In: Rocznik Instytutu Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej; The Impact of the Russian Federation upon the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Volume 18, Issue 3, p. 173-194
The Republic of Serbia is a state overburdened with complex issues regarding its political transformation. These problems are a consequence of the dynamic changes which have occurred over the last 30 years. It should be remembered that Serbia underwent a transformation from an authoritarian to a democratic state in a relatively short period of time. Unfortunately, these dynamic political, economic, and social modifications coincided with serious systemic changes and this had an adverse impact on Serbian democracy. The political problems which directly influence the process of democratization are becoming more and more visible over time. One such problem is undoubtedly the fact that state power is in the hands of one political party: the Serbian Progressive Party. For states going through a transformation, such a concentration of power could have negative effects on the quality of democracy. This article evaluates the non-democratic trends in Serbia which stem from the strengthening of the Serbian Progressive Party, especially on the level of state power. The article also suggests that this development might lead to Serbia being categorized as a country which has become stuck in the so-called grey zone of democratization.
*This is an English version of an original article: Yavuz Yildirim, "Los Efectos Del Movimiento Del Parque Gezi En La Renovacion Del Debate Sobre La Democratizacion En Turquia" in: Un Retrato De La Turquia Contemporanea (eds. Federico Donelli, Alessia Chiriatti, Manuel Férez), Mexico: Universidad Anahuac Mexico, 2016, pp. 299-310.The text presents the history of attempts at democratization of the political system in Turkey, where despite the nominal presence of democratic institutions, changes traditionally have come from the top. Following a brief presentation of the unsuccessful civil movements from the 1970s onwards, it focuses on the 2010s transition in approaches to building democratic culture, and in particular on the Gezi Park resistance, where a relatively minor local issue sparked a country-wide citizens' protest against the conservative democracy of the ruling AK Party. The event is shown as an entirely new type of protest, a spontaneous civil movement with horizontal structure, inspired by the Occupy movements, and an expression of the new generation's approach to politics. It also gave rise to a movement which contributed to rethinking the Turkish democratization process by breaking with the established thinking with a bottom-to-top approach.
*This is an English version of an original article: Yavuz Yildirim, "Los Efectos Del Movimiento Del Parque Gezi En La Renovacion Del Debate Sobre La Democratizacion En Turquia" in: Un Retrato De La Turquia Contemporanea (eds. Federico Donelli, Alessia Chiriatti, Manuel Férez), Mexico: Universidad Anahuac Mexico, 2016, pp. 299-310.The text presents the history of attempts at democratization of the political system in Turkey, where despite the nominal presence of democratic institutions, changes traditionally have come from the top. Following a brief presentation of the unsuccessful civil movements from the 1970s onwards, it focuses on the 2010s transition in approaches to building democratic culture, and in particular on the Gezi Park resistance, where a relatively minor local issue sparked a country-wide citizens' protest against the conservative democracy of the ruling AK Party. The event is shown as an entirely new type of protest, a spontaneous civil movement with horizontal structure, inspired by the Occupy movements, and an expression of the new generation's approach to politics. It also gave rise to a movement which contributed to rethinking the Turkish democratization process by breaking with the established thinking with a bottom-to-top approach.
Nowosad Inetta, Społeczno-kulturowe uwarunkowania demokratyzacji edukacji na Tajwanie [Social and cultural preconditions for the process of democratization in Taiwanese education]. Kultura – Społeczeństwo – Edukacja nr 2(14) 2018, Poznań 2018, pp. 137–154, Adam Mickiewicz University Press. ISSN 2300-0422. DOI 10.14746/kse.2018.14.12. The article focuses on changes introduced in Taiwan's education since 1949, which reflect the social changes taking place in this country. Special attention is drawn to the origin and the course of two particularly important processes, i.e. democratisation and taiwanisation, which have radically changed the face of education, revealing Taiwan's 'balancing' between the East and the West. While depicting their essence, also complex links with Taiwan's policies towards China and its orientation onto economic growth were taken into account. ; Nowosad Inetta, Społeczno-kulturowe uwarunkowania demokratyzacji edukacji na Tajwanie [Social and cultural preconditions for the process of democratization in Taiwanese education]. Kultura – Społeczeństwo – Edukacja nr 2(14) 2018, Poznań 2018, pp. 137–154, Adam Mickiewicz University Press. ISSN 2300-0422. DOI 10.14746/kse.2018.14.12. The article focuses on changes introduced in Taiwan's education since 1949, which reflect the social changes taking place in this country. Special attention is drawn to the origin and the course of two particularly important processes, i.e. democratisation and taiwanisation, which have radically changed the face of education, revealing Taiwan's 'balancing' between the East and the West. While depicting their essence, also complex links with Taiwan's policies towards China and its orientation onto economic growth were taken into account.
In his book author explains social and political phenomena that are connected with political change in local conditions in Poland in 1989. As yet there has been no empirical study that would consider first partly free election to the last parliament of People's Republic of Poland in local conditions. In 1989 there were 108 electoral constituencies in Poland to the Sejm elections, and free election to the Senate were conducted in 49 provinces of Poland. Chojnice was a capital city of election constituency no. 14 to the Sejm and a part of election to the Senate conducted in Bydgoszcz Province. As over the time social issues are perceived through stereotypes and tend to be mythologized, it seems important to author to show such events and phenomena on firm basis. It is worth emphasizing that results from 1989 elections in local conditions are generally unknown. Poles do not know results in their local constituencies because nearly thirty years after the elections official results from local constituencies still have not been not published anywhere. Thus, this study is based on primary sources, newspapers from that time, literature of this particular issue. The analysis and synthesis is based on a number of theoretical perspectives: behaviorism to describe interaction between political actors – electoral system – party systems; political process and political change; Joseph Schumpeter's assumption that political competition is of fundamental importance for the democracy; Samuel Huntington's theory of third wave of democratization. All the data is analyzed in quantitative perspective. There is no hypothesis as the study is a descriptive and explanatory one. Its main goal is to highlight earlier unknown phenomena. This study is about local politics in a one-party state during the time of political change, so author refers to the politics on state level from that time. The most important questions refer to: continuity of activity of new social movement members from the time of the carnival of Chojnice "Solidarity" in the years 1980-1981 and their involvement in 1989; political negotiations and emergence of political leaders during that time; political will of citizens to take part in political change and their will to change the political system; attitudes of political actors from PUWP and "Solidarity"; individual nature of facts from that time taken under consideration from the perspective of local reality; attitudes of local regime members towards political change; results of elections in Chojnice constituency on 4th and 18th June 1989; differentiation of political behavior in Chojnice constituency; picture of society of that time; influence of cultural and ethnical identity as well as people's ties (mainly with Catholic Church) and roots on their political choices. Political behavior is one of the main category of this study. Author highlights not only electoral system but also describes process of political leaders' emergence on local scale. In this perspective election campaign is portrayed as a political fight between candidates of Citizen Committee of "Solidarity" and candidates of Polish United Worker's Party (PUWP) and its political satellites. As a matter of fact, author stresses the importance of category of the legitimization and shows that members of PUWP (in Poland known as PZPR) were not totally delegitimized by citizens in 1989 election in Chojnice constituency. In fact, PUWP was mostly legitimized by Poles in the northern part of Bydgoszcz Province during that election. The study consists of the following parts: introduction, 8 chapters, summary, bibliography, index and appendix. The first chapter describes electoral system and law that was enforced in 1989. The second one analyzes political climate and political situation around elections to the Sejm and the Senate. The third chapter is also mostly analytical one. Author describes local communists apparatchiks' attitude towards political change. The fourth chapter shows the process of political leaders emergence from both sides of the political conflict. The fifth chapter describes personal features of candidates to the Sejm and the Senate. The sixth chapter shows election campaign. The seventh one shows election results. The eighth chapter describes political attitudes and behavior of citizens in Chojnice constituency. In the appendix readers may find results from constituency districts of Chojnice town, and Chojnice country. As a result of this study some unexpected conclusions emerged after empirical study, for example: one of the most prominent one is that citizens of People's Republic of Poland do not reject totally PUWP and its monopoly for power and authority; paradoxically candidates from "Solidarity" movement were not selected as democratically as candidates from PUWP ; deep differences in political attitudes in Chojnice constituency depended on the scale of people's religiousness and the tradition of political opposition in town, as well as on ethnic groups; the highest support for political change was among Kashubians, whereas the lowest in the groups called Krajniacy and Borowiacy. ; Monografia powstała ona w wyniku analizy procesu wyborczego tzw. przełomu politycznego związanego z wyborami czerwcowymi 1989 r. Jest to studium zdarzeń i zjawisk z tamtego okresu, z okręgu wyborczego nr 14 Chojnice, który to okręg do Sejmu PRL obejmował w wyborach kontaktowych całą północną część województwa bydgoskiego i był jednym ze 108 takich okręgów w Polsce. W książce przedstawiono zarówno genezę decyzji politycznych stojących za wyborem przedterminowych wyborów w 1989 r. przez reżim komunistyczny, jak i między innymi proces wyłaniania liderów na listy wyborcze. Zaprezentowano postawy polityczne, kontekst społeczno-polityczny, stanowisko lokalnych struktur Polskiej Zjednoczonej Partii Robotniczej i jej działaczy wobec perspektywy głębokich przemian politycznych, które zapowiadały wybory czerwcowe, jak i też zaprezentowano reakcje powyborcze chojnickich komunistów. Dokonano także analizy porównawczej, według podstawowej jednostki jaką była gmina, ukazując zróżnicowanie postaw również w odniesieniu do przynależności etnograficznej wyborców w okręgu wyborczym nr 14. Analizie poddano także wybory do Senatu, koncentrując się na przebiegu kampanii, kandydatach oraz wynikach z terenu północnej części województwa bydgoskiego. Całość studium jest wynikiem analizy materiałów źródłowych - tj. dokumentów Państwowej Komisji Wyborczej, Rady Państwa oraz Komitetu Miejskiego PZPR w Chojnicach i Komitetu Gminnego PZPR w Chojnicach oraz relacji i wspomnień.
Unia Europejska dopiero w 2007 r. zaproponowała wobec regionu Azji Centralnej strategię, w której odniesiono się do różnych problemów, w tym deficytu demokracji i łamania praw człowieka. Istotnym ograniczeniem działań UE jest występowanie w cieniu USA oraz brak ambicji by także rozwijać współpracę w innych obszarach jak bezpieczeństwo czy zwiększenie europejskich inwestycji. Kolejnym problemem jest po zakończeniu jedynej strategii brak nakreślenia priorytetów, które umożliwiłoby UE na odgrywanie większej roli w Azji Centralnej. ; European Union after years of relatively small activity, in 2007 offered a strategy to Central Asia. In that strategy were addressed many issues, including democratic deficit or human rights violations. EU in its activity is overshadowed by the US and has small capacity for pursuing its own policy to the Central Asia. Another problem is a fact that after accomplishing EU strategy to Central Asia there are no new initiatives which will contribute for more visible European activity in that region.
Unia Europejska dopiero w 2007 r. zaproponowała wobec regionu Azji Centralnej strategię, w której odniesiono się do różnych problemów, w tym deficytu demokracji i łamania praw człowieka. Istotnym ograniczeniem działań UE jest występowanie w cieniu USA oraz brak ambicji by także rozwijać współpracę w innych obszarach jak bezpieczeństwo czy zwiększenie europejskich inwestycji. Kolejnym problemem jest po zakończeniu jedynej strategii brak nakreślenia priorytetów, które umożliwiłoby UE na odgrywanie większej roli w Azji Centralnej. ; European Union after years of relatively small activity, in 2007 offered a strategy to Central Asia. In that strategy were addressed many issues, including democratic deficit or human rights violations. EU in its activity is overshadowed by the US and has small capacity for pursuing its own policy to the Central Asia. Another problem is a fact that after accomplishing EU strategy to Central Asia there are no new initiatives which will contribute for more visible European activity in that region.
Standardem we współczesnych państwach demokratycznych stało się jednoczesne funkcjonowanie wielu organów mających na celu zapewnienie przestrzegania prawa. Jednym z nich pozostaje instytucja Ombudsmana, która zyskała na znaczeniu w wielu krajach świata zarówno o ustabilizowanej, jak i odradzającej się demokracji. Za główne cechy tej instytucji uznaje się niezależność Ombudsmana od innych organów, łatwość dostępu do niego, a także wiarygodność i elastyczność działania. Dzisiaj funkcjonuje ona w ponad 100 krajach i wciąż widać tendencję wzrostową. Nawet w ramach Unii Europejskiej od 1995 r. działa Ombudsman Europejski, a Rada Europy od 1999 r. powołuje Komisarza do spraw Praw Człowieka. W państwach Europy Zachodniej proces tworzenia urzędów ombudsmańskich szczególnie intensywnie przebiegał po II wojnie światowej, co spowodowane było m.in. wzrostem zainteresowania ówczesnych społeczeństw ochroną praw człowieka w związku z przebytymi doświadczeniami "brunatnego" i "czerwonego" totalitaryzmu. Natomiast w ramach transformacji ustrojowych zapoczątkowanych w latach dziewięćdziesiątych, proces ten zaczął dotyczyć również bloku państw Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej i Południowej. W przypadku bloku tych państw wprowadzanie instytucji ombudsmańskich do porządku konstytucyjnego poczytuje się jako część procesu transformacji ustrojowej i ich demokratyzacji. Warto przy tym podkreślić, że wśród tych krajów Polska należała do prekursorów w tym względzie. ; The functioning of many organs which aim to ensure the rule of law is standard in democratic countries. One of them is the institution of the ombudsman, which has become significant in both those countries with strong democratic systems and emerging democracies. The most important features of this institution are independence, easy access, reliability and flexibility. Nowadays, it functions in approximately 100 countries and it is estimated that this number will increase in the near future. There has been a European ombudsman in the European Union since 1995, and the Council of Europe appointed a Human Rights Commissioner in 1999. In West European countries, the process of creating the office of the ombudsman was particularly intensive after the Second World War, as a result of their experience of totalitarianism. This process could also be observed in Central-Eastern and Southern Europe during the political transformations of the 1990s. It was a symbol of the transformation and democratization of those countries. Poland can be safely assumed to have been a forerunner in the process in this region.
Standardem we współczesnych państwach demokratycznych stało się jednoczesne funkcjonowanie wielu organów mających na celu zapewnienie przestrzegania prawa. Jednym z nich pozostaje instytucja Ombudsmana, która zyskała na znaczeniu w wielu krajach świata zarówno o ustabilizowanej, jak i odradzającej się demokracji. Za główne cechy tej instytucji uznaje się niezależność Ombudsmana od innych organów, łatwość dostępu do niego, a także wiarygodność i elastyczność działania. Dzisiaj funkcjonuje ona w ponad 100 krajach i wciąż widać tendencję wzrostową. Nawet w ramach Unii Europejskiej od 1995 r. działa Ombudsman Europejski, a Rada Europy od 1999 r. powołuje Komisarza do spraw Praw Człowieka. W państwach Europy Zachodniej proces tworzenia urzędów ombudsmańskich szczególnie intensywnie przebiegał po II wojnie światowej, co spowodowane było m.in. wzrostem zainteresowania ówczesnych społeczeństw ochroną praw człowieka w związku z przebytymi doświadczeniami "brunatnego" i "czerwonego" totalitaryzmu. Natomiast w ramach transformacji ustrojowych zapoczątkowanych w latach dziewięćdziesiątych, proces ten zaczął dotyczyć również bloku państw Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej i Południowej. W przypadku bloku tych państw wprowadzanie instytucji ombudsmańskich do porządku konstytucyjnego poczytuje się jako część procesu transformacji ustrojowej i ich demokratyzacji. Warto przy tym podkreślić, że wśród tych krajów Polska należała do prekursorów w tym względzie. ; The functioning of many organs which aim to ensure the rule of law is standard in democratic countries. One of them is the institution of the ombudsman, which has become significant in both those countries with strong democratic systems and emerging democracies. The most important features of this institution are independence, easy access, reliability and flexibility. Nowadays, it functions in approximately 100 countries and it is estimated that this number will increase in the near future. There has been a European ombudsman in the European Union since 1995, and the Council of Europe appointed a Human Rights Commissioner in 1999. In West European countries, the process of creating the office of the ombudsman was particularly intensive after the Second World War, as a result of their experience of totalitarianism. This process could also be observed in Central-Eastern and Southern Europe during the political transformations of the 1990s. It was a symbol of the transformation and democratization of those countries. Poland can be safely assumed to have been a forerunner in the process in this region.
Wspieranie demokracji, czyli szczególny rodzaj pomocy zagranicznej mający na celu promowanie idei i postaw demokratycznych, było dotychczas domeną demokracji zachodnich. Dlatego badania w dziedzinie wspierania demokracji zazwyczaj koncentrowały się na programach prowadzonych przez międzynarodowe organizacje, bądź rządowe i pozarządowe organizacje, fundacje ze Stanów Zjednoczonych, jak również z Europy Zachodniej. Jednakże niedawno do grona darczyńców dołączyły również młode demokracje z Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej takie jak Polska, Czechy, Słowacja bądź Węgry, które same tak niedawno były odbiorcami tego typu pomocy. Biorąc jako studium przypadku działania Polski na Ukrainie i Białorusi niniejszy artykuł analizuje działania polskich organizacji pozarządowych na rzecz wspierania demokracji w krajach partnerskich w latach 1990–2015. Celem badań było zbadanie przyczyn zaangażowania się polskich organizacji pozarządowych we wspieranie demokracji, metod promowania idei i postaw demokratycznych oraz charakteru współpracy ze społecznością obywatelską z krajów partnerskich. ; Supporting democracy or, in other words, a special kind of foreign aid aiming to promote democratic ideas and attitudes, has been the domain of western democracies. Therefore, the studies on aiding democracy have typically focused on the programs of international organizations, governmental and non governmental organizations and foundations from the United States and Western Europe. Recently, the circle of benefactors widened to include also the young democracies from Central and Eastern Europe – Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary – the former recipients of a similar support. The case study of Polish involvement in Ukraine and Belarus allows the author of this paper to analyze the activities of Polish NGOs aiming to support democracy in partner countries from 1990 to 2015. The objective is to examine the reasons for Polish NGOs involvement in supporting democracy, the methods applied to promote democratic ideas and attitudes and the nature of collaboration with civilsocieties of partner countries.
Wspieranie demokracji, czyli szczególny rodzaj pomocy zagranicznej mający na celu promowanie idei i postaw demokratycznych, było dotychczas domeną demokracji zachodnich. Dlatego badania w dziedzinie wspierania demokracji zazwyczaj koncentrowały się na programach prowadzonych przez międzynarodowe organizacje, bądź rządowe i pozarządowe organizacje, fundacje ze Stanów Zjednoczonych, jak również z Europy Zachodniej. Jednakże niedawno do grona darczyńców dołączyły również młode demokracje z Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej takie jak Polska, Czechy, Słowacja bądź Węgry, które same tak niedawno były odbiorcami tego typu pomocy. Biorąc jako studium przypadku działania Polski na Ukrainie i Białorusi niniejszy artykuł analizuje działania polskich organizacji pozarządowych na rzecz wspierania demokracji w krajach partnerskich w latach 1990–2015. Celem badań było zbadanie przyczyn zaangażowania się polskich organizacji pozarządowych we wspieranie demokracji, metod promowania idei i postaw demokratycznych oraz charakteru współpracy ze społecznością obywatelską z krajów partnerskich. ; Supporting democracy or, in other words, a special kind of foreign aid aiming to promote democratic ideas and attitudes, has been the domain of western democracies. Therefore, the studies on aiding democracy have typically focused on the programs of international organizations, governmental and non-governmental organizations and foundations from the United States and Western Europe. Recently, the circle of benefactors widened to include also the young democracies from Central and Eastern Europe – Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary – the former recipients of a similar support. The case study of Polish involvement in Ukraine and Belarus allows the author of this paper to analyze the activities of Polish NGOs aiming to support democracy in partner countries from 1990 to 2015. The objective is to examine the reasons for Polish NGOs involvement in supporting democracy, the methods applied to promote democratic ideas and attitudes and the nature of collaboration with civil societies of partner countries.
After the relatively successful system transformation, some young democratic countries from Central and Eastern Europe which used to receive democratic aid in the 1980s and 90s have engaged as new donors in assisting pro-democratic changes in other post-communist countries. The donor-recipient relations between two post-communist countries can be observed on the example of the development of cooperation between Poland and Ukraine. This paper deals with Polish assistance to new media in Ukraine in from 2007-2017 as a part of supporting democracy in Ukraine under the Polish Cooperation Development Program. Firstly, this work examines whether the Polish government's support of Ukrainian media as part of cooperation development will be sustained regardless of changes in the Polish government. Secondly, the paper explores whether Polish NGOs tailor their projects, financed by the Polish MFA, to the recipients' respective needs and the current situation in Ukraine. By examining Polish media assistance, the authors aim to explain the efforts of the new donor in developing media in a partner country, emphasizing the relation between the involvement of external actors and the presence of independent media which play an important role in democratization processes.
The article presents the basic determinants of Hungarian foreign policy in reference to the region of Central and Eastern Europe over the last quarter of a century. The author discusses the country's relations with its neighbouring countries, as well as the two largest political entities in the region, namely Russia and Germany. The political analysis is supplemented with an overview of economic and commercial exchange carried out by Hungary with other countries in the region. Hungary's activities on the international scene are also presented in relation to group cooperation: the Visegrad Group, Central European Initiative, EU policy on the Eastern Partnership. Moreover, the author analyses independent steps Hungary has taken in Central and Eastern Europe in terms of its relations with the Balkan countries. The article ends with a presentation of the Hungarian position regarding the sphere of security policy as an expression of the country's focus on securing their own interests, which may cause conflict with the interests of regional organizations that have Hungary among their members.
The paradigm of the political identity of Central and Eastern Europe was being formed on the sidelines of the paradigm of modernization of the region's states, getting beyond control of the East (authoritarianism) and heading towards Western democracies. In the process of democratization of the countries of the region, the transformation paradigm developed by Western political scientists had to be adapted to the Eastern European reality. The countries of the region underwent a complex process of systemic changes in the political and economic dimension, and some also in the state-building and nation-building dimensions. Three decades of transformation point to a significant group of countries in which democratization has been successful or is heading in the right direction. The second group of states balances between hybrid regimes and non-consolidated democracy, while the third group of countries has failed the experiment of democratization.
