Suchergebnisse

This article aims to reconstruct the functioning of political parties that was present during the establishment of the foundations of the democratic system and political practice, from the "Velvet Revolution" to the creation of a competitive party system with a dominant political party – Movement for Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) set up by Vladimir Mečiar; who served as prime minister in the years 1993–1998 (including a hiatus in 1994) greatly affecting the state internal and international policy, and held the post of the sole chairman of the party until its dissolution. V. Mečiar's rule was marked by the interweaving of the elements of the wave of democratization with the reverse wave of de-democratization. The pro-democratic and undemocratic tendencies displayed by Mečiar were determined – apart from objective factors – by the personality traits of the prime minister: his commanding and charismatic leadership style, authoritarianism, making public decisions in a ruthless manner devoid of impartiality, or violations of democratic norms and values. Apart from its scientific purpose, this article may also fulfil a practical function allowing the possibility of using the research findings in social practice/politics.

This article aims to reconstruct the functioning of political parties that was present during the establishment of the foundations of the democratic system and political practice, from the "Velvet Revolution" to the creation of a competitive party system with a dominant political party – Movement for Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) set up by Vladimir Mečiar; who served as prime minister in the years 1993–1998 (including a hiatus in 1994) greatly affecting the state internal and international policy, and held the post of the sole chairman of the party until its dissolution. V. Mečiar's rule was marked by the interweaving of the elements of the wave of democratization with the reverse wave of de-democratization. The pro-democratic and undemocratic tendencies displayed by Mečiar were determined – apart from objective factors – by the personality traits of the prime minister: his commanding and charismatic leadership style, authoritarianism, making public decisions in a ruthless manner devoid of impartiality, or violations of democratic norms and values. Apart from its scientific purpose, this article may also fulfil a practical function allowing the possibility of using the research findings in social practice/politics.

This article aims to reconstruct the functioning of political parties that was present during the establishment of the foundations of the democratic system and political practice, from the "Velvet Revolution" to the creation of a competitive party system with a dominant political party – Movement for Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) set up by Vladimir Mečiar; who served as prime minister in the years 1993–1998 (including a hiatus in 1994) greatly affecting the state internal and international policy, and held the post of the sole chairman of the party until its dissolution. V. Mečiar's rule was marked by the interweaving of the elements of the wave of democratization with the reverse wave of de-democratization. The pro-democratic and undemocratic tendencies displayed by Mečiar were determined – apart from objective factors – by the personality traits of the prime minister: his commanding and charismatic leadership style, authoritarianism, making public decisions in a ruthless manner devoid of impartiality, or violations of democratic norms and values. Apart from its scientific purpose, this article may also fulfil a practical function allowing the possibility of using the research findings in social practice/politics

Miejsce pamięci nie jest li tylko topograficznym odniesieniem, czy alokacją pamięci zdarzenia jakie się kiedyś i gdzieś wydarzyło. Ze społecznym, a nie topograficznym odniesieniem związana jest pamięć, która może być sprawą osobistych doznań, czy grupowych - społecznych uczuć. Okazuje się, że pamięć może być przekazem niewiążącym się z samym miejscem lecz jego symboliką, kiedy to nazwy, wybrane fragmenty pamięci, inne dokumenty i formy prezentacji, tworzą pamięć i tym samym wzmacniają odbiór miejsca pamięci. Mówimy o post pamięci jako pokoleniowym przekazem traumy. Na pamięć i miejsce pamięci można spojrzeć z perspektywy odbiorcy nie mającego relacji z taką pamięcią czy miejscem. Jego odniesienia nie zawsze mogą być właściwą interpretacją. Miejsce pamięci to również pamięć zbrodni bez odniesienia do konkretnego miejsca czy osób. Zakwestionować tutaj można określenie Pierra Nora, iż KL Auschwitz wśród europejskich miejsc pamięci jest miejscem symbolicznym. Zbrodnia Holocaustu, gdzie Auschwitz jest jedynie jednym z wielu różnorakich miejsc w przestrzeni pamięci winno wiązać się z jego określeniem jako miejsca fundacyjnego. Nadało ono nie tylko mieszkańcom Europy lecz większości świata trwałe kulturowe odniesienie. Dla Polaków Sybir, Wołyń, czy lasek lub dół gdzieś za miastem, czy wsią to nie mniej ważne miejsca pamięci. Te miejsca i ta pamięć konstytuują nasze społeczeństwo. Rolą konserwatora zabytków nie jest tylko sprawowanie opieki nad miejscem uznanym za zabytek, lecz bycie świadomym pamięci, która przenika przez nas i tworzy różne przestrzenie oddziaływania.

The aim of the article is to reconstruct the theoretical foundations of the local government, reestablished in 1990, taking into account the state and political theories, whose standards have been established with regard to the local government during the interwar period, as well as the concept of the civil society, built upon the foundation of the civil movements of the 1980s that aimed at democratizing the authoritarian regimes of Central and Eastern Europe. The idea of the civil society, which reemerged after two centuries, not only inspired a nation-wide political protest movement and democratic modernization of the state, but also became one of the cornerstones of the conception of the local government, as cooperation with the local organizations, considered to be the most important agents of the third sector, has been inscribed directly into the local government statutes.

The idea of constitutional accountability of public government officials dates back to the Constitution of May 3, 1791, even though it was only rather briefly adhered to in the political practice in the Duchy of Warsaw, and later in the times of the Second Polish Republic and the Third Polish Republic. On the one hand, the analysis of legislative acts concerning the notion of constitutional accountability in the abovementioned periods of Polish history reveals its constant development with regard to the terms of reference of the positions subject to constitutional accountability and the authorities involved in the process, but, on the other hand, the study also points to the relative lack of efficacy connected with the politicisation of the Parliament, which makes the notion of constitutional accountability a spectacular form of implementation of the principle of political accountability.

The pilot programmes, in which the large towns were to take over the duties and competence formerly belonging to the state administration, was designed by its creators to be a trial to assess the possibilities of the communities in the area of matters which, in the further stage of reform of public administration, were to be the responsibility of the Districts. After a period of more than one year of implementing this pilot programme it may be asserted that the towns satisfied the expectations of the reform promoters. Positive results were achieved thanks to the wholehearted involvement of the local political élite in the reform process. Quite often the reforming of public administration appeared rather as a bettie waged between rival state and local administrations, the former striving to retain its previous dominating position, the latter to broaden its influence and sphere of competence. This was the beginning of an ever widening process of decentralisation of state control and the consequent enhancing of the duties and powers of the territorial authorities of the larger towns. The authors of the successes scored in the pilot programmes were mainly the workers and activists from the local government institutions. It was they who pressed on, in the face of considerable difficulties, towards effective accomplishing of the tasks entrusted to them and consistently broadened the official competence of the local authority institutions. The local leaders were recruited from the ranks of the local government officials while the state administration workers specially declared their positive support for the principles of the pilot programme. Only about 11 % of the leaders adopted a negative or neutral stance towards reform. Advantages gained from the pilot programme concentrate on two areas. Firstly, the pilot scheme facilitates and speeds up satisfaction of communal needs by the introduction of organisational improvements. Secondly, it creates conditions for optimum exploitation of financial resources. The pilot scheme objectives favour the implementation of the social needs of the inhabitants and leaders of the community. These include: health care and social assistance and also education and upbringing. The scope of pilot scheme tasks agrees with the expectations of the inhabitants and represents a spontaneously decided local system of social needs. The process of taking over the pilot scheme tasks by the town local government authorities took place without any pressure being exerted from the state administration side. Empirical data indicate the curbing of the influence of the state administration in determining preferences and outlays from the local community budgets. The pilot scheme increases the potential for citizens' chances of influencing the process of management of public affairs. Local self government activists support the idea of active participation of individual citizens in the social and political life of the town. In practice, however, concentration of powers in the hands of the community authorities and offices limits the possibilities of participation in the local management process.