Constitutional System of the Republic of Poland [2102-ANG-M-D2CSRP] Semestr letni 2019/20
Konwersatorium, grupa nr 2

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.

1-2. Political system – idea and definition; elements of political system; functions of political system; separation and balance of powers – the main constitutional principle in democratic system; the main styles of system of government; characteristic of each main political systems; political system de iure and de facto. History of Polish political system until 1997. Polish constitutions.

3. Transformation in Poland. The Round Table. First semi democratic election – June 4th, 1989. Constitutional Act of October 17, 1992.

4. New Polish Constitution 1997. Process of preparing and adoption new constitution.Principles of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of April 2nd, 1997.

5. The Polish parliament: bicameralism – past and today; Sejm and Senate in Poland; legislative power of parliament, legislative process in Poland.

6. The executive branch of power: the President. Position of a head of state in Polish political system since 1989.

7. The Government and the Prime Minister since 1989.

8. The judicial branch: the system of courts, the Supreme Court. The Constitutional Tribunal, the Tribunal of State and organs of protection. Ombudsman.

9. Local government in Poland. Local politics.

10. Polish Parties and Polish party system since 1989.

11. Electoral system in Poland. Elections in Poland. Changes of the electoral system in Poland and its consequences for the Polish party system.

12. Political and civic participation. Electoral campaigns. Church in Polish politics.

13. Polish politics in EU and Polish foreign policy.

14. The mass media in Poland.

15. Euroscepticism and populism in Poland.

Discussion, problem lecture, explanatory, analyzing with the use of multimedia (presentation) techniques (within the framework of the 'presenting' methods) lecture, explanation and classic problem method with the method of case studies, but also didactic discussion. The use of practical methods: including the problem-based and activating method - preparation, alone or in groups, for speeches for approx. 20 minutes (with use of multimedia) and didactic discussion of students during classes - analysis of the discussed topics.

Students are required to actively participate and contribute to these discussions. The required weekly reading will be presented by students in a seminar fashion.

COURSE ASSESSMENT:

• The students will be evaluated based on their whole semester performance. The final grade will be based on combination of factors that include (however students cannot complete the course without passing the final exam):

• 1. Class participation 10%. This includes regular attendance as well as meaningful participation in class discussions. No more than two unexcused absences will be allowed in this course.

• 2. Gathering information on current issues concerning political systems and preparation of short notes with comments.

• 3. Introductory presentation related to the session’s topic 35% (individual or group - depending on the number of students attending this course)

• 4. Final exam 55% (the exam will require to demonstrate knowledge of all material covered during the course – readings, lectures and class discussions; the structure of exam will involve a combination of multiple-choice questions and essay questions)

• Students will be dropped automatically from the class after two absences.

ERASMUS students