Tag: Poland

Democracies Adrift

How the European Crises Affect East-Central Europe, in: Problems of Post-Communism, 63 (5), September 2016

The present article proposes to study and compare the state of democracy in East-Central European countries. Such a comparative survey is deemed timely because there have been electoral landslides, corruption scandals involving political leaders and mass protests in several of these countries. Popular satisfaction with democracy has declined and democratic accountability institutions have been eroded in Hungary and Poland. These developments pose questions about where these democracies are heading and how their paths are related to the crisis of European integration. read more

Polens Verfassungskrise

Ein Interview mit Ivana Pribakovic, Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF), Rendez-vous, 29.12.2015

In Polen verweigerte der Staatspräsident den vom alten Parlament neu gewählten Verfassungsrichtern die Vereidigung und ernannte stattdessen die von der neuen nationalkonservativen Parlamentsmehrheit gewählten Richter, obwohl das Verfassungsgericht diese Ernennungen für verfassungswidrig erklärt hatte. Im Dezember 2015 änderte die neue Parlamentsmehrheit das Verfassungsgerichtsgesetz, um die Richter zu zwingen, alle Entscheidungen mit einer Zweidrittelmehrheit zu treffen und die ihnen vorgelegten Fälle in der Reihenfolge des Eingangs zu bearbeiten. Die Gesetzesänderung ermöglicht der Parlamentsmehrheit, auf Antrag des Präsidenten und des Justizministers, einen Verfassungsrichter in besonderen Fällen von Fehlverhalten zu entlassen. read more

Party Strategies and Administrative-Territorial Reforms in Poland

Article in: West European Politics 36 2 2013, 405-425

Abstract

How well do electoral competition, ideological divides and territory-based cleavages explain the strategies of administrative-territorial reform chosen by political parties in Poland? The role of these logics is explored in the creation of regions and regional self-governments (1999), local electoral reform (2002), rules of adopting regional development projects (2006) and the creation of metropolitan regions (2008). The paper provides evidence supporting the salience of vote- and office-seeking strategies, the rise of a national-conservative opposition to decentralisation associated with the weakening of the post-communist divide, and parties representing distinct eastern and western constituencies. Since its creation, subnational government has become more dominated by state-wide parties and has stabilised the emerging bloc party system on the central level. read more