Do contemporary political parties still need members? Conclusions from the empirical study into Polish political parties

Research on political party members started on a grand scale at the beginning of the 1990s and it has gone in three main directions: (1) members and activists as a resource for the parties; (2) members as constituting “the party on the ground”; and (3) political participation of the members (van Haute, Paulis & Sierens 2017). In this article we are drawing from all three traditions of the research. The paper is based on empirical investigation from the project “Political Parties and their Social Environment. An Analysis of the Organization and Communication Activities of Polish Political Parties”, in which in-depth interviews with the parties’ leaders and parliamentarians were conducted and questionnaires were collected from the grassroots members and activists. To structure our research we put forward the following theses:

(1) The parties’ elites declaratively appreciate the role of rank-and-file members in the organizations, but in practice rarely undertake activities to encourage people to join the parties or to engage the members they already have in party work.

(2) The grassroots members would like to have more influence on party decisions.

(3) The factor that is more important in differentiating the parties on their roles and expectations towards the organizations is the party age rather than its parliamentary or extra-parliamentary status.

Key words:

political parties, membership, grassroots members, party elite and party leadership

Citizen and political party – Introduction to the analysis of the Platforma Obywatelska and Prawo i Sprawiedliwość

The problem of both political and sociological backgrounds is often the quality and level of political civic competence. They point out their importance for the development and consolidation of democracy as well as the quality of public life. Research on this topic is accompanied by a lack of interest in politics, knowledge of its basic mechanisms, limited social trust, and marginal participation, which may be the turnout in individual elections. At the same time, there is a lack of reflection on the sources of such behaviors, assuming (usually a priori) that they are in the historical experience, mentality, tradition or political culture prevailing in a given society. However, the observation of public life makes it possible to argue that the quality and level of political civic competences largely depend on the practice of political parties with regard to citizens in terms of both conventional and unconventional participation. Of course, it is difficult not to notice the interplay of political parties and citizens, one can even risk the notion that the "quality of citizenship" depends on the rulers, and these reflect the "quality of citizenship."

Key words:

civil society, political civic competence, political party, democracy

The influence of the majoritarian voting system on electoral attitudes of Poles. Casus of Pawel Kukiz's electorate in the presidential election 2015

This article refers to the social and political consequences of the absolute majority system in the presidential election, referring directly to the study of the electorate of Paweł Kukiz from the presidential election of 2015. The first part defines the majority system and points out the difference between the relative and absolute majority system, as well as the described role of the presidential election in 2015. Afterward, based on the author's research on Paweł Kukiz's electorate, authors going to defined the social and political consequences of the majority system in the presidential election. Particular analysis has subject to the electoral motives influencing political behavior during the second round of elections.

Key words:

electoral system, majoritarian voting system, absolute majority, presidential election 2015, Poland, Pawel Kukiz

New parties in Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia – electoral geography perspective

The aim of presented article is to examine regularities in the geographical distribution of support for the new political parties in Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia. At the beginning of the study, nationwide results of analyzed parties were compared with results achieved in territorial units. On this basis, the author created an indicator showing the average profit (or loss) of a new grouping in relation to the share of votes at the national level. Subsequently, the author calculated the Pearson's correlation coefficients to evaluate the relationship between results of new political parties in the first elections they gained parliamentary seats. The results of the analysis show that only in case of Czech Republic, it is possible to distinct the territorial units where citizens are more likely to vote for new parties. Nevertheless, most of differences in the geographical distribution of support for new parties in analyzed countries arise from three interrelated factors: the specificity of the territorial unit, ideological autoidentification of population inhabiting a particular territorial unit and popularity of party leaders.

Key words:

new parties, political parties, electoral geography, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia

The Evaluation of the Democratic Consolidation in the Republic of Czech as the Effect of Democratization Process Durability

The process of democratization leads to implementation of democratic values among society and institutional pattern in political system. It is a complicated and multi-staged road. Each stage and dimension has its own qualities. The article presents both theoretical conception of the process of democratization and empirical example of the Republic of Czech. There are some general and specific Czech qualities of all stages of the process of democratization: erosion of undemocratic regime, transition and democratic consolidation. The last one is evaluated in the article in the lime of quantitative and qualitative analysis.

Key words:

process of democratization, democratic consolidation, Czech Republic

The reform of the Hungarian electoral system and the strengthening of Fidesz's position

This article is about most important changes in Hungarian electoral system, which were made by reform came into force on 1 January 2012. The main reasons for these changes were willingness to: adapt the electoral rules into modern times, simplify the system and give members of the minorities some electoral facilitations. On the other hand the reform was used in political way by ruling coalition Fidesz-KDNP to strengthen itself. The charges of alleged gerrymandering negatively affect on perception of Hungarian democracy by international organizations.

Key words:

Hungary, Fidesz, election, reform, gerrymandering

How to Prevent Corruption: a Multidimensional Approach

The article presents the analysis of different factors which are or may be the source of corrupt behaviors among the citizens. The analysis refers to the field of formal actions taken by the services whose goal is to protect broadly understood security of the residents. Psychological sources are then presented, emphasizing the corruption-generating role of the low level of trust and individual competition orientation. The social factors are first of all the mechanism of social comparisons, which can activate the consent to corruption or justify the person's unethical behaviors. Educational factors are also discussed, with consideration of the fact that school is the institution which should properly shape young people's attitudes, making them sensitive to unethical behaviors and providing them with competencies and knowledge connected with the ability to behave in difficult situations. These areas, though apparently distinct, are integral parts of the system and they mutually stimulate or inhibit each other.

Key words:

corruption, trust, unethical behaviors, civil society

The Social Perception of Political Corruption vs the Evaluation of Honesty of Political Authorities

Political corruption is a multidimensional phenomenon, concerning political authorities at all possible levels. It is defined as the abuse of power by political entities in order to obtain personal benefits in the form of greater power or wealth. It shows that the subject of political corruption is not only material benefits but also the mechanisms of increasing the influence or special treatment. The character of political corruption results in the public interest in it, enhanced by the public character of the individuals it refers to. It is also influenced by the processual character of the phenomenon itself, but first of all by the specific attractive nature of corruption in social awareness. The article presents the findings of research concerning opinions on political corruption. Its goal is to study the relationships between the respondents' opinions on political authorities' honesty and the determinants of corrupt phenomena. The main research question is: Is there any relationship between the person's opinion on political authorities' honesty and the person's perception of political corruption? The hypothesis related to the question assumes there is a connection between the perception of political authorities' honesty and the evaluation of components of political corruption. The research is part of a research project carried out by the IPSO ORDO Academic Foundation on the perception of the corruption phenomenon in the public domain.

Key words:

corruption, political corruption, political power, honesty

Media on democracy services

Contemporary media plays an increasingly important role in society. Indubitable this process is driven by globalization, but also the democratization of public life. The media are the fruit of democracy, but also its guarantor.  This situation, on the one hand, should be treated as a chance, but on the other hand we can also talk about threats. The author of this article raises questions about the models postulated in the interest of the subject and pathology.

Key words:

democracy, mass media, participation, public control of power

The image of women representing the world of politics in selected polish opinion weeklies during an parliamentary election campaign 2015 and Muted Group Theory

This article presents the results of a content analysis of the opinion weekly magazines -  „Wprost”, „Polityka”, Newsweek Polska” and „Do Rzeczy”. The Polish parliamentary campaign in 2015 is the period of research. The aim of the conducted analysis is to show if the Polish politician women are presented in the publications and what image of women involved in politics is promoted  by the reviewed weeklies. The collected research materials analyse through the prism of assumptions of Muted Group Theory (MGT) created by Edwin Ardener and popularized by Cheris Kramarae.

Key words:

gender, women, politics, opinion weekly, parliamentary election, content analysis

Coverage of politics in Wiadomości TVP1 after the parliamentary elections in 2015: balanced or biased?

Existence of free media is one of the most important feature of democratic system. Since the collapse of the communist system in 1990s, Central and Eastern European societies have been overtaken by a process of change. Media system change was part of the general process of what may be called systemic social transformation. The main goals of free media in Central and Eastern European were: introduction and legitimization of the concepts of democracy, rule of law and constitutionalism as much as concepts of political pluralism, competition and new political parties and candidates as legitimate competitors. Unfortunately in post-communist countries media have not yet reached a state of full independence from the current interests of political parties.

In this study there is case of Poland analyzed. After Polish parliamentary election in 2015 there have been changes in public television. The article presents the results of media content analysis of Wiadomości TVP1. In first research there is comparison how Wiadomości and Fakty coverage the same political events. In second research there is comparison how Wiadomości coverage politics in 2015 and after parliamentary election in 2015. The purpose of the research was to evaluate if the politics coverage became more balanced or more biased.

Key words:

media bias, coverage of politics, content analysis, eastern European media

Political communication of generation Y via the Internet

The aim of this article is to present a fragment of the research results obtained during the implementation of the research project: "Communicating Policy Actors". The research was aimed at diagnosing the activity of the "Y" generation in political communication via the Internet. The research was conducted among the community of students studying in Katowice, at faculties of science, journalism, communication and new media. Apart from the assumed above-average use of new media tools by students, the rationale for directing research at students was their potential participation in professional life, in which they are consulted on everyday political activities. The research hypothesis was that the respondents were aware of the importance of their participation in political communication.

Key words:

political offer, politics, voters, relations, political activity, Internet

NATO as an actor of political communication

The article raises the issue how the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation communicates with the broad public and how the organisation creates its image in the social media. The paper presents quantitative and qualitative content analysis of the communication that was published on the official NATO account on Twitter in the first three months of 2017. The aim of the study was to determine who is the main recipient of the communication, and what kind of language is used by the sender. In the main hypothesis author claims that the language and format of the communication does illustrate the effect of mediatization on communication processes in online media. The author proved that even the language and format of the communication on security issues are formatted according to the requirements of online media and thus, are affected by the mediatization processes.

Key words:

NATO, political communication, strategic communication, mediatization, social media

Practical dimension of local democracy. Model of cooperation of the City of Szczecin with non-governmental organizations

The aim of this article is to analyze the cooperation of the City of Szczecin with non-governmental organizations in the years 2012-2016. The article deals with the formal and legal aspects of cooperation, the potential of Szczecin NGOs, selected areas of co-operation within the three dimensions and conclusions. The hypothesis assumes that the City of Szczecin is a model example of cooperation with non-governmental organizations.

Key words:

local democracy, non-governmental organizations, city of Szczecin

The Quality of Life as a Sociological Category – from Theory to Social Research.
The Case of Rybnik

The aim of the article is to present the quality of life as a category which is used on the basis of social sciences, especially sociology, in the theoretical and empiricalaspect. It describes problems connected with quality of life defining. Complicated genesis, as well as interest in the issue of quality of life of representatives of various disciplines makes it difficult to understand it in an unequivocal way. On the basis of sociology, it has an intersubjective dimension, because the subject of the quality of life in sociological research is the community that is considered in a specific socio-cultural context. Its members express opinions about particular spheres of their own lives, assessing the level of their well-being. An example of sociological research on the quality of life are research carried out in Rybnik. While designing this research, the quality of life was operationalized by selecting indicators that were used in survey questions. The article presents selected results of research on the quality of life of Rybnik, and also draws attention to methodological problems encountered by sociologists investigating this issue.

Key words:

quality of life, standard of living, sociological research, local community, Rybnik

Between hospitality and misoxenia – aftershocks of the migration crisis in Poland

Refugee crisis is a major challenge for the whole of Europe the humanitarian, social and political. It affects individual societies both in a direct way, when growth in the number of visitors exceeds the adaptability, and indirectly, through its multidimensional social consequences. In Poland, the refugee crisis can defined as the phantom. Despite the trace number of refugees and the slight number of immigrants, the problem and the way the debate over it cause very significant social repercussions. These repercussions manifest themselves in changes in attitudes with respect to refugees or a more widely-foreign, clearly materialised in the research.

Key words:

crisis migration, refugees, public debate, hospitality, misoxenia