Constitutional System of the Republic of Poland

The Course is designed to provide students with through understanding of Polish political systems and processes, as well as the ideas and issues that have shaped contemporary Polish politics since 1989.

The Course is designed to provide students with through understanding of Polish political systems and processes, as well as the ideas and issues that have shaped contemporary Polish politics since 1989. The Parliament, President, political parties, the Government and the Prime Minister, political ideology, political culture and foreign policy are the main topics discussed in this curse. Throughout the course, comparisons with political systems in other countries will be made as a point of reference to provide the student with a framework for understanding Polish politics and society.

Whilst students are expected to learn the fundamentals of politics in Poland, this course is not about “memorizing” factual detail. Rather, they should approach this class from an “analytical” perspective. Students are also expected to keep up with current affairs in Poland.

CORE TEXT BOOKS, ARTICLES AND MATERIALS:

1. Stanisław Sulowski (ed.), The Political System of Poland, (1st edition), Warsaw, ELIPSA: 2007 (or most recent edition available). All references on course outline taken from 1st edition, do double check chapter numbers when doing the reading.

2. B. Banaszak, The System of Government in Poland, [in:] N. Chronowski, T. Drinóczi, T. Takács, Governmental Systems of Central and Eastern European States, 1st edn., Oficyna a Wolter Kluwer business, Warszawa 2011, pp. (501) 524– 552.

3. Andrzej Antoszewski (2010), Parties and party systems in the EU Member States at the Turn of the 20th and 21st Centuries, Toruń: Adam Marszałek.

4. Katarzyna Sobolewska-Myślik, B. Kosowska-Gąstoł B., P. Borowiec (eds.) (2016), Organizational Structures of Political Parties in Central and Eastern European Countries. Wyd. Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Jagiellonian University Press, Kraków.

5. G. Toka, Political Parties and Democratic Consolidation in East Central Europe, “Studies in Public Policy”, 1997, no. 279.

6. Polish Constitutional Law. The Constitution and Selected Statutory Materials, (2nd Edition), Bureau of Research, Chancellery of Sejm, Warsaw 2000.

7. The Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 2nd April 1997, Bureau of Research, Chancellery of the Sejm, Warszawa 2000.

8. K.A. Wojtaszczyk (ed.), Poland: Government and Politics, ELIPSA, Warsaw 1997.

9. Arend Lijphart, Patterns of Democracy. Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 1999.

10. Sarah Birch, Frances Millard, Marina Popescu, Kieran Williams, (2002), Chapter 2: Poland: Experimenting with the Electoral System, In: “Embodying Democracy. Electoral System Design in Post-Communist Europe”, Springer, pp.25-47. (+ Chapter 1: Explaining the Design and Redesign of Electoral Systems: pp 1-24).

11. Beata Słobodzian (2016), Polish electoral system to self-local government – changes and effects, “Slovak Journal of Political Sciences”, Volume 16, No. 3, pp. 266-281.

12. Anna Gwiazda, Poland’s quasi-institutionalized party system: the importance of elites and institutions, Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association 67th Annual National Conference, The Palmer House Hilton, Chicago, IL, Apr 02, 2009; available at - Markowski, Radoslaw (1997), "Political Parties and Ideological Spaces in East Central Europe", Communist and Post-Communist Studies, vol. 30, no. 3.

13. P. Sula, Party system and media in Poland after 1989, “Central European Journal of Communication” 2008, No 1, p. 145-155.

14. R. Markowski (1999), "Polish Party System: Institutionalization—Political Representation—Issue Structuring", paper presented at the ECPR Joint Sessions, Mannheim, March 26-31, 1999. http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/3/6/3/5/3/pages 363536/p363536-1.php (accessed February 2, 2020).

15. Polish Constitutional Law. The Constitution and Selected Statutory Materials, (2nd Edition), Bureau of Research, Chancellery of Sejm, Warsaw 2000.

SELECTED, ADDIDTIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1. Barnes Samuel H. (1998), The Mobilization of Political Identity in New Democracies, in: Barnes, Samuel, H. and Simon, Janos (eds) The Postcommunist Citizen. (Erasmus Foundation, Budapest and Institute for Political Science of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences).

2. Kitschelt, Herbert, Mansfeldova, Zdenka, Markowski, Radoslaw, and Toka, Gabor, Post-Communist Party Systems: Competition, Representation and Inter-Party Cooperation, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1999.

3. Lewis Paul G. (1999), "Parties and Parliaments in East Central Europe: Poland as a Trend-Setter". Paper presented at a conference: Ten Years After: Democratic Transition and Consolidation in East Central Europe. Budapest, 17-20 June 1999.

4. Lijphart, Arend, Democratization and Constitutional Choices in Czecho-Slovakia, Hungary and Poland, 1989-91, “Journal of Theoretical Politics”, 1992, Vol. 4, no. 2:207 –23.

5. K. Zuba, Leaders without Leadership: Surrogate Governments in Poland, “Europe-Asia Studies” 2019,22. doi:10.1080/09668136.2019.1673321https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09668136.2019.1673321

6. Selected Journals: Studia Politologiczne (English version), Foreign Affairs, Newsweek, The Economist.

7. Radosław Markowski, Joshua Tucker (2010), Euroscepticism and the Emergence of Political Parties in Poland, “Party Politics”, 16 (4), pp.523-548.

8. Joanna Fomina, Jacek Kucharczyk (2016), Populism and Protest in Poland, „Journal of Democracy”, 27(4), pp. 58-68.

9. Helmut P. Gaisbauer, (2007): Euroscepticism revisited: Poland after EU accession. in: Perspectives on European Politics and Society, 8 (1), pp. 55-72.

10. Krzysztof Jasiewicz, (2008): The New Populism in Poland: The Usual Suspects?, “Problems of Post-Communism”, 55 (3), 7-25.

11. Fitzgibbon, John & Guerra, Simona (2010): Not Just Europeaniszation, Not Necessarily Populism: Potential Factors Underlying the Mobilization of Populism in Ireland and Poland. In: Perspectives on European Politics and Society, 11 (3), pp. 273-291.

12. Albertazzi, Daniele & Mueller, Sean: Populism and Liberal Democracy (2013): Populists in Government in Austria, Italy, Poland and Switzerland. In: Government and Opposition, 48 (3), pp. 343-371.

13. Søren Riishøj (2007): Europeanization and Euroscepticism: Experiences from Poland and the Czech Republic. In: Nationalities Papers, 35 (3), pp. 503-535.

14. Gwyneth Jone, Justyna Hinz, Heidi Koelle (may 2018), Trends and Analysis of the Media Landscape in Poland. Poland Media Report. The Future of Media and its Impact on Politics and Society, Think Media, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58ef8865bf629a9dbf4e1b58/t/5b8e6337575d1f6f1e5eb9ae/1536058171579/Trends%20and%20Analysis%20of%20the%20Media%20Landscape%20in%20Poland.pdf, (accessed 17.02.2020).

15. Marian Gierula, Patrycja Szostak (2016), Media and Journalism Transformation in Poland. In: Democratisation processes in Poland and Slovenia: Comparative Study, eds. Miro Haček, Agnieszka Turska-Kawa, Maribor: Institute for Local Self-Government and Public Procurement, pp. 143-166.

16. R. Kuźniar, Poland’s Foreign Policy after 1989, SCHOLAR, Warsaw 2009.

17. R. Kuźniar, Poland’s security policy 1989-2000, SCHOLAR, Warsaw 2001.

18. Selected Journals: Studia Politologiczne (English version), Foreign Affairs, Newsweek, The Economist.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

• have a thorough understanding of the type of political system in Poland;

• have a thorough understanding of the political process in Poland;

• acquire a good grasp of the key political/historical/ideological developments in post WWII Poland;

• become familiar with current issues/debates/ changes in contemporary politics Poland.

Class sessions will include lectures and discussions and students are required to actively participate and contribute to these discussions. The required weekly reading will be presented by students in a seminar fashion. Attendance at the classes is obligatory. Students are required to pass the final test.

None.