Functioning of the parliamentary opposition during the period of the Constitution of 1921 and 1997 – selected issues

This article is a jubilee text, intended to celebrate the centenary of the adoption and entry into force of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 1921. The author discusses the issues of the functioning of the parliamentary opposition in two historical periods of the 2nd and 3rd Republic of Poland, analyzing legal regulations and political mechanisms. Due to the limited volume framework of this study, this analysis has been limited to some issues only. Their selection was primarily determined by the similarities in the sphere of normative and political phenomena that can be noticed in both epochs. Hence, the article includes topics related to: the legal basis and the normative concept of the functioning of the parliamentary opposition, the impact of the parliamentary opposition on the appointment of positions in the internal organizational apparatus of the Sejm, relations between the parliamentary opposition and the Marshal of the Sejm, the levels of rivalry and cooperation between the parliamentary opposition and the ruling camp. The author’s argument leads to a bitter reflection that the existing parliamentary system has still not freed itself from the ballast of the past and is far from a system adhering to the developed standards of protection of the rights of the opposition that exist in modern countries.

Foreign policy of the Republic of Poland. Considerations in the context of the March constitution and the constitution of 1997

The aim of the study is to analyze the constitutional solutions concerning the conduct of foreign policy by the Republic of Poland. The areas of consideration will include solutions that functioned under the rule of the March constitution, as well as solutions that were enshrined in the binding constitution of 1997. The analysis of the current solutions will also include issues related to European policy. The aim of the article is to present and compare the solutions contained in the March constitution and the constitution of 1997. The solutions functioning under each of the analyzed constitutions assume the primacy of one of the executive authorities in the field of conducting the state’s foreign policy. The analysis of individual solutions in this respect leads to the conclusion that the burden of conducting foreign policy by the president under the March constitution was transferred under the 1997 constitution to the Council of Ministers and the Prime Minister.