Z ogromną przyjemnością prezentujemy Czytelnikom trzynasty już tom „Studia Politicae Universitatis Silesiensis”. Czynimy to z tym większą satysfakcją, że publikacja ta stanowi ważne dla środowiska politologicznego forum wymiany myśli, poglądów i koncepcji. Niniejszy tom, podobnie jak poprzednie, jest zróżnicowany pod względem tematycznym, a zamieszczone w nim artykuły odzwierciedlają zainteresowania badawcze ich autorów. Kontynuując obraną we wcześniejszych tomach strategię publikowania tekstów, w których poruszana jest problematyka wchodząca w skład różnych subdyscyplin politologicznych, artykuły pomieszczono w czterech blokach tematycznych: „Systemy polityczne”, „Stosunki międzynarodowe”, „Komunikowanie społeczne” i „Myśl polityczna”. Uzupełnienie całości stanowi dział „Recenzje i omówienia”, w którym tradycyjnie znaleźć można informacje o interesujących publikacjach z dziedziny nauk politycznych oraz sprawozdania z ważnych dla środowiska politologicznego wydarzeń. Tym razem autorami wszystkich opracowań są pracownicy i doktoranci Instytutu Nauk Politycznych i Dziennikarstwa Uniwersytetu Śląskiego w Katowicach.

Abstract: Democracy is a timeless, abstract, political system that may occur in virtually any cultural space. The civilizational context, being external to particular national democracies, seems of the utmost importance in the process of forming the system in individual states. As a result, the sphere of shared, similar features of democracy is created. By becoming gradually accepted and embedded in societies it resembles products of culture and becomes a standard of modern democracy. As a theoretical tool to describe the external environment of national democracies, the author proposes the notion of transnational democracy, by which he means a precisely‑defined collection of standards and constitutional law patterns, as well as processes and political actions of state, judicial and social institutions, and also individual behaviours, that were formed and fixed in a particular cultural space and over a defined period of time. Additionally, it relates to accepted, or at least tolerated, political ideas present in democratic countries of a particular cultural circle. The author points to the possible spheres of comparing national democracies. If such studies are conducted, it will be possible to define common and perpetuated systemic solutions of contemporary democracy, and subsequently, to gauge the degree of democracy in a particular state.

Key words: democracy, transnational democracy, standards of democracy

Abstract: The article is an attempt to assess some of the key aspects of the Polish break­through of 1980–1989 in the context of the many years of discussion about the nature and consequences of the events that took place during that period. The main considerations include resolving the still valid dilemma of whether it is justified to define this breakthrough as a revo­lution. The text contains a presentation and evaluation of the main arguments made for and against such a conclusion. In methodological terms, the discourse involves confronting the characteristic features relating to the genesis, goals, process and results of the Polish experi­ment of 1980—1989, with the theoretical knowledge on the phenomenon of the revolution based on historical analyses and contemporary experience. In science, the term “experiment” is usually used to describe cognitive processes involving an intentional interference of the researcher in the real world in order to acquire cognitive data. It happens, however, that certain unique phenomena and processes characterised by an objec­tive course of events, which scientists can analyse in similar terms to a conventional induced experiment, enter the scope of this concept. In certain circumstances, a systematic observation of events which have not been induced by the researcher, but are exceptional and important in themselves, can provide the key to discovering the sense, regularities, and mechanisms of the real world. This is significant for social and political studies in particular, in which the space for utilising the classical, natural sciences‑based experiment, is very limited.

The Polish political events of 1980—1989 made way for further disintegration of the colonial‑imperial division of the world by initiating the fall of the Eastern Bloc. It turned out to be not just an episode, but an effective initiation of a powerful and extensive process that led to a total change in the global geopolitical system. The fact that it happened in the centre of Europe, rather than in its peripheries, exacerbated the surprise of such a course of events, and of its final result in particular.

Abstract: Transition, which is the starting point for any democratic change, in the Polish political context constituted a period of development of institutional solutions, which set the direction for the evolution of the political regime in sensu stricto in the years to come. An analysis of the relationship between the parliament, the president and the government requires that a reference be made to the traditional political regime models, that is parliamentarism, presidentialism and semi‑presidentialism. The functioning of either of these models assumes that a certain democratic minimum exists both in terms of a set of formal rules and politi­cal practice. Meanwhile, in the initial phase of the system change (from the Round Table to the first, fully competitive parliamentary elections in 1991), institutions characteristic for both democratic and authoritarian regimes functioned alongside each other. In these condi­tions, institutions restricted the political actors’ freedom of action by creating the political framework. The period of democratic transition perfectly illustrates the influence of actors on the shaping of specific institutional solutions.

Abstract: Parliamentary elections, which are shaping the sphere of political competition and the structure of the party system, have been held in Poland since 1989. The article shows the evolution of the system of elections to the parliament and its impact on the institutionalization of the party system. The current shape of the election system proves that the party system is stable both in terms of the sustainability of party entities and the standards of political competi­tion in the election arena. Elections are also a factor which consolidates party leadership in the case of the major political groups. This is particularly visible after Poland’s accession to the European Union. The evolution of the process of gaining political relevance by new political parties is also observed. Following 2001, only one new political party was able to win parlia­mentary representation.

Abstract: The article presents Polish and Hungarian main left‑wing parties in the period of political transformation. There are a few sections in the article that develop the research prob­lem: the genesis and development of the parties from 1989 to 2014, a comparative analysis of the two parties based on quantitative indices. One can say there are some similarities between SLD and MSzP. The parties were trans­formed from communist hegemon formations, then participated in free parliamentary elections with some successes, created several governments and both have recently faced considerable loss of support. SLD and MSzP belong to the parties that influenced Polish and Hungarian transformation greatly.

Abstract: Evolution of Polish position towards European Union Common Security and Defence Policy

The objective of this article is to present the evolution of Polish government position towards CSDP. The author points out the main stages of the Polish government attitude towards CSDP that were shaped by the consecutive governments. The author indicates that since 1999, when the CSDP was created, the position of Polish government has been changing from a very reserved or critical one to an opened approval and major involvement in the CSDP development. In author’s opinion, there are three stages in regard to Polish position towards CSDP and the European Security and Defence Identity (ESDI) that led to CSDP creation. First stage dates back to 1990s and is related to ESDI and the way the European Union countries tried to implement its objectives; second one takes place between 1999 and 2004, when the CSDP was created and when Poland was participating in adhesion talks; third one, between 2004 and 2014, is characterized by a growing Polish support for the CSDP and stronger engagement of consecutive governments in the development of this process. Nonetheless, it should be men­tioned that the CSDP has never been a priority in the Polish security policy.

Abstract: The referendum on the dismissal of the President of Warsaw Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz before the end of her term was a part of a series of political events that could affect the power arrangement on the Polish political scene, especially on the market position of the Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska) and the Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość) parties. By analysing the actions taken by the main political actors in the pre‑referendum period, two basic issues should be resolved: if political‑market entities actually carry out their long‑term political strategies and whether the adopted strategy translates into a specific and clear market­ing concept of pre‑election activities in the prevalent Polish political realm. Regardless, how­ever, of the adopted strategic option, competing political entities should take into account the obvious fact that the mass media are responsible for delimiting the area of political discourse and for defining matters which are a subject thereof.

Abstract: Drawing on the Heglian interpretation of history, which suggests that no epoch is able to properly identify itself, Leszek Kołakowski ponders the crisis of the 20th-century European civilization. Not knowing the fundamentals of one’s own culture is defined by the philosopher as an aspect of postmodern Europe. An attempt at defining one’s own civilization is to be simultaneously an effort made to define oneself — a human being. For Kołakowski, the problem of postmodernity results from the triumph of rationality, in particular the idea of modern rationality. Therefore, the analysis of European culture is to be merely a stimulus to investigate the condition of European civilization, namely its intellectual condition, but also, and more importantly, an attempt at answering the question on how to deal with the decay of humanism, the collapse of values and “the idolatry of politics.” Kołakowski points out to the spirit of self-criticism and uncertainty, which is the feature of European culture and turns out to be an opportunity to uphold its spiritual certainty.

Na rynku wydawniczym w 2013 roku ukazała się książka Bartłomieja Michalaka, pracownika Wydziału Politologii i Stosunków Międzynarodo­wych toruńskiej Alma Mater, zatytułowana Mieszane systemy wyborcze. Cele, rozwiązania, konsekwencje. Jest to niewątpliwie publikacja godna polecenia wszystkim zainteresowanym problematyką funkcjonowania syste­mów wyborczych, a szerzej — mechanizmom wyłaniania reprezentacji par­lamentarnej. Bez cienia wątpliwości można stwierdzić, że monografia ta stanowi ogromne źródło wiedzy nie tylko dla studentów takich kierunków, jak politologia, stosunki międzynarodowe czy prawo, ale również badaczy teoretyków i praktyków analizujących demokratyczne mechanizmy wyłania­nia reprezentacji politycznej we współczesnych państwach. W polskiej lite­raturze prawniczej i politologicznej niewiele jest książek tak kompleksowo i rzetelnie traktujących o mieszanych systemach wyborczych. Dodatkowo warto podkreślić, że problem wyboru konkretnego systemu wyborczego, jaki ma być stosowany w poszczególnych państwach, wydaje się kwestią najwyższej wagi, determinującą w znacznym stopniu poziom i sposób legi­tymizacji całego systemu politycznego.

W dniach 13—14 maja 2014 roku w Ustroniu odbyła się VII Ogólnopolska Konferencja Akademickich Ośrodków Politologicznych. Organizatorem objętego patronatem Wojewody Śląskiego wydarzenia był Instytut Nauk Politycznych i Dziennikarstwa Uniwersytetu Śląskiego. W obradach uczestniczyli przedstawiciele władz ośrodków politologicznych z całego kraju. Wiodącymi tematami poruszanymi w trakcie konferencji były sytuacja nauk humanistycznych i społecznych w Polsce oraz kondycja i problemy politologii.