The article is devoted to the characteristics of the minority cabinet in the Scandinavian political systems and especially in Norway and its influence on political regime. Some interesting aspects has been chosen to illustrate the problem of minority government in Norway. Author explains normative and non-normative systemic factors that influenced the formation of the government cabinets without a sufficient majority in the parliament. The main thesis is that creation of minority governments is closely associated with the evolution of the party system and can be understood as a norm of political life in Scandinavia.

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.

Legal status and financing of political parties in Canada

Canada, as an Anglo-Saxon law system arose, with influences of the American legislation, it has not regulated the status of political parties on the constitutional level. Basis of the existence of political parties in Canada, is the Canadian Charter of rights and freedoms. Rules for the registration and financing of political parties in Canada was systematized in the second half of the 20th century. Currently, the activity of political parties shall be governed by the Canada Elections Act of 2004 and Financial Administration. As a general rule, political parties in Canada should be divided into registered and unregistered. In addition to a number of other rights, registered parties are entitled to special conditions of the financing of their activities. Canadian financing of political parties is the subject of discussion since the 1960s and is based on three pillars: donations from private individuals, funding from the state budget (CA. 2 Canadian dollars for each vote) and reimbursement of election campaign expenses (50% in the case of an overrun of the threshold of 2% of the vote on a national scale). It should be noted that supervision of the activities of political parties in Canada have the Chief Electoral Officer and Chairman of the Central Election Commission.

Legal Aspects of Fighting Political Corruption

For years, political funding has been the subject of heated disputes and debates. The discussion on “money in politics” involves the media, lawyers and ordinary citizens as well as those who are most interested, namely the politicians themselves. The issue of transparency in financing political parties and election campaigns is subject to continuous monitoring by international organizations (UN and Council of Europe) as well as NGOs which analyze the problem of corruption in public life (Transparency International). The role of both cannot be overestimated. The paper discusses all of the above mentioned topics. Particular attention is drawn to three themes. First, the problem of how law enforcement bodies define and classify the problem of political corruption is dealt with. Second, the impact of Council of Europe recommendations on the shape of Polish law concerning the openness of political funding is discussed. Thirdly, the article covers the legal solutions adopted in Poland which concern the sources of fundraising by political parties and electoral committees, their duty to keep financial reports as well as penalties for not conforming with financial discipline rules.

Judiciary and Political Parties in Poland – selected problems

The paper discusses the role of the judiciary in relation to political parties in Poland. Primarily, it deals with the statutory right of the judiciary, i.e. the right to exercise control over political parties. The Author’s major concern is to emphasize the particular role played by the Constitutional Court whose responsibility is to control whether the rule of political pluralism is complied with. Additionally, the paper discusses the responsibilities of the Supreme Court and the District Court in Warsaw (Sąd Okręgowy w Warszawie) which maintains the register of political parties. Those responsibilities are particularly important as far as the procedure to register a political party is concerned. The text also includes a large number of relevant court decisions.

W niniejszym artykule analizuję polskie partie polityczne, wykorzystując podejście political branding, które pozwala opisywać i wyjaśniać różnego rodzaju wybory konsumenckie. Głównym elementem tego podejścia jest marka polityczna: zestaw doświadczeń, uczuć, obrazów, kwestii, symboli, które odzwierciedlają ogólny klimat towarzyszący poszczególnym partiom, wykorzystywany do oceniania i podejmowania decyzji, w tym decyzji wyborczej. Celem niniejszego artykułu jest pogłębienie wiedzy na temat marek polskich partii politycznych. Interesuje mnie, jak Polacy postrzegają polskie partie polityczne: jakie cechy i wartości im przypisują, jakie są ich silne i słabe strony, co wyróżnia poszczególne partie na tle innych ugrupowań? W tym celu, wykorzystując dane jakościowe, tworzę mentalne mapy skojarzeń, jakie Polacy przypisują poszczególnym partiom.

One of the scientifically interesting questions is explaining the functioning and effectiveness of the minority government. An analysis of Polish governments (1989–2007) finds mixed support for the importance of parliamentary procedural mechanisms. Yet an analysis of the Polish government after the collapse of communism reveals that a governing party with a central position in the party system can indeed shift alliances and maintain quite effective governance. Additionally, the evidence indicates that minority governments may also rely on alliances across parliament deputies who want prolong the term of office as long as possible. The article concentrates also on duration and legislative effectiveness of Polish minority cabinets.

The article is devoted to the characteristics of Theresa May minority government and its impact on foreign policy. The author concentrated on the political situation in Great Britain in the context of Brexit. Some interesting aspects have been chosen to illustrate the problem of minority government existence in Great Britain. Author explains various factors that influenced the foreign policy and negotiations with EU of the government cabinets without a sufficient majority in the parliament. The main thesis is that minority governments is not able to lead a successful foreign policy in long term and usually fails to be effective in this sphere and Brexit process is a visible example of such situation.

Debut Members of Parliament in the Sejm of 7th, 8th and 9th term. The contribution for the analysis of the phenomenon of the party circulation of elite

Parliamentary representation of political parties is nowadays becoming an important field of activity of every grouping. Members of Parliament, following the standards of party charters, become an element of party elite, holding the official positions in collegiate organs. Personal changes in the parliament then mean changes in the party elite. The goal of the article is defining the scale of the phenomenon of debut Members of Parliament in the years of 2011, 2015 and 2019. The research question which the author was faced with is the question about the scale of the phenomenon of debut Members of Parliament and its consequences for the demographic structure of the Polish Sejm and the particular party representations in the parliament, defined as party elites. Detailed questions concern: the importance of parliamentary representatives in contemporary political groupings; defining whether the scale of the phenomenon in 2015 was significantly different from the election results from 2011 and 2019. The established hypotheses assume that: the important of parliamentary representation in contemporary parties is on a constant growth on the formal level and also within the political praxis, and consequently, Members of Parliament can be called party elites. Another hypothesis assumes that the phenomenon of debut MPs has stood out quantitatively in the analyzed period of time, nevertheless, it has not changed the demographic structure of the parliament dramatically, concerning the other two analyzed terms. The period of the analysis concerns the three parliamentary elections in 2011, 2015 and 2019, which allowed to pick up on the possible tendency of the phenomenon.

Populizm jest zjawiskiem skomplikowanym, ponieważ koncepcja ta nie tylko różni się zarówno w podejściu, jak i przejawach, ale także ukształtowała się w krajach i regionach poza Europą. Podczas gdy intelektualiści nieustannie krytykują i postrzegają to zjawisko jako zagrożenie, któremu należy zapobiegać, miliony ludzi w całej Europie jednocześnie okazują poparcie dla ruchów, partii i osób o ideologii populistycznej. Ten sprzeczny obraz pokazuje, że pojawienie się populizmu jest w istocie odzwierciedleniem szeregu niestabilnych i niepokojących problemów społeczno-politycznych, a także skrajnych emocji i bezsilności ludzi w takich sytuacjach. Celem artykułu jest zatem przyjrzenie się czynnikom napędzającym Brexit, a tym samym zbadanie populizmu na poziomie analizy na poziomie indywidualnym, grupowym, państwowym i systemowym. Wyjaśniając poglądy wietnamskich intelektualistów na temat populizmu, artykuł następnie omawia możliwość wzrostu populizmu w obecnej sytuacji społeczno-politycznej w Wietnamie.

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.

Education as an Subject of Interest of Polish Political Parties in the Second Decade of the 21st Century. Analysis of Selected Election Programmes

The aim of this article is to reflect on the pluralism of plans and projects of the school education system in Poland at the end of the second decade of the 21st century and the positions of political parties regarding reforms of children’s and youth education. The hypothesis of the research in the article is the assumption that the electoral programmes of Polish political parties are characterized by a plurality of educational visions. They often are proposals for reforms adapting education to the tasks of the modern economy, market and social changes. The research method used in the article is the analysis of source documents, i.e. political party programmes, as well as their comparative analysis. The programmes of 14 political parties, valid in the second decade of the 21st century, were analyzed. These were in the order: Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), Labor Union (UP), Polish Labor Party – August 80 (PPP-S’80), Party Together, Spring, Green Party, Polish People’s Party (PSL), Democratic Party (SD), Civic Platform (PO), Modern Party, Law and Justice (PiS), Coalition of the Restoration of the Republic Freedom and Hope (KORWiN), Right Wing of the Republic, National Movement (RN).

Twenty Years Later – Remarks on the Financing of Political Parties in Poland

Financing of parties is an issue that interests and excites many, not only members of specific parties, but also, or perhaps especially, the so-called regular Joes. Emotions may not come as a surprise, as financing parties has provided material for many surprising stories in the past. After 1989, the rules for financing of political parties in Poland were modified several times until they were regulated in the fullest way in 2001, with the introduction of party financing from the state budget. The article takes a closer look at the evolution of the rules on the financing of political parties and analyses the doubts that have arisen during more than 20 years of the current statutory regulation.

Since 2002, the Justice and Development Party and its undisputed leader, the current leader of the state, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, have enjoyed unwavering support on the Turkish political scene. The processes taking place in Türkiye are referred to as the “erdoganisation of Turkish politics.” It is happening both at the level of the state’s internal policy and foreign policy, referred to as “Erdoğan’s foreign policy.” These processes are proceeding in parallel with the growing role that Erdoğan plays in his own party. He became the undisputed leader of the party, and then of the entire state. He is also positively evaluated in the societies of other Muslim states. In the case of Türkiye, an important issue that required analysis was the adaptation of institutional solutions to the changing position of individual entities and paying attention to strengthening the role of the individual/leader within the political system of the state.