Celem artykułu jest porównawcza analiza wiedzy politycznej Polaków na tle społeczeństw w zbliżonym kontekście społeczno-politycznym i kulturowym. Kwestia wiedzy politycznej jest istotnym czynnikiem decydującym o jakości demokracji. Jest to także istotna zmienna wyjaśniająca w empirycznych badaniach politycznych postaw i zachowań. Zgodnie z teorią wiedza o polityce pozwala w oświecony sposób myśleć o wspólnocie i jej sprawach. Powinna ułatwiać obywatelom podejmowanie racjonalnych i roztropnych decyzji. Ma wpływ na postawy polityczne i zachowania, powinna uodparniać na populizm i ułatwiać występowanie w roli światłego obywatela. Nasze analizy pokazują relatywnie niski poziom wiedzy politycznej w Polsce, w porównaniu z krajami europejskimi o dłuższym trwaniu demokracji. Jednocześnie jednak Polska nie odbiega od innych krajów postkomunistycznych.

Referendum in the Czech Republic’s Law System

The article discusses the use of the Czechs one of the most significant forms of direct democracy – the referendum. The Czechs are not supporters of national popular vote. They still have not worked out a law on a national referendum. Only once a referendum was held at the national level – the EU accession referendum. The citizens of the Czech Republic and the ruling parties are supporters of representative democracy. The situation is slightly different at the local level, where statistics on the numer of organized local referenda are much richer, and the results of the popular vote show the systematically increasing public awareness of the citizens.

EEC/EU membership has been one of the thorniest issues in British politics over the last 45 years. The 1975 referendum confirmed the UK’s will to stay in the EEC, but it failed to put to rest the argument over Europe. The 2016 referendum took Britain into the opposite direction, but it also reinstated the issue of the EU to the prime slot in British politics, where it is going to stay for the many years needed to settle the new relationship with the EU. The main drivers behind both referenda were the power struggle between the main parties and the gradual entrenchment of Euroscepticism as the dominating standpoint in British right-wing politics. The substantive concerns with EEC/ EU membership were merely a backdrop to the partisan battles leading to both referenda, but the crucial differentiating factor in 2016 was the Conservative perception of the threat posed by UKIP. The Eurozone crisis and austerity policies at home added to the potent mix of disillusion among the voters, who became receptive to promises of return to past glories of the UK freed from the shackles of Brussels.

The rationality of a voter according  to Anthony Downs’s economic theory of democracy

The analyses presented are meaningful only if it is accepted that such beneficial income disparities can be achieved exclusively as a result of a limited redistribution conducted by the government. In other words, this is possible only if the values G to Y on the left-right scale of political preferences are relatively mediocre. As result, it can be stated that, from the perspective of the welfare state philosophy, a given government’s continuous attempts at balancing the income disparities are not an optimal mode of operation, and thus cannot be justified. The reason for this is the fact that there is no rational left-wing oriented spread (with the values G to Y being high) of political preferences, which would result in a dominant aversion to disparities, and which would justify such actions by the government from the economic perspective.
In addition, the concluding remarks also need to include the statement that, even though Down defines in his model the maximisation of the votes received by each party as a primary goal, while neglecting in his studies the various dimensions of the welfare policy of a democratic state under the rule of law, it can still be stated that the policy of focusing on income redistribution, aimed at aiding the less wealthy voters, is suboptimal from the analysed perspective. Therefore, a political party which includes a high level of income redistribution as a goal in its political manifesto is bound to fail during the elections. The reason for this is the concentration of the highest number of voters in the centre. For such citizens an overly high level of income redistribution would entail, as a result of the aversion to equality, a great decrease in the utility function. To be more direct, an overly high income redistribution (with the G to Y value being high) leads to a loss of votes from the centre that is far greater than the amount of votes gained from the left side of the voting stage.

The aim of the text is the analysis of the tasks and activities of the municipal self-government during the organization of the 2020 election of the President in Poland during the period from the beginning of February to May 10, 2020, when, due to the development of the pandemic, the process of preparing the election took a different course. The study is based on documents and five in-depth expert interviews conducted with persons associated with the organization of the elections. This publication draws attention to the lack of knowledge about various aspects of the pandemic, the protraction of the decision-making process, the lack of cooperation, and citizens’ fears.

Niniejsze badanie ma na celu zbadanie związku między obecnością polityki w mediach społecznościowych a aktywnymi intencjami obywatelskimi w zakresie partycypacji politycznej. W tym badaniu obecność w mediach społecznościowych mierzy się za pomocą interaktywności i personalizacji, ponieważ wcześniejsze badania wprowadziły koncepcję obecności społecznej. W niniejszym badaniu zamiary aktywnego uczestnictwa w życiu politycznym zostały zdefiniowane jako zamiar głosowania, zamiar demonstracji oraz zamiar prowadzenia kampanii na rzecz polityka. Stworzono trzy hipotezy ze zmiennymi interaktywnością i personalizacją oraz połączonym efektem obu.

Local Government in the Process of Organizing General Elections During the Pandemic – The Experience of the 2020 Presidential Election in Poland

The aim of this text is to analyse the tasks and activities of the municipal government during the organisation of elections in the period after 12 May 2020, when elections were originally scheduled for, but in which no voting took place. A particular element of the context of this election was the pandemic threat. The study is based on source documents and five expert interviews conducted with people involved in the organisation of elections. The analysis focuses on two areas – the expansion of postal voting and sanitary restrictions at the polling station. This study draws attention to the increased tasks of local government and the short time for adaptation to the new legal regime.