Celem artykułu jest określenie oddziaływania Kościoła katolickiego na system polityczny w Polsce odwołanie się do case study – form sprzeciwu Kościoła wobec legalizacji metody zapłodnienia pozaustrojowego in vitro. W nauce o polityce Kościół jest określany jako organizacja wyznaniowa, grupa interesu, aktor polityczny. Autor definiuje Kościół (jako) podmiot, który oddziałuje na system polityczny i jego otoczenie w formie bezpośredniej, pośredniej i sankcji moralnych. Biskupi katoliccy sprzeciwiali się regulacji in vitro, ingerując między innymi w przebieg procesu legislacyjnego. Świadczy to o doniosłym wpływie Kościoła w Polsce na sferę publiczną.

Artykuł koncentruje się na eksploracji najważniejszych czynników indukujących wysokie poparcie dla polityki Władimira Putina. Punktem wyjścia analizy jest charakterystyka rosyjskiego systemu politycznego, który determinuje określone relacje na linii Kreml – społeczeństwo rosyjskie. Mając świadomość, iż społeczeństwo rosyjskie nie jest monolitem, autorka kieruje uwagę na tę część rosyjskiej populacji, która deklaruje swoje poparcie dla działalności obecnego prezydenta. Uwzględniając szeroki wachlarz zagadnień dotyczących tego zjawiska stara się w tekście odpowiedzieć na następujące pytania: na jakie potrzeby i oczekiwania społeczne odpowiadają działania prezydenta? Dlaczego duża część społeczeństwa rosyjskiego nie widzi alternatywy dla Władimira Putina na stanowisku Prezydenta Rosji? W jakim stopniu wartości realizowane przez Kreml wpisują się w wartości uznane przez rosyjskie społeczeństwo?

The Constitution of Hungary as a “political manifesto” of nowadays parliamentary majority

The Fidesz–KDNP coalition won the Hungary parliamentary elections of 2010, which was held in April and May. Coalition capturing two-thirds of seats in National Assembly. Despite the fact that in the Election manifesto were no declarations to change the Fundamental Law, the process of creating the new constitution was started after two months after the election. The final draft of the Basic Law was voted on in National Assembly after less than 9 month after the Election and it’s called “the Fidesz’ Fundamental Law”. During four years (2012–2016) the Parliament passed six amendment acts to the Fundamental Law. Whose main purpose was to adapt it to Fidesz’ political philosophy. Thanks to two-thirds majority, the Government coalition could freely shape the Fundamental Law and (after reform of the judiciary) voluntary in its interpretation.

Polish politicians of different political options, especially while proposing new reforms, declare that citizens should have a say in many issues under discussion. In reality, however, instruments of direct democracy stipulated by the Polish constitution (The Constitution of the Republic of Poland, 1997) and laws are not frequently applied (see: people’s initiative, social consultations), both due to Polish people’s low degree of public activity and because of the lack of parliamentary customs and the authorities’ accompanying lack of willingness to work out new solutions by way of serious debate and considering the society’s ambitions and expectations, also those representing positions others than those of the government majority.
The aim of this paper is to discuss the institution of a referendum in Poland and to present the approach of the Polish political class to the institution of a nationwide referendum using the example of the referendum of 6 September 2015. We also discuss the history of this institution in Poland and address the issue of its legal foundations, as well as present arguments of the followers and opponents of this form of direct democracy. It is also necessary to analyse the motives behind the initiating entity’s decision concerning the organisation of a nationwide referendum from a broader perspective and to evaluate its implications in the sphere of politics.

Interest groups in the Polish political system

There is an inextricable link between interest groups and the Polish state. Their origins can be traced back to the emergence of collective interests. As the state developed, interest groups advanced their organizational forms and secured more prominent influence on public policy. In the beginnings, interest groups played similar role as political parties. Eventually, their activities diverged and differences became apparent. The term „interest group” began to reflect an organized group of people pursuing particular interests of their members. That allowed to draw a demarcation line between political party and interest group based on the type of affairs they are engaging in, i.e. public versus particular, respectively. The importance of interest groups in democracy cannot be underestimated. It is argued that their participation in policy making improves the quality of law, as they are able to supply legislators with relevant data and analyses concerning particular social issues. However, in some instances, activities of interest groups are far from desirable in a democratic society. The most obvious threat stems from ability to corrupt government representatives vested with powers in policy making. Moreover, this particular characteristic is responsible for a negative image of different interest groups in society.

The evolution of the political system of Croatia between 1990 and 2010

The evolution of the political system of Croatia has begun over two decades ago from the victory of the opposition in the first free and democratic election that took place in 1990. The New republican government, working at the beginning in the realities of sunken in crisis socialist Yugoslavia, began social and political changes that led to adopting in December of 1990 constitution and announcing independence. A wide range of president’s competences and the authoritative inclination of F. Tuđman, the “father” of independence movement and leader of the biggest Croatian party, had negative influence on the process of democratization. The state of war that lasted for few years and the lack of control of government in Zagreb over the whole territory of Croatia just added to this process. Only after the first president had died, did the double transformation begun (2000–2001) – the semi presidential system was changed into a cabinet-parliamentary system. At the same time the process of real democratization has started, the government started to fight with the irregularities that remained after the “Tuđman’s decade”. The constitutional changes adopted in 2010, which will allow Croatia to enter the EU structures, are the summary to the evolution of the political system and a specific manifestation of pro-European political moods.

Original solutions of government systems on the example of the Vietnam

System of political Democratic Republic of Vietnam (official name state) from 1946 year after world war is in result of imposing from under French occupation on it two factor begin forming – liberation and conquests of authorities by communist group. It model on regulations in constitutional solutions from other states of people’s democracies dating. Year was turning point in history of Vietnamese state systems 1976, which has been set reunification of Vietnam. New state has accepted modified solutions of hitherto existing constitutions only – Socialist Republic of Vietnam easily. Authoritarian character of state belongs to have in mind functioning political system analyzing and in state apparatus of Communist Party of Vietnam predominating role.

W prezentowanym artykule omówiona została ewolucja ideowo-polityczna Stowarzyszenia PAX w pierwszych miesiącach tzw. „festiwalu Solidarności” (sierpień–grudzień 1980). Przedstawiono podstawowe założenia ideologii i programu ruchu katolików postępowych w okresie, gdy kierował nim nieprzerwanie do zakończenia II wojny światowej Bolesław Piasecki, i ich rewizję po jego śmierci. Skoncentrowano się zwłaszcza na lansowanych przez stowarzyszenie koncepcjach „socjalizmu całego narodu”, samorządności, demokratyzacji, poszerzenia „bazy rządzenia”, wypracowania płaszczyzn do porozumienia narodowego (od Ruchu Porozumienia Narodowego do Wielkiej Koalicji). Analizie poddano również relacje pomiędzy PAX a niezależnymi związkami zawodowymi (NSZZ „Solidarność) oraz aparatem partyjno-rządowym. W programie PAX „Solidarność” nie była typowym związkiem zawodowym, ale społecznym (ogólnonarodowym) ruchem rewindykacji praw obywatelskich, dlatego przewidywano, że powinien on uczestniczyć jako podmiot w podejmowaniu decyzji państwowych, tworząc nową „oś pionową” struktur państwowych. W okresie „festiwali Solidarności” z niezależnymi związkami zawodowymi związało się wielu członków PAX. Stowarzyszenie włączyło się czynnie w pomoc przy zakładaniu struktur związkowych.

The Kingdom of the Dragon. The political system of Bhutan after 2008 – an outline of the problem

Bhutan is very rarely the subject of research and in-depth analysis, which is caused by the small size of the state and the lack of a significant role in the international arena. Few bibliographic positions, in particular in the field of legal and political science, enforces basing primarily on sources such as legal acts and information from official websites. Therefore, the aim of the article is to outline the political system of Bhutan and individual constitutional solutions, as well as an attempt to compare the political system existing before the implementation of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan in 2008 with the current one. The method used is an independent analysis of the content of constitutional provisions and the comparative method. The article introduces the principles of the tri-division of power introduced in Bhutan, shows the specificity of the political system and the individual differences between the absolute monarchy and the constitutional monarchy.

Uznaje się, że polityka jest częścią życia społecznego, dlatego jest również częścią kultury. W drugiej połowie XX w. kultura polityczna stała się obiektem analiz politologów w świecie oraz w Polsce. W związku z tym zaczęto postrzegać kulturę polityczną, jako komponent kultury w dosłownym znaczeniu przez pryzmat ogółu materialnych i niematerialnych wytworów życia społecznego. Stało się to asumptem do rozszerzenia się definicji kultury politycznej o takie składniki, jak instytucje polityczne oraz system socjalizacji oraz edukacji politycznej. Celem tego było wzmocnienie demokratycznego systemu politycznego poprzez przesunięcie z elementów indywidualnych na ogólnospołeczne.

The aim of this article is to assess the susceptibility of chosen components of Polish political system on centralized personalization of the election to the Sejm. The method applied in this process is the qualitative-quantitative content analysis. The construction of the tool that could objectively measure this influence in any democratic country poses an extremely difficult task. For this reason, the author proposed his own catalog of variables, based on the criterion of the relevance of their impact on the process of personalization. This list includes the following determinants: the position of Prime Minister, the electoral system, competencies and the manner of creating the position of the President, the financing of political parties and the role of the mass media. Out of the above-mentioned variables, especially the Prime Minister’s competences and the election system are the key factors that influence the level of centralized personalization, due to which they were graded higher in the assessment of susceptibility.

UN High Representative Within the Bosnia and Herzegovina State’s Authorities – Quantification

The aim of this article is to analyze the position of the UN High Representative within the state structures of Bosnia and Herzegovina in terms of quantity. This institution is so unique that its character and functioning have been the subject of many discussions. The article analyzes activities of the High Representative since establishment and on this basis conclusions were drawn regarding the present and future of this institution. Main trends in the evaluation of the High Representative’s activities altogether were also mentioned with proposed ways of modification of this institution in directions that eliminate allegations about the lack of democracy or constitutionality of this body. This article not only fills the niche in the subject matter, but updates the research conducted so far regarding to the field of the High Representative’s activity.

Artykuł dotyczy procesu tworzenia systemu partyjnego w Wielkiej Brytanii. Występowanie odmiennego funkcjonowania partii politycznej Wielkiej Brytanii ma związek z prawem stanowionym. Artykuł dotyczy: procesu instytucjonalizacji partii politycznych, funkcji partii politycznych w Wielkiej Brytanii na podstawie ustaw: ustawy o rejestracji partii politycznej 1998 (Registration of Political Parties Act 1998), ustawy o partiach politycznych, wyborach i referendach 2000 (Political Parties, Elections and Referedum Act 2000), ustawy o partiach politycznych i wyborach z 2009 (Political Parties and Elections Act 2009) i ustawy o systemie wyborczym w wyborach parlamentarnych oraz o okręgach wyborczych (Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011). Zwrócono uwagę na system normatywny instytucji rządu większościowego w koncepcji partii politycznych i reform konstytucyjnych rządu. Przedmiotem zainteresowania stał się system dwupartyjny Wielkiej Brytanii i rola organów państwowych. W artykule dostrzeżono różne prawne, jak i praktyczne skutki reform konstytucyjnych w systemie parlamentarno-gabinetowym.

Celem artykułu było przedstawienie zagadnienia związanego z ograniczeniem liczby kadencji włodarzy w Polsce. Analizie poddano dane empiryczne, pochodzące z badań ankietowych, w których zapytano respondentów o to, czy opowiadali się za ograniczeniem możliwości sprawowania funkcji wójta, burmistrza oraz prezydenta miasta do dwóch kadencji. Zmiennymi, które wzięto pod uwagę, były: udział ankietowanych w wyborach samorządowych w 2018 roku, deklarowany udział w wyborach parlamentarnych, deklarowane poglądy, deklarowana religijność oraz wiek respondentów. Badania ankietowe zostały przeprowadzone w okresie od grudnia 2018 r. do lutego 2019 r. w ramach ogólnopolskiego projektu badawczego pt. „Preferencje polityczne. Postawy – identyfikacje – zachowania” realizowanego od 2009 r.

Since the first quarter of 2020, the whole world has been struggling with the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. More and more governments are introducing restrictions and bans for security reasons, with the aim of limiting the transmission of the virus and reducing health risks for citizens. The scale of the problem is best illustrated by the rising numbers of infections and deaths. In addition to the epidemic threat worldwide, the pandemic has brought to light many other problems and challenges. One of them is growing crisis of democracy around the world. Using a systemic approach, the article sets out to analyse the state and problems of contemporary Lithuanian democracy under pandemic conditions, focusing also on indicators of democracy and public opinion polls. It evaluates, inter alia, the state of Lithuanian democracy, the political system and its openness to citizens.

The current study assumes that the notion of sustainable development, typical for the discourse on environmental protection, can be also applied to political research and indicates that institutions play a very important role in the process of creating and maintaining the balance of the political system, the aim of which is to build sustainable relations between different participants in its space. The European Union, which seems to feature characteristics of a hybrid organization and displays strong tendency to increase complexity, is examined. The EU institutions have a very important and often difficult role to play in sustaining intergovernmental and supranational influence and therefore often find themselves in contradictory situations. The intersecting efforts to deepen integration and at the same time the need to protect sovereignty do not allow for straightforward achievement of sustainable development of the integration system. Therefore, a distinctive feature of this system is the maintaining of sustainability rather than the actual achievement of sustainable development.

Political stability is a key category in general political theory and in the analysis of political systems. The correct determination of the semantic scope of this concept and its proper operationalization seem to be of fundamental importance for both theoretical and empirical scientific considerations. The text draws attention to two basic variants of stability (invariability and flexibility) and two basic aspects of the concept of stability (phenomenon and potential). The conceptual ordering of the issue of political stability, supported by a literature review on the subject, aims to provide a basis for formulating the most adequate approach to the study of political systems stability. The main purpose of the text is therefore to operationalize the concept of stability and, moreover, to indicate the possible research consequences of adopting the proposed perspective.

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 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.

The Case of KLD. A History of a Community

The article is an attempt to scratch environmental portrait „of Gdansk liberals” who founded the Congress of the Liberal-Democratic. KLD came from Gdansk Social Economic „Congress Liberals”, an informal organization set up two years earlier, a grouping of opposition from environmental Donald Tusk, Janusz Lewandowski and Jan Krzysztof Bielecki – the creators of the magazine „Political Review”. National conference founder held on 29 and 30 June 1990, the group formally registered on October 9 of the same year. His program KLD described as „pragmatic liberalism”. He preached the need for privatization and extension of the scope of the free market. He advocated the Polish integration with Western structures, carefully carried decommunization and the ideological neutrality of the state.