Suchergebnisse

1. Introduction -- 2. The First Structural Experiment: Communist-era Homogenisation -- 3. Consequences of the Experiment: the Division between Society and the nomenklatura -- 4. The Second Experiment: the Differentiation of the Social Structure -- 5. Consequences of the Second Experiment: the 'winners' – 'losers' Division -- 6. The Formation of Social Divisions and the Theory of Practices of Repartition -- 7. Conclusion.

The article discusses the significance of the practices of repartition for the disintegration and integration of social groups. It has been emphasized that repartitions are not only generated by social expectations, mobilise the voters, and help politicians take advantage of social problems, but they also contribute to the integration of social groups. The groups comprised of the supporters of repartitions, who accept their message, and also of their opponents, who irrevocably reject the changes put forward by the repartitions. The power of repartitions, which, first and foremost, resides in the legality of the system, the refusal to accepts its inequalities and in the promise of new fair hierarchies translates into the creation of social bonds. Repartitions bring together those who are excluded and want for goods with those who have them in excess. By bringing the individuals together, repartitions make the creation of a fair order more likely. It is because of these properties that they become politically useful tools, instrumental in remodelling the society, which ultimately leads to its integration into one entity.

The aim of the article is to present the history of research on the categories of "political actor" and "political agency" conducted by Polish political scientists. The article shows how they were defined and how the theories of society and politics prevalent at a given time shaped their understanding. Initially, both categories alluded to the collective vision of activity, to finally appreciate the role of individuals in initiating activity. The way researchers viewed the significance of political actors was changing over time as well; at the beginning, social classes and subsequently large groups were seen as crucial, while individuals were only eventually recognised as the source of agency. The article demonstrates that both categories have changed over the years, adapted to new social order, social structure and, in particular, to the ideologies prevalent in society. The article pays special attention to the concepts developed by Mirosław Karwat and Andrzej Czajowski.

THE IDEA BEHIND THE PRACTICE OF REPARTITION: THE REASONS FOR ITS SYSTEMATIC APPLICATION IN POLISH POLITICS The article discusses the practice of repartition, political tools and measures used by politicians as means to achieve their political objectives. Repartitions meet social expectations, can mobilize voters, and demonstrate the involvement of politicians with social problems. They also aim to question the validity of the legal system, and to refuse to accept its inequalities. They postulate the rejection of dominating hierarchies, the instances of discrimination, injustice and wrongdoings. Essentially antithetical, they show two parties between which the unjust privileges manifest, and postulate their abolition. Repartitions often politicize cleavages by focusing on inequality. It is through such relations that repartitions become attractive and useful, as they refer to the experiences that individual people can relate to. Therefore, repartitions also constitute a diagnostic tool that can help assess the depth of inequalities, social expectations, and the public mood. The aim of this article is to discuss the essence of the practice of repartition, a new analytical category used to create and explain politics, seen here as closely related to the phenomenon of societal cleavages.

The article reflects the burgeoning academic interest in social cleavages and various ways of their politicization. It addresses their origins, identification, interpretation and also — to a limited extent — the ways they can be applied to politics. The article shows that cleavages are historical and social constructs that exist in time. On the other hand, they also confirm the existence of real divisions and inequalities already present in a social structure. The divisions discussed in the paper are, first of all, distinguished through the existing inequalities, their depth, and then the politicization and social-political consequences. At the same time, the cleavages, as phenomena observed at a group level, can also by symptomatic of asymmetric intergroup relations. They are most often manifested through inequalities of power, creation of unfair hierarchies, and structures of domination. Such an approach makes it possible to discuss the authoritative dimension of the cleavages, their asymmetries and implications for social development.

The articles presents how thestrategy of populism was used by Polish liberaldemocratic elitesin the presidential and parliamentary campaigns of 2015. Thestrategy
was used in two ways. Firstly,theelection promisesmade by theliberals' opponents were
assigned a derogatory terms of populism. Secondly, theliberals madetheir own promises
to the public, which fulfilled the main characteristics ascribed to populism. This way the
strategies of populism was used by neoliberalelitesto securetheir own position in power.
It served to maintain the existing dominance and concentration of power. The observations presented in the articlewere based on thorough research and analysis of political discourse of the 2015 elections.

Towards constructing a theory of politics — an opportunity at a better understanding of the phenomenon of politicsThe main aim of this paper is not only to present fundamental features of an interpretive theory of politics, but above all to demonstrate significance and potential possibilities connected with the interpretive para­digm when used to research and understand the phenomenon of politics. This aim relates to the underlying assumption that the core of political science is in fact of a multiparadigm and pluralist character.

The Movement of a Hundred (Polish: Ruch Stu) was to become an alternative for the political class that emerged after 1989. The whole political class was supposed to be substituted in a democratic manner by new people entering the political arena. The minimum political platform was to unite the activists of diversified political provenience. The Movement of a Hundred was to provide a new way of functioning for the political parties. The very naming of the party as the "movement", that is a common activity of new people, was of significant importance itself. They were to introduce a new quality of politics and a new model of a politician. Current political events in- volved the Movement of a Hundred in a never-ending spiral of political elections. The two most important events were supporting Lech Wa³êsa before the presidential elec- tions and the decision to join the structures of the AWS (Solidarity Election Action). The Movement of a Hundred was to be an alternative and novelty on the Polish political arena. However, it became a tiny, hardly observable, component of the right wing of the former political class. It was commonly known to have been incorporated by the old elite. The Movement of a Hundred adopted behavioral models that were typical of a former political class (including the conflicts between the leaders), as well as the heavily criticized faults (struggle for gaining influence in the AWS) that resulted in the collapse of the whole right wing in the next parliamentary elections.

The Movement of a Hundred (Polish: Ruch Stu) was to become an alternative for the political class that emerged after 1989. The whole political class was supposed to be substituted in a democratic manner by new people entering the political arena. The minimum political platform was to unite the activists of diversified political provenience. The Movement of a Hundred was to provide a new way of functioning for the political parties. The very naming of the party as the "movement", that is a common activity of new people, was of significant importance itself. They were to introduce a new quality of politics and a new model of a politician. Current political events involved the Movement of a Hundred in a never-ending spiral of political elections. The two most important events were supporting Lech Wa³êsa before the presidential elections and the decision to join the structures of the AWS (Solidarity Election Action). The Movement of a Hundred was to be an alternative and novelty on the Polish political arena. However, it became a tiny, hardly observable, component of the right wing of the former political class. It was commonly known to have been incorporated by the old elite. The Movement of a Hundred adopted behavioral models that were typical of a former political class (including the conflicts between the leaders), as well as the heavily criticized faults (struggle for gaining influence in the AWS) that resulted in the collapse of the whole right wing in the next parliamentary elections.

Our specific aim was to paint the widest possible picture of the organizational structures of the most relevant parties in Central and Eastern Europe, and to provide a basis for further comparison between them and their Western European counterparts. We focused specifically on the formal aspects of organizational structures of political parties in CEE, as reflected in their statutory rules.In order to implement our project, we asked scholars from the region to prepare papers on the organizational structures of parliamentary parties in their respective countries, based on the formal statutes of those parties, as well as on the laws that govern their operation. The choice of countries included in the project was based on two inclusive criteria: geographic location, i.e. the countries of Central and Eastern Europe; and political history, i.e. post-communist countries, regardless of whether or not they are democratic. These are: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine