Download or read book Democracy in Poland written by Anna Gwiazda and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-07-24 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book assesses the quality of democracy in Poland from the collapse of communism in 1989 up to the 2011 parliamentary election. It presents an in-depth, empirically grounded study comparing two decades of democratic politics. Drawing on democratic theory and comparative politics, the book puts forward an evaluation of democracy based on four dimensions: representation, participation, competition and accountability. The book is an important contribution to debates on the performance of the new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe, where some scholars argue that there is a ‘democratic crisis’, that, after a period of democratic progress, most of these countries are experiencing democratic fatigue and that their democratic performance is poor. However, the Polish case shows that democracy is not in crisis - in fact, the quality of democracy in Poland has improved. The book shows that democratic quality stems from good democratic institutions. Moreover, the Polish case shows useful lessons that can be learnt by democratic reformers in countries that are undergoing the transition to democracy or are aiming to consolidate their democratic systems. It concludes that effective accountability, good representation and stable competition are vital.
Download or read book Democratic Government in Poland written by G. Sanford and published by Springer. This book was released on 2002-07-16 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Democratic government has now been entrenched in Poland. An increasingly significant European actor, Poland presents problematic but also stimulating challenges to new NATO and EU associates. This authoritative overview examines in depth the constitutional and governmental framework in Poland since 1989 and its central political institutions, mechanisms and actors. Sanford demonstrates how the governmental system evolved pragmatically during the 1990s to cope with modernization and consolidated viable independent statehood consensually around Poland's hardy constitutional values.
Download or read book Consolidating Democracy In Poland written by Raymond Taras and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-08-19 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive analysis of politics in a young European democracy, this book describes the principal features of Poland's democratic system-the political institutions, parties, elections, and leaders that have shaped the transition from communism. Raymond Taras examines the complex Walesa phenomenon; the comeback of the communists; and the uneasy
Download or read book Transition to Democracy in Poland written by Richard Felix Staar and published by Palgrave Macmillan. This book was released on 1998 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "With the inclusion of new, updated material, Transition to Democracy in Poland is a timely, authoritative collection that analyzes Poland's experiment in democratization, from the points of view both of longtime observers of the country and of those who are actually carrying out this extraordinary task. The volume explores Polish parry alignments, mobilization, elections, leaders, labor unions, and the Church. It discusses the range of issues encountered by those attempting to move Poland from a command to a free enterprise economy and the impact these issues will have upon international trade, future membership of the European Community, and security relations. This is an essential book for those who wish to understand Poland's pioneering effort to transform the whole nature of its political and economic framework."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Download or read book Democracy in Poland written by Anna Gwiazda and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-07-24 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book assesses the quality of democracy in Poland from the collapse of communism in 1989 up to the 2011 parliamentary election. It presents an in-depth, empirically grounded study comparing two decades of democratic politics. Drawing on democratic theory and comparative politics, the book puts forward an evaluation of democracy based on four dimensions: representation, participation, competition and accountability. The book is an important contribution to debates on the performance of the new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe, where some scholars argue that there is a ‘democratic crisis’, that, after a period of democratic progress, most of these countries are experiencing democratic fatigue and that their democratic performance is poor. However, the Polish case shows that democracy is not in crisis - in fact, the quality of democracy in Poland has improved. The book shows that democratic quality stems from good democratic institutions. Moreover, the Polish case shows useful lessons that can be learnt by democratic reformers in countries that are undergoing the transition to democracy or are aiming to consolidate their democratic systems. It concludes that effective accountability, good representation and stable competition are vital.
Download or read book Poland s Constitutional Breakdown written by Wojciech Sadurski and published by Oxford Comparative Constitutio. This book was released on 2019-05-16 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since 2015, Poland's populist Law and Justice Party (PiS) has been dismantling the major checks and balances of the Polish state and subordinating the courts, the civil service, and the media to the will of the executive. Political rights have been radically restricted, and the Party has captured the entire state apparatus. The speed and depth of these antidemocratic movements took many observers by surprise: until now, Poland was widely regarded as an example of a successful transitional democracy. Poland's anti-constitutional breakdown poses three questions that this book sets out to answer: What, exactly, has happened since 2015? Why did it happen? And what are the prospects for a return to liberal democracy? These answers are formulated against a backdrop of current worldwide trends towards populism, authoritarianism, and what is sometimes called 'illiberal democracy'. As this book argues, the Polish variant of 'illiberal democracy' is an oxymoron. By undermining the separation of powers, the PiS concentrates all power in its own hands, rendering any democratic accountability illusory. There is, however, no inevitability in these anti-democratic trends: this book considers a number of possible remedies and sources of hope, including intervention by the European Union.
Download or read book Twilight of Democracy written by Anne Applebaum and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2020-07-21 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • "How did our democracy go wrong? This extraordinary document ... is Applebaum's answer." —Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny The Pulitzer Prize–winning historian explains, with electrifying clarity, why elites in democracies around the world are turning toward nationalism and authoritarianism. From the United States and Britain to continental Europe and beyond, liberal democracy is under siege, while authoritarianism is on the rise. In Twilight of Democracy, Anne Applebaum, an award-winning historian of Soviet atrocities who was one of the first American journalists to raise an alarm about antidemocratic trends in the West, explains the lure of nationalism and autocracy. In this captivating essay, she contends that political systems with radically simple beliefs are inherently appealing, especially when they benefit the loyal to the exclusion of everyone else. Elegantly written and urgently argued, Twilight of Democracy is a brilliant dissection of a world-shaking shift and a stirring glimpse of the road back to democratic values.
Download or read book Democracy In Poland written by Raymond Taras and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-02-19 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever-changing election rules, a highly fluid party system, a constitution considered illegitimate by more than one major political actor, polarized political elites, and a system of corruption that has grown up together with the young democracy itself -these characterize contemporary Polish politics. At the same time Poland is frequently identified as the most successful example of a transition from communism to capitalism, having led this series of world-changing transitions. It has distanced itself from a turbulent history as pawn in Eastern Europe's international politics to become a leading candidate for membership in the exclusive European Union club. As Polish democratic politics evolves it is taking unexpected forms and producing equally unexpected results. Through a comprehensive analysis of politics in this young European democracy, Marjorie Castle and Ray Taras explain the complexity and uncertainty of political processes and outcomes in Poland. Poland'spast -the flawed Second Republic established after World War I, as well as the imperfect independence in the Soviet shadow following World War II's devastation - dramatizes the unique historic opportunity it was given in 1989 to determine its own political future and perhaps eventually become a major European power. Choices made in 1989 and thereafter would not only construct a new democracy but shape and limit its possibilities. The primary focus here is on contemporary politics: what the fundamental political cleavages are, whether parties adequately represent popular interests, who the political elites are and what games they play, whatinfluence the Catholic Church still holds in an aspiring Western-style secular republic, and what policy challenges face Poland in the future. Inimitable political leaders, changing political arenas, and complexpolicy-making processes come to life through a fascinating narrative characterized by an insider's insight.
Download or read book Human Rights in a Time of Populism written by Gerald L. Neuman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-04-09 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leading experts examine the threats posed by populism to human rights and the international systems and explore how to confront them.
Download or read book Democracy In Poland written by Raymond Taras and published by Westview Press. This book was released on 2002-04-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever-changing election rules, a highly fluid party system, a constitution considered illegitimate by more than one major political actor, polarized political elites, and a system of corruption that has grown up together with the young democracy itself -- these characterize contemporary Polish politics. At the same time Poland is frequently identified as the most successful example of a transition from communism to capitalism, having led this series of world-changing transitions. It has distanced itself from a turbulent history as pawn in Eastern Europe's international politics to become a leading candidate for membership in the exclusive European Union club. As Polish democratic politics evolves it is taking unexpected forms and producing equally unexpected results.Through a comprehensive analysis of politics in this young European democracy, Marjorie Castle and Ray Taras explain the complexity and uncertainty of political processes and outcomes in Poland. Poland'spast -- the flawed Second Republic established after World War I, as well as the imperfect independence in the Soviet shadow following World War II's devastation -- dramatizes the unique historic opportunity it was given in 1989 to determine its own political future and perhaps eventually become a major European power. Choices made in 1989 and thereafter would not only construct a new democracy but shape and limit its possibilities. The primary focus here is on contemporary politics: what the fundamental political cleavages are, whether parties adequately represent popular interests, who the political elites are and what games they play, whatinfluence the Catholic Church still holds in an aspiring Western-style secular republic, and what policy challenges face Poland in the future. Inimitable political leaders, changing political arenas, and complexpolicy-making processes come to life through a fascinating narrative characterized by an insider's insight.
Download or read book The Origins of Democratization in Poland written by Michael H. Bernhard and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Home to the New York Yankees, the Bronx Zoo, and the Grand Concourse, the Bronx was at one time a haven for upwardly mobile second-generation immigrants eager to leave the crowded tenements of Manhattan in pursuit of the American dream. Once hailed as a "wonder borough" of beautiful homes, parks, and universities, the Bronx became -- during the 1960s and 1970s -- a national symbol of urban deterioration. Thriving neighborhoods that had long been home to generations of families dissolved under waves of arson, crime, and housing abandonment, turning blocks of apartment buildings into gutted, graffiti-covered shells and empty, trash-filled lots. In this revealing history of the Bronx, Evelyn Gonzalez describes how the once-infamous New York City borough underwent one of the most successful and inspiring community revivals in American history. From its earliest beginnings as a loose cluster of commuter villages to its current status as a densely populated home for New York's growing and increasingly more diverse African American and Hispanic populations, this book shows how the Bronx interacted with and was affected by the rest of New York City as it grew from a small colony on the tip of Manhattan into a sprawling metropolis. This is the story of the clattering of elevated subways and the cacophony of crowded neighborhoods, the heady optimism of industrial progress and the despair of economic recession, and the vibrancy of ethnic cultures and the resilience of local grassroots coalitions crucial to the borough's rejuvenation. In recounting the varied and extreme transformations this remarkable community has undergone, Evelyn Gonzalez argues that it was not racial discrimination, rampant crime, postwar liberalism, or big government that was to blame for the urban crisis that assailed the Bronx during the late 1960s. Rather, the decline was inextricably connected to the same kinds of social initiatives, economic transactions, political decisions, and simple human choices that had once been central to the development and vitality of the borough. Although the history of the Bronx is unquestionably a success story, crime, poverty, and substandard housing still afflict the community today. Yet the process of building and rebuilding carries on, and the revitalization of neighborhoods and a resurgence of economic growth continue to offer hope for the future.
Download or read book Human Rights and Democratization in Poland written by United States. Congress. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Individualism and the Rise of Democracy in Poland written by Tomek Grabowski and published by Boydell & Brewer. This book was released on 2023 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book investigates the long-term preconditions of lasting and successful democratization. It counters conventional wisdom that they are a matter of proper institutional design, or that the political culture of democracy is a by-product of modernizing economic change. Instead, it argues that achieving lasting democracy is difficult without a prior breakthrough to individualism: a system of beliefs centered on the belief in one's inner worth and in one's inner capacity for judgment. The rise of an individualist belief system that is widely proliferated in society requires social conditions that are in turn hard to meet, including a widespread breakdown of traditional culture, a frontier experience, and a process of civic nation building. The book's empirical focus, Poland, demonstrates the logic of the individuation process in a condensed form. Poland's road to individualism (and with it, to democracy) consisted of a catastrophic uprooting of broad segments of society in the aftermath of World War II, the rise of a frontier environment in the Western Territories acquired from Germany, and an unlikely emergence of the Catholic Church as a civic nation-builder in these Territories in the 1960s and the 1970s. However, the Polish case is not unique, and the book offers an analytical approach that could successfully be brought to bear on other cases of democratization, both past and present"--
Download or read book Poland s Problems and Progress written by graf Aleksander Józef Skrzyński and published by . This book was released on 1925 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Party Organization and Communication in Poland written by Michał Jacuński and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-01-27 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a new analytical perspective on the strategies, membership and communication management of political parties in Poland. The authors address why some political parties have managed to strengthen and survive while others have failed to do the same. The research was carried out in the years 2016–2018, when Poland started to be seen more and more as a weakening democracy. As an in-depth, empirically grounded single-country study of party structure and communication, the book gives an opportunity to draw broader conclusions about the process of party development in the Central and Eastern Europe region three decades since the beginning of democratic transition.
Download or read book Books Are Weapons written by Siobahn Doucette and published by University of Pittsburgh Press. This book was released on 2018-03-07 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Much attention has been given to the role of intellectual dissidents, labor, and religion in the historic overthrow of communism in Poland during the 1980s. Books Are Weapons presents the first English-language study of that which connected them—the press. Siobhan Doucette provides a comprehensive examination of the Polish opposition’s independent, often underground, press and its crucial role in the events leading to the historic Round Table and popular elections of 1989. While other studies have emphasized the role that the Solidarity movement played in bringing about civil society in 1980-1981, Doucette instead argues that the independent press was the essential binding element in the establishment of a true civil society during the mid- to late 1980s. Based on a thorough investigation of underground publications and interviews with important activists of the period from 1976 to 1989, Doucette shows how the independent press, rooted in the long Polish tradition of well-organized resistance to foreign occupation, reshaped this tradition to embrace nonviolent civil resistance while creating a network that evolved from a small group of dissidents into a broad opposition movement with cross-national ties and millions of sympathizers. It was the galvanizing force in the resistance to communism and the rebuilding of Poland’s democratic society.
Download or read book The Origins of Modern Polish Democracy written by M. B. B. Biskupski and published by Ohio University Press. This book was released on 2010-04-15 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Origins of Modern Polish Democracy is a series of closely integrated essays that traces the idea of democracy in Polish thought and practice. It begins with the transformative events of the mid-nineteenth century, which witnessed revolutionary developments in the socioeconomic and demographic structure of Poland, and continues through changes that marked the postcommunist era of free Poland. The idea of democracy survived in Poland through long periods of foreign occupation, the trials of two world wars, and years of Communist subjugation. Whether in Poland itself or among exiles, Polish speculation about the creation of a liberal-democratic Poland has been central to modern Polish political thought. This volume is unique in that is traces the evolution of the idea of democracy, both during the periods when Poland was an independent country—1918-1939—and during the periods of foreign occupation before 1918 through World War II and the Communist era. For those periods when Poland was not free, the volume discusses how the idea of democracy evolved among exile and underground Polish circles. This important work is the only single-volume English-language history of modern Polish democratic thought and parliamentary systems and represents the latest scholarly research by leading specialists from Europe and North America.
