The article presents the history of shaping the political system and constitutional bodies in the Republic of South Africa. This country has undergone a political transformation. Extending ruling by the white population and discrimination of black people during the apartheid period led to increased persecution of the indigenous people. The author presents the history and stages involved in building a democratic state. Reform was carried out peacefully and through compromise. The article also discusses the development of constitutional rights, their most essential characteristics, and how they function in the Republic of South Africa.
This paper presents the ongoing discussion about Polish party system formation and its foundations among society. It also reviews the the literature that has studied the origins of cleavage based party systems, originally presented by Lipset and Rokkan, as well as theoretical and empirical assessments. For a long period of time Polish party system was depicted as very unstable, lacking any sign of institutionalization and where voters had showed no strong ties to political parties. This paper presents an argument that since 2004 this situation has started to change. In the second part of the review it is suggested that the current state of the Polish party system gives us strong indications that the new cleavage may have come into being, namely, between liberal and solidarity values, which convincingly correlates with electorates of two biggest parties: Law and Justice (PiS) and Civic Platform (PO).
LIGNITE DEPOSITS OF THE POZNAŃ RIFT VALLEYS SYSTEM AS A GUARANTEE OF ENERGY SECURITY FOR POLANDCurrent and future EU regulations are forcing Poland to reduce the participation of coal in the energy mix in 2030 and in the more distant perspective for the significant development of unsteady renewable sources. The stability of the Polish power system will still be based on lignite that is the cheapest source of energy in the country. This involves the exploitation of new deposits and construction of new power plants that will be useful as the reserve for renewable sources. The Poznań rift valleys system belongs to the richest lignite-bearing areas in Poland. In total, there are estimated over 7.8 billion tons of lignite possible to extraction. These deposits should be a guarantee of energy security for Poland.
The article presents the results of the European Social Survey on the political involvement of youth aged 16–29 in Poland, Russia and Ukraine. It can be concluded from the observations that the level of political commitment is low among the researched youths. The phase of life and the social status are the decisive factors affecting a young person's involvement in politics. Working young people with university education are more likely to participate in political life. Additionally, more commitment to political life is demonstrated in people with higher social status. There are also differences between the youth in the analysed countries. In Russia, young people are more interested in politics and show political party preferences. In Ukraine, the youth more frequently participates in the elections. In Poland, young people are present in various civil campaigns.
System polityczny Konfederacji Szwajcarskiej jest systemem, który stanowi przykład dla współczesnych rozwiązań demokratycznych. Specyfika oddolnej organizacji państwa szwajcarskiego sugeruje, by specyfiki jego funkcjonowania poszukiwać od poziomu gminy poprzez kanton ku całej federacji. Należy wskazać, że filarem szwajcarskiego federalizmu jest silna samodzielność kantonów wobec władzy federalnej. Warto podkreślić, że specyficzny charakter systemu rządów oparty jest o zasadę dominacji parlamentu, układ zależności pomiędzy poszczególnymi instytucjami władzy państwowej przyczyniają się do instytucjonalnego zdominowania procesów politycznych, przy tym ograniczony do minimum stopień politycznej rywalizacji sprzyja z jednej strony realizacji merytorycznych działań politycznych, z drugiej stabilności. Należy również wskazać na rozbudowaną instytucję demokracji bezpośredniej, która pozostawia ostateczny głos obywatelowi. ; The political system of the Swiss Confederation is a system that is an example for modern democratic solutions. The specificity of grass-roots organization of the Swiss State suggests that the specificity of its operation should be sought for from the level of the community through canton to the whole federation. It should be noted that the pillar of the Swiss federalism is strong independence of the cantons towards the federal government. It is worth noting that the specific nature of the system of government is based on the principle of domination of parliament; arrangement relationships between the various institutions of state power contribute to the institutional domination of the political processes, while limited to the minimum degree of political competition favors on the one hand the implementation of substantive policy action, and on the other - stability. It should also be pointed out to the extensive institution of direct democracy which leaves the final say to the citizen.
The paper looks at the issue of the psychological conditioning of the preferences concerning the shape of governance system and the system of political parties in Poland in the light of empirical research (N=1086), carried out in 2009. The analysis takes into account the variables of self-assessment, dispositional optimism, self-efficacy and dispositional fear. These variables, accounting for the cognitive functioning of individuals, the level of their involvement and motivation, have turned out to be significant when differentiating individuals' preferences concerning political systems. ; The paper looks at the issue of the psychological conditioning of the preferences concerning the shape of governance system and the system of political parties in Poland in the light of empirical research (N=1086), carried out in 2009. The analysis takes into account the variables of self-assessment, dispositional optimism, self-efficacy and dispositional fear. These variables, accounting for the cognitive functioning of individuals, the level of their involvement and motivation, have turned out to be significant when differentiating individuals' preferences concerning political systems.
In this article the author aims to present the process of building a limited political pluralism system within the basic political institutions of Francoist Spain during the civil war of 1936–1939. Primarily, the author outlines the political structure of the national camp during the first months of the civil war. Subsequently, the basic normative acts constituting the foundations of the political system of the Spanish national institutions were presented, together with the description of the established institutions' factual operation. These were the central administration bodies, i.e. State Technical Council (Junta Técnica del Estado) from October 1, 1936 to January 30, 1938, and then the government of Spain. The latter organ, apart from the basic function of the administrative apparatus, was a center for bringing together the representatives of the licensed political movements of the national camp and for the clashing of their programs. In addition, the process of political unification in the form of the Traditionalist Spanish Phalanx and that of the Councils of the National Syndicalist Offensive (Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista; FET y de las JONS), an organization resembling a monoparty, founded on the program and tradition of the pre-war Spanish Phalanx, which was enriched and redefined by other political circles participating in the movement, is presented. Ultimately, the paper presents the ideological sources of the Spanish limited political pluralism model, pointing to the tradition of Carlism thought, Phalangism and the Acción Española movement. The conclusion resulting from the analysis is that the model adopted in Spain during the Civil War, which ensures, always limited, but still significant political pluralism within the ruling camp, resembles authoritarian rather than totalitarian solutions.
