The government legislative process as proof of the fictitious division of powers in Poland

The article is devoted to the analysis of the government’s legislative process in the context of Poland’s political regime conditions. The purpose of this article is to draw attention to the specifics of the government’s legislative process and explain its significant drawbacks. The author tries to show that the transparency of the legislation has been disturbed and that, in this context, there is a deformation of the separation of powers. Government and parliamentary centres interpenetrate each other, and the observed functional unity of the executive and legislative authorities, which proves a secure management method, causes the prevailing legislative discourse to be illusory essentially. It does not strengthen the quality of the law being created in Poland. Unfortunately, the observation of negative phenomena after the 2015 elections confirms these trends.

Shortening the term of the Polish Sejm in 2007

The purpose of this paper was to analyze the regulations contained in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 2 April 1997 (The Constitution of the Republic of Poland) concerning the shortening of the term of parliament. The paper discusses the political reasons for which such a decision was made during the 5th term of the Polish Sejm (2005–2007) and the effects it had on the Polish political scene in later years.

The essence and status of the constitutional principle of sustainable development (according to the judgments of the Constitutional Tribunal)

The term „sustainable development” is a”constitutional” term in Poland – in the sense that the Constitution uses, but does not define it. In the Polish legal language, it is a relatively new concept, formed in the early 1990s. By not introducing a definition of „sustainable development” into the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, the lawmakers of the constitutional system left it, in practice, relatively open to interpretation. The current study aims to analyze the decisions of the Constitutional Tribunal in Poland, especially concerning the scope of art. 5 of the Constitution, on the basis of which, among others, the principle of sustainable development was put forward.

Constitutional limitation of political plurality and the concept of militant democracy. Deliberations based on the example of the East Galicia Communist Party trial (1922/1923)

The concept of political plurality limitation specified in Article 13 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 1997 constitutes a manifestation of the militant democracy concept implementation. The purpose of the paper is to verify the hypothesis stating that the East Galicia Communist Party trial that took place in 1922/23 can be treated as historical experience that was conceptually an element of development of the militant democracy theory and thus also of the concept of political pluralism limitation. These notions have all the features of universality, because despite there being no doubt that a democratic system should have effective militant measures, the answer to the questions on the scope of these measures and their effectiveness remains open. Furthermore, the ever-changing political, legal and social reality permanently coerces such deliberations, in order to prevent, paradoxically and for its own good, democracy from unintendedly and inconspicuously transforming into an autocratic system.

The constitutional right to security with regards to initiation of the state of emergency on the border of the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Belarus

The article has been prepared to present the constitutional approach to the security problem with regards to the initiation of the state of emergency on the border of the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Belarus. The publication indicates the relationship between security regulations and constitutional regulations, makes a preliminary analysis of actions taken by the Republic of Belarus, and also indicates a cause-and-effect relationship in the context of regulating the introduction of a state of emergency in a situation of a special security threat.

Constitutional freedom of scientific research and bibliometric impact. The condition of publications with international impact in the countries of the former Eastern Bloc

The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union significantly changed the maps of Europe and Asia. As a rule, the constitutions of the newly independent or newly created states guaranteed the freedom of scientific research; however, in practice this principle, measured by the number of publications with international impact, has been implemented in different ways. This article aims to determine the patterns of international collaboration on academic publications adopted in the countries of the former Eastern Bloc, and suggests possible explanations of differences between them. The research led to identification of four such patterns: 1) isolation from foreign research, 2) effective independence, 3) ineffective collaboration, 4) effective collaboration.

This paper focuses on the unique characteristics of revisions of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Belgium using the so-called “implicit” method. To the extent necessary, the paper outlines the ordinary, extremely difficult procedure defined in Art. 195 of the Constitution for amending the Constitution and then defines the implicit method as an informal method of implied revision of the Constitution designed to “circumvent” the procedure indicated in that Article. The author is critical of the method presented herein. In his opinion, a constitutional revision carried out in this manner contributes to a devaluation of the importance of the Constitution while demonstrating the need for a reform of its Art. 195.

The 1993 Russian constitution has been amended many times. The largest amendment was carried out on March 14, 2020. However, this is not a revision of the Constitution. The amendment includes changes strengthening the constitutional position of the President of the Russian Federation, correcting the federal system and the legal status of the bicameral Parliament and the Government of the Russian Federation. A new constitutional body was introduced, the State Council of the Russian Federation, and, for the first time, a provision on faith in God was introduced. Russia’s right not to recognize rulings and decisions of international bodies contrary to the Russian Constitution and the right to support compatriots living abroad in the exercise of their rights to protect their interests were enshrined. The amendment to the Russian Constitution is of fundamental importance for the policy pursued and the implementation of Russia’s national security strategy.

National identity is an important aspect of shaping the nation. Macedonians create their identity, and thus their separateness from others, with the help of elements that bind the community together, such as - the state, religion, and language. As early as 1991, when the Republic of Macedonia gained independence, the country fought for its national independence. At that time, there were many conflicts related to Macedonian identity. The main goal of the article is to present crucial changes in the Constitution of the Republic of North Macedonia that occurred after 1991 and were related to signed international agreements as well as to two conflicts: Macedonian-Albanian and Macedonian-Greek

Georgia is one of the most democratized states in the post-Soviet space. This article presents the mechanisms of instrumentalization and ideologization of the Georgian constitution and its political and social context. The absence of a consolidated state of the law was found to have four causes: 1) colonial experiences of the Enlightenment; 2) heritage of Soviet legislation; 3) rapid Westernization of the legal system; 4) political actors and parties manipulating the constitution in the name of particularistic interests.

The fight against a pandemic, which is a form of natural disaster, is always connected with limiting constitutional freedoms and human and civil rights. Due to the emergence of the coronavirus epidemic in Poland, a number of legal regulations have been adopted to combat it. The adopted regulations are restrictive and significantly limit the exercise of constitutionally guaranteed freedoms and rights. This article analyzes the limitations of rights and freedoms introduced during the pandemic in Poland, and in particular the manner of their implementation, and assesses the process from the point of view of violating the basic standards of human rights protection. The results of the analysis lead to the conclusion that despite the substantive justification of many restrictions, the manner of their introduction violates the basic standards of human rights protection and raises fundamental doubts from the point of view of the compliance of the introduced solutions with the Constitution.

The article covers the issue of anthropocentrically conditioned relativism characterizing the attitude of humans toward animals. The relativity of good and evil in this respect was viewed through the prism of selected legal texts. Linguistic examples were indicated (various parts of speech, expressions, substitutions, collocations) attesting to cases of normative consent to the violation of animal welfare, resulting, as it may be assumed, from the subject approach to them and subordinating human welfare to them. The need to give the issue of animal protection a constitutional rank was also expressed.

The term ‘human rights’ is used to describe the rights of every person, regardless of their nationality or social position. In the doctrine, the term is also understood differently as the material, social and cultural premises of human independence. Both the concept and the content of the principle of sustainable development are the subject of a broad debate involving representatives of different scientific disciplines, publicists, and politicians representing different options. The authors of the article analyze the principle of sustainable development in the context of human rights. From the text of Art. 5 of the Constitution, it can be deduced that the principle of sustainable development in this layer is a human and civil right, broader than the law, relating to living in an uncontaminated environment. The core of the concept of sustainable development, which is not sufficiently emphasized due to its “appropriation” by ecologists and its complexity unduly perceived by lawyers, is that it formulates rights for future generations. The perception of these rights by the creators of the Polish Constitution, both in its preamble and in its Article 5, should be considered momentous and anticipating its creation.

Law is a social construction. It focuses on the regulation of social relations. The interpretation of legal rules is constantly adapting to the social context. On the other side, the law code strongly influences society’s development, determining the future social context. The Constitution, within the understanding of basic law in any country, is one of the basic legal determinants of the future social context of any country. The Constitution affects the form and the content of the future accepted legal determiners and their interpretation. The regulation of social relations by the legal code is about the human effort to achieve insurance in this uncertain world. This effort might bring the result respecting that humanity has not invented anything more effective yet. Any state and transnational community create own superparadigm - the identical worldview of the society. Regarding the changes of the social context, with no respect to its reason, there comes logically a change of social superparadigm. The Constitution responds to it as well as there are the activities of the courts, having the rights of constitutionality defenders.

Constitutional Reform in Kyrgyzstan. Challenges and Threats to Democracy and the Rule of Law

The collapse of the USSR in 1991 led to the emergence of five independent states in Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. Four of them established an authoritarian form of government, while Kyrgyzstan became the only democratic state in the region. This may change after the referendum on constitutional reform, which is scheduled for 2021. The amendments to the Constitution provide for the extension of the president’s powers, which, according to many Kyrgyz researchers, may lead to the transformation of Kyrgyzstan into an authoritarian state. This article presents the results of the analysis of the draft amendment to the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic initiated by the new president of the country, Sadyr Japarov.

Normative Guarantees of the Freedom of Association in Political Parties in Kazakhstan

The subject of the study is the problem of freedom of association in political parties in Kazakhstan from the normative perspective. The analysis of national regulations concerning the guarantee of political pluralism and determining the principles for the creation and operation of political parties in Kazakhstan indicates for series transgressions and contradictions with international obligations accepted by them at the area freedom of association. The current law on political parties in this country contains very restrictive provisions. It lacks provisions that would guarantee the access of political parties to the mass media and the free organization of meetings and demonstrations. The law also prohibits the creation of religious, national and ethnic political parties.

Pandemic Challenges Versus Changes in the Law and System Practice Selected European Countries

The article presents the changes that have taken place in the laws and systemic practice of states as a result of counteracting the crisis related to the Covid-19 pandemic. The author, pointing to pandemic challenges as well as actions taken by governments of states belonging to the Council of Europe, pointed out that the peculiar bluntness of changes could be most noticed in the construction and implementation of regulations on states of emergency. On the other hand, the issue of modifying the constitution was approached more carefully.

In Western legal traditions, democracy is inseparable from the rule of law, which presupposes the state to establish an effective and transparent judicial system that guarantees human rights and freedoms. The involvement of Lay Participation in the administration of justice (lay judges (mixed tribunal) or justices of the peace (magistrates) is one of the instruments for achieving this objective. The constitutions of the fourteen EU Member States, including Poland, oblige some Lay Participation in the administration of justice. However, the formulations of the norms in the constitutions, establishing Lay Participation in the administration of justice, differ. Based on the analysis of the Polish case, the article focuses on the question whether it would be sufficient to establish a relevant general provision in the Constitution, leaving the specification (form and extent of Lay Participation) to the legislator. The case of Poland has shown that the legislator can, without amending the Constitution, introduce other forms of Lay Participation (such as justices of the peace) or/and extend the extent of Lay Participation to judicial disciplinary cases when they are elected by the legislature; however, this poses a threat to the rule of law in Poland. Therefore, the article aims at discussing the impact of the Polish constitutional regulation of the Lay Participation on the violation of the rule of law.

The subject of the article is references to the truth in the constitutions of modern states. The comparative study shows multiplicity of contexts in which the category of truth is mentioned in several dozen fundamental laws. The mention of truth in the constitutions as a component of the axiology of the legal and social order, the basis of transitional justice or the principle of court and administrative proceedings should be assessed positively. However, making the truth a limit of freedom of speech raises serious reservations. Granting constitutional protection only to truthful statements can stifle the public debate on socially prominent issues. The conducted analysis does not confirm the thesis of political liberalism that the truth is irrelevant for law and politics.

The author presents the constitutional aspects of the general duty of defense of the Fatherland in accordance with Polish law. The article is based on a comparative legal analysis of the provisions of the Constitution relating to the above-mentioned issue and, supplementarily, of the Act on the general obligation to defend the Republic of Poland. The work is theoretical and legal. At the beginning he analyzes the history and evolution of the concept of general duty of defense from the period of independence to the present day. The following part of the article presents the issue of the general duty of defense from the subjective and objective point of view. The author also presents normative acts which, apart from the constitution, regulate the issues of the general duty of defense. In addition, it indicates a number of entities that perform tasks in the field of defense, powers and competences.