OBYWATEL CZASU TRANSFORMACJI - NIESPEŁNIONE NADZIEJE
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Date
2009
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Wydział Prawa i Administracji UAM
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CITIZEN OF THE TRANSITION - UNFULFILLED EXPECTATIONS
Abstract
The paper presents the formation process of democratic citizenship in Poland after 1989.
Although the author looks at citizenship as a multi-dimensional phenomenon, the focus is put on the
electoral behaviour of citizens, as it is believed to be the fundamental factor to the consolidation of
democracy. Poland is an example of a state with a considerable tension, or incompatibility, between
the legislative assumptions expected from citizens living in a democratic system and their actual civic
practices. The election turn-out is generally low, Poles seem to have no specific political preferences
and their civil rights awareness is generally poor. Only one in three adult citizens follows the basic
standards of democratic citizenship while not more than 20% may be called “high-quality” citizens.
Problems with citizenship do not result from a poor institutional design of democracy in Poland,
or any particular difficulty encountered in its implementation. What seems to have been the case is
that at the initial stage of transformation the existing electoral rules hampered the establishment of
a stable party-based system. The fundamental modifications of these rules in 1993 confirmed that
electoral volatility was the core factor of political instability. However, the author sees the
establishment of democratic citizenship as a long-term process and is o f an opinion that despite the
deficiencies currently being observed in civic practices o f the young democracy, there is no immediate
or direct threat to Poland’s democracy.
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Ruch Prawniczy, Ekonomiczny i Socjologiczny 71, 2009, z. 2, s. 397-421