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Aims and Scope

The Polish Political Science Yearbook (PPSY) is an international, open access, and peer-reviewed journal publishing high-standard research on political science, international relations, and public policy. The PPSY serves as a forum for academic scholars and professionals to support the latest analytical and methodological advancements and promote current work in political science and Polish studies.

For full aims and scope please visit section "About the journal"

Media and communication are subjects which are closely related. For quite some time in each public debate references are made to an increasing dependence between media and communication processes. Explicit attention is paid to a changing context of the communication process, and especially the process of political communication. The role of media in the process of public communication is, on the one hand, quite traditional; that is to inform the public, popularize information and mobilize citizens to action, all in the name of the public good. On the other hand, it is also noticeable that modern media play new roles such as providers of entertainment, scandals, sensation, enjoyment. All this brings a question: which of these functions tell us about the future of the media, and – consequently – how do they change the process of political communication in the public sphere? And is this what we want?

For most of September and October 2005, the Polish news media were busy covering the parliamentary and the presidential elections in that country. Beginning two weeks apart from one another, with the presidential run-off election following two weeks later, these overlapping campaigns became the most important media and political events of the year. Their conjunction was an occurrence expected to happen once in 20 years because of Poland’s five-year presidential term and a four-year parliamentary term. For the first time since 1989, the result was that the President, the upper house of the parliament (Senat) and the lower house (Sejm) of the parliament are now controlled by the same party, Law and Justice (PiS). For the first time since Solidarity swept both elections, the Polish electorate has also made a definite turn to the right, voting for a political party that supports radical change, the symbolic setting up of a Fourth Republic which will be a morally superior country in contrast to the third Republic, the independent Polish state established after the Solidarity revolution when Poland was the first country in the former Soviet Block to end communism. This essay analyzes the 2005 presidential campaign from the point of view of agenda setting theory of how political communication is framed in campaign messages, media use and media coverage.

The objective of this paper is to analyze two research tools applied in the social sciences for quantitative and qualitative studies respectively, namely codebook, or coding scheme, and individual in-depth interview – in terms of their applicability for studies of populist political communication. To this end, three codebooks serving as the tools of media content analysis in the above-mentioned international studies conducted in Europe in 2012 – 2017 are critically reviewed, and the structure of a questionnaire for in-depth interviews planned within the COST Action IS1308 Populist Political Communication in Europe: Comprehending the Challenge of Mediated Political Populism for Democratic Politics is analyzed.

Artykuł jest analizą sposobu wykorzystania serwisu społecznościowego Facebook przez kandydatów w polskich wyborach parlamentarnych w roku 2015. Wyniki badań dowodzą, że tylko niespełna jedna trzecia kandydatów była w czasie kampanii wyborczej aktywna na Facebooku. Co więcej, materiały informacyjne były znacznie częściej publikowane niż treści o charakterze mobilizacyjnym czy promocyjnym. Nie wykazano też statystycznej zależności między płcią, wiekiem i miejscem zamieszkania kandydatów a intensywnością korzystania z Facebooka w czasie kampanii wyborczej.

FACEBOOK AND POLITICS. THE USE OF SOCIAL NETWORKS BY POLISH POLITICAL PARTIES

The paper presents results of the research project that explored the mode in which Polish political parties use their Facebook profiles. The findings of the analysis prove that interactive and multimedia aspect of social networking is employed only in a limited degree. Party profiles are not used as a platform of the information on party activity distribution. Even basic contact data is not available on each of analyzed profiles. Moreover, as was expected, there is no clear association between the technical sophistication of the specific party profile and the position of the party on political market. Parties which are leaders of the ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) use are not dominating in terms of both possessed resources and the role played in parliamentary politics.

W artykule podejmuję refleksję nad zjawiskiem profesjonalizacji komunikacji politycznej w dobie przeobrażeń wynikających z procesu mediatyzacji. Stanowiskiem wyjściowym w podejmowanej dyskusji jest twierdzenie, że profesjonalizacja kampanii wyborczych nie jest równoznaczna z profesjonalizacją komunikacji politycznej w ogóle. W poniższych analizach przyjmuję perspektywę strategicznego podejścia do działań komunikacyjnych podejmowanych przez organizacje partyjne. W pierwszej części dokonuję krytycznej analizy dotychczasowego spojrzenia na proces profesjonalizacji komunikacji politycznej oraz prezentuję wybrane propozycje badawcze, które mają na celu próbę ustrukturyzowania badań profesjonalizacji. W efekcie podjętych analiz, a także na podstawie dotychczasowych doświadczeń badawczych, w drugiej części tekstu proponuję spojrzenie na proces profesjonalizacji z perspektywy sposobu organizacji działań komunikacyjnych przez partie polityczne.

The aim of the article was to present the means of political communication in the 1997 referendum campaign in Poland, and to find answers for the following questions: 1) who was the creator of political messages?; 2) what was the ideological structure of communication?; 3) what channels did the authors of political message make use of?; 4) in what way did the recipients decode the message?; 5) what was the effect of the political messages?; 6) did the referendum campaign influence the result of parliamentary elections – and if so, to what degree? The answers acquired in that way will contribute to exposing full perspective of political communication.

The issue of researching a narrative in terms of political communication, still being discussed by political sciences as a phenomenon classified between media science and political science, has become a challenging field. Mainly due to political reality, where a word “narrative” has emerged as a very common one. The Polexit narrative, a fairly new political phrase, is an example of it. Taking a narrative into account in research of political science might be fascinating not only in terms of methodology itself, but in terms of real political consequences, including the EU-Poland relationships. So that, the questions here are how to study a narrative in relation to politics, and how a created story – here in case of a hypothetical Polexit and not infrequently soaked with generics and populism – influences political reality, including the misunderstanding of the European integration process.

Taiwanese Attitudes toward the Political Newcomers in 2016

Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan (LY) is commonly seen as an institution comprised of career politicians. In fact, candidates without prior experience in elected seats of the island’s political structures are no strangers to the LY. Moreover, in the 2016 parliamentary elections, the political novices enjoyed unprecedented support and achieved relative success. The New Power Party (NPP), which only formed in early 2015 and popular mainly due to the several debutants it fielded, including Freddy Lim, Hung Tzu-yung and Huang Kuo-chang, emerged as the LY’s third-largest party. Although it garnered only five of the 113 seats (4.4%), it was a great win for the fledgling party, ranking it third behind the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which have reigned over the island’s political scene for the past several decades. This article examines the phenomenon of Taiwanese novices. It looks at them from the voters’ perspective. It surveys the demographic profiles and political preferences of Taiwanese who support the newcomers’ engagement in the political process, and compares them with citizens who express negative attitudes toward the newcomers.

Wulgaryzmy, nazywane w języku polskiego prawa słowami nieprzyzwoitymi, występują w procesie komunikowania politycznego. Polega ono na dwustronnym przepływie komunikatów politycznych pomiędzy nadawcami i odbiorcami z udziałem mediów. Wulgaryzmy są jednostkami leksykalnymi, które w przestrzeni publicznej mogą zaistnieć dzięki mediom, ale to Internet jest tym podmiotem, który je utrwala. Zweryfi kowanie tej hipotezy jest celem artykułu. Wulgaryzmy pełnią liczne funkcje w procesie komunikowania politycznego. Najważniejsze z nich to: dyskredytacyjna, eskapistyczna, katharsis, deskrypcyjna, rozrywkowa, prowokacyjna, a także – w znaczeniu symbolicznym – reprezentacji, integracyjna, delimitacyjna, mobilizująca.

Since the contemporary public sphere has largely moved online, Twitter has become the leading platform of political debate. Potentially harmful echo spheres, selective exposure and social media filter bubbles that limit individuals to their own opinions can be especially alarming when it concerns politicians. This paper aims to investigate the degree of homophily among Polish MPs, simultaneously indicating the way politicians form follower communication structures. The analysis of the data gathered from Twitter revealed observable elements of polarization at the political affiliation level, although the level of parliament chambers was found meaningless in that case. The Polish political Twittersphere is dominated by the two biggest parties, accurately reflecting parliament composition. The use of communication structure is examined throughout this paper, ultimately confirming the homophilic behavior of specific politicians’ groups, especially in terms of mutual communication and its effectiveness.

Behavioural Data in Credibility Assessment: Case Study of Kaja Godek’s Explanatory Statement of Anti-LGBT Law

The paper explores the application of behavioural data analysis in the credibility assessment of a speaker. It presents how researchers investigate non-verbal communication, expressions of emotions or indicators of arousal to evaluate congruency using audiovisual material. Furthermore, the case study of Polish political activist Kaja Godek’s explanatory statement of an anti-LGBT bill on October 28, 2021, suggests possible ways, in which the automated system FaceReader (and Facial Action Coding System as its theoretical background) may enrich methods of social science. As a result, it offers an example of an innovative approach towards political communication and the credibility of an argument.

Information and communication technologies impact many aspects of the contemporary political life. A consequence of the use of ICT in politics is undoubtedly the evolution of democratic institutions and procedures. Modern technologies find their application as tools for exercising democratic power. This is why their importance is constantly increasing. The changes that follow application of ICT and their consequences are especially interesting subject to study and research. This article aims at answering the question how modern technologies (mainly the Internet) affect the processes of contemporary democracy and what might be the consequences of such changes. The deliberations shall concern the context of political market, where three processes between three main actors (politicians/political institutions, electorate, and the media) occur: informing, communicating, and voting. ICT influence these processes by quickening supplementing, and facilitating three various types of activities: sharing information, involvement in the political debate, and participation in the political decisionmaking processes. In the article, the author also pays attention to election silence as a phenomena functioning in the background of elections (which are a very significant element of the political market). Examples provided in the article come mainly from the practises and experiences of the Polish political life.

The European debate on the refugee crisis and the related actions of the European Union has been an important part of the political communication undertaken by policy-makers in the EU countries. Thus, it seems essential to ask the question about the opinions of the most important Polish politicians regarding the causes and ways of managing the refugee crisis, but also about their stance regarding refugees coming from other cultures, and consequently whether they were in agreement on accepting refugees. Also, whether the opinions they expressed were likely to influence Polish society, and whether the problem of the refugee crisis was used for ad hoc political purposes, including in the election campaign.

Shaping a candidate’s political image in the media o ver the years

Communication is an integral part of human life. It occurs simultaneously on many levels and in many different directions. With the development of new technologies and, consequently, with the development of new ways of reaching a mass audience, the media have taken over the main role in this process. Currently, apart from the information function, the media are also assigned other functions, including: educational, integration, entertainment, opinion-forming, communication, economic and intervention. Aware of this state of affairs, politicians try to respond in all possible ways to the needs visible among society, creating their profile as a kind of consumer product ready for sale. This process is increasingly supervised by a whole team of professionals who monitor the behavior of rival candidates and create a persona that will better and more accurately respond to emerging and dynamically changing social needs.