Remembrance is a powerful instrument of social mobilisation, identity construction and political competition. Its impact on individual and shared beliefs or attitudes makes it an object of government’s interest, because remembrance can be used to legitimise ideologies or policies. Theoretical considerations of a government’s role as a narrator lead us to the general definition of the government’s remembrance policy, which we understand as a complex of narratives and interpretations presented to influence citizens’ attitudes, behaviours, beliefs and identities. The paper develops the definition with five theoretical hypotheses on the effectiveness of remembrance narratives. It argues that the government’s remembrance policy is myth-motoric, non-scientific, emotional, based on commitment and that it is a type of social influence. The study is an initial verification of theoretical approach, and I believe that my arguments will motivate other researchers to investigate different aspects of a government’s desire to narrate past events. 

The paper presents results of the experimental study on the government's remembrance policy, attitudes towards it, and the influence of remembrance narratives. It discusses individual differences of participants on three different grounds: (1) interest in history or politics, and level of historical knowledge, (2) features of cognitive motivation measured by the need for closure questionnaire: preference of order, desire for predictability, discomfort with ambiguity, closed-mindedness and decisiveness, and (3) response to the presented narrative, including inspired emotions and an assessment of a story. Collected data and research observations offer an interesting and valuable insight into relationships between various factors and citizen's support for the remembrance policy. They also lead the team to formulate three conclusions which may be used to develop theoretical understandings of this aspect of politics within political science and related disciplines.

W artykule tym autor przedstawił postawy polityczne wśród Nowozelandczyków i Polonii nowozelandzkiej wobec wprowadzenia w Polsce stanu wojennego w 1981 r. W trakcie prowadzonego badania ujawniono następujące zjawiska, które towarzyszyły postawom politycznym wyrażanym w Nowej Zelandii wobec stanu wojennego w Polsce: nowozelandzkie związki zawodowe zajmowały stanowiska dychotomiczne wobec „Solidarności”; antykomunizm ówczesnego rządu nowozelandzkiego; konflikt polityczny w środowiskach polskiej emigracji politycznej; wysoką zdolność Polonii do mobilizacji politycznej. Przeprowadzone badanie stanowiło podstawę do potwierdzenia hipotezy, stanowiącej przypuszczenie, że Polacy jak i Nowozelandczycy w Nowej Zelandii ujawniali postawy antykomunistyczne w okresie wprowadzenia stanu wojennego w Polsce, a społeczeństwo nowozelandzkie wspierało Polaków w Nowej Zelandii w ich postawach antykomunistycznych i działaniach na rzecz wyrażenia dezaprobaty dla reżimu komunistycznego i rozwiązania opozycji demokratycznej skoncentrowanej wokół ruchu społecznego „Solidarność”.

Research on electoral identifications and attitudes and voting behavior is among the most popular planes of analysis of the citizens’ political participation. The presented article is a report from research carried out in the framework of the project “Political Preferences: Attitude – Identification – Behavior” in 2009 – 2014. It discusses the main assumptions and research directions, the tools used and, finally, the results obtained in the project. The presented research project is of a nationwide character, and is conducted on a representative sample of voters.

The authors of this article attempt to describe in detail the determinants and structure of the beliefs and views of Polish society on a liberal to anti-liberal values continuum. The first research objective was to determine the extent of social and economic freedom that respondents expect in their relations with others and in their relations with state institutions. In addition, the authors wanted to identify the socio-demographic characteristics that significantly differentiate these liberal orientations, as well as the factors that independently determine the adoption of liberal views. The detailed hypotheses were verified based on an analysis of data collected in a nationwide telephone survey (CATI) conducted on a representative sample of 1,000 adult Polish citizens. The survey used an original questionnaire consisting of 31 quantitative scales, which were used to construct the Liberalism/Libertarianism Index (LLI) and to categorize respondents into “Polish Liberals” and “Polish Libertarians.” Higher index values indicate stronger and more consistent liberal attitudes in economic as well as axiological (social) terms. More liberal orientations were found to be held by respondents declaring higher incomes, younger, better educated, and less religious, although only age, some party preferences, and religious practices act as independent predictors of LLI.