in the 2005 Polish Presidential Campaign: A Political Communication Perspective

  • Author: Tomasz Płudowski
  • Institution: University of Warszawa (Poland)
  • Year of publication: 2006
  • Source: Show
  • Pages: 140-159
  • DOI Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/ppsy2006011
  • PDF: ppsy/35/ppsy2006011.pdf

For most of September and October 2005, the Polish news media were busy covering the parliamentary and the presidential elections in that country. Beginning two weeks apart from one another, with the presidential run-off election following two weeks later, these overlapping campaigns became the most important media and political events of the year. Their conjunction was an occurrence expected to happen once in 20 years because of Poland’s five-year presidential term and a four-year parliamentary term. For the first time since 1989, the result was that the President, the upper house of the parliament (Senat) and the lower house (Sejm) of the parliament are now controlled by the same party, Law and Justice (PiS). For the first time since Solidarity swept both elections, the Polish electorate has also made a definite turn to the right, voting for a political party that supports radical change, the symbolic setting up of a Fourth Republic which will be a morally superior country in contrast to the third Republic, the independent Polish state established after the Solidarity revolution when Poland was the first country in the former Soviet Block to end communism. This essay analyzes the 2005 presidential campaign from the point of view of agenda setting theory of how political communication is framed in campaign messages, media use and media coverage.

political communication liberalism Solidarity Presidential Campaign Polish politics

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The Freedom Union. The Decline and Fall of the Party in Postcommunist Poland

  • Author: Maria Wincławska
  • Institution: Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (Poland)
  • Year of publication: 2006
  • Source: Show
  • Pages: 160-181
  • DOI Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/ppsy2006012
  • PDF: ppsy/35/ppsy2006012.pdf

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 Freedom Union Polish politics political system

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Book Review: Marceli Kosman, “United Germany and the Process of European Integration (1990–2002)”. Adam Marszałek Publishing House, Toruń 2004, pp. 205

  • Author: Iwona Hofman
  • Institution: Marie Curie-Skłodowska University of Lublin (Poland)
  • Year of publication: 2006
  • Source: Show
  • Pages: 183-185
  • DOI Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/ppsy2006013
  • PDF: ppsy/35/ppsy2006013.pdf

Michał Kosman’s book is worthy of attention not just within the context of the ongoing discussions regarding deteriorating Polish-German relations. It deserves to be read for a number of reasons, in order to verify widespread opinions on the role of Germany in European politics in the final decade of the twentieth century. The most important of these reasons are: high competence of the young researcher (affiliated with universities in Bydgoszcz and Poznań), his balanced opinions and comments formulated on the basis of German-language publications and magazine articles, and thorough factographical presentation.

book review Marceli Kosman Iwona Hofman

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Book Review: “The Faces of Terrorism”, edited by Sebastian Wojciechowski, Institute of Political Science and Journalism at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland 2006, pp. 216

  • Author: Wojciech Stankiewicz
  • Institution: University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn (Poland)
  • Year of publication: 2006
  • Source: Show
  • Pages: 185-190
  • DOI Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/ppsy2006014
  • PDF: ppsy/35/ppsy2006014.pdf

Terrorism in a contemoprary world plays a vital role. It becomes more and more dangerous due to technical development and access to information on terrorist means and methods allows better communication between terrorist groups. Contemporary political terrorism characterises variety and diffi culty far more developed now then centuries ago. Terrorists are able to interfere into politics of diff erent countries, using terrorism actions to achieve particular goals. €The increase of confl icts and tensions on ethics, religion, ideology or sociolology made it possible for terrorism to appear in new forms and become a solution for current global issues.

book review Sebastian Wojciechowski Wojciech Stankiewicz

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“Governmental Elites of the Third Republic of Poland. Sociological Portrait”

  • Author: Barbara Brodzińska
  • Institution: Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (Poland)
  • Year of publication: 2006
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  • Pages: 190-193
  • DOI Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/ppsy2006015
  • PDF: ppsy/35/ppsy2006015.pdf

€The reviewed position is a novelty on the publishing market in Poland. It was written as a report based on a scientific research run by Sociology of Politics Panel of the Insitute of Sociology of the University of Warsaw directed by Jacek Raciborski. €The reading matter of the book concerns an analysis Jerzy Buzek and Leszek Miller cabinets, which by the fact of a complete difference between the mentioned above makes it only more reading-worthty. €There should be doubt that the undertaken problem is a point of interest for political scientists and sociologists, however it does not make it any easier to study. One of the most significant problems, which authors did shed some light on, is a fact that their repsondents tend to stay silent on many cases.

book review Barbara Brodzińska Jacek Raciborski

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Book Review: A publishing review of a work written by Arkadiusz Kawecki entitled “From a Plebiscite to Elections: Birth of a Democratic Party System of Regional Societies”, Adam Marszałek Publishing House, Toruń 2006, pp. 280

  • Author: Joanna Marszałek–Kawa
  • Institution: Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (Poland)
  • Year of publication: 2006
  • Source: Show
  • Pages: 193-195
  • DOI Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/ppsy2006016
  • PDF: ppsy/35/ppsy2006016.pdf

Doctor Arkadiusz Kawecki is an employee of the Institute of Political Science and European Studies at the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Szczecin. His academic interest is focused on the problems connected with the formation of a democratic system in Poland, developing election processes, and the birth of local communities. In addition, he is concerned with German studies. The reviewed work is en endeavour to present the processes of birth and the following stages of the formation of voting attitudes and behaviours of local communities. It has been conducted taking into consideration the development in the former Szczecin district of political organizations, individual and collective examples of political activity, the process of election campaigns and the results of elections. The proceedings have been performed on the background of transformations and stages of democratization of public life in Poland, institutionalization of which took place as a result of another presidential, parliamentary, and local authority elections.

book review Arkadiusz Kawecki

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Book Review: A publishing review of a work edited by Maria Marczewska–Rytko entitled “Populism at the Turn of the 20th and 21st Century: A Panaceum or a Trap for Modern Societies”, Adam Marszałek Publishing House, Toruń 2006, pp. 250

  • Author: Joanna Marszałek–Kawa
  • Institution: Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (Poland)
  • Year of publication: 2006
  • Source: Show
  • Pages: 195-197
  • DOI Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/ppsy2006017
  • PDF: ppsy/35/ppsy2006017.pdf

Recently on the publishing market there appeared an interesting work devoted to the issue of populism in the current politics. € is book defi nitely deserves special attention. First of all, it successfully fits in the bibliography so far, just to mention the work edited by Ryszard Markowski Populism and Democracy or a book by Joanna Dzwończyk entitled Populist Tendencies in a Post-Socialist Society. Secondly, the reviewed work presents the reader with a wider perspective.

book review

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Book Review: Jerzy Muszyński: “Information Society: Political Science Drafts”, Adam Marszałek Publishing House, Toruń 2007, pp. 290

  • Author: Joanna Marszałek–Kawa
  • Institution: Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (Poland)
  • Year of publication: 2006
  • Source: Show
  • Pages: 197-199
  • DOI Address: http://dx.doi.org/10.15804/ppsy2006018
  • PDF: ppsy/35/ppsy2006018.pdf

Prof. Jerzy Muszyński is a member of the Political Sciences Committee at the Polish Academy of Sciences. His academic interest is centered around the issues connected with the history of political and legal doctrines, the history of states and legal rules, political science, political systems, and the recent political thought. He is the author of numerous academic dissertations and articles, and an editor of collective works. He publishes his research both in Poland and abroad. Jerzy Muszyński has also been for many years an academic lecturer and researcher in the area of legal studies and political science. 

book review Jerzy Muszyński

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