Geneza i istota zjawiska obstrukcji parlamentarnej
The Origins and Essence of Parliamentary Obstruction

Summary/Abstract: In the paper the Author deals with the origins of obstruction in parliaments against legislative works. He analyses obstruction practices which were applied in the Congress of the United States of America in the 19th century (as a filibustering) as well as in the 18th century in England (where the phenomenon of obstruction has its roots). Moreover, he analyses obstruction practices in Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany, France, Spain, Canada and Italy. The Author defines the term “parliamentary obstruction” as the activity of a minority group which aim is to hold up or interrupt the legislative process by inciting chaos in legislative works, in a debate and during a voting, which final intent is to pay attention of public opinion or force specific changes in the proceeding of the parliamentary majority. The Author shows the obstruction practices on the grounds of the constitutional law doctrine and parliamentarism in the past and nowadays. He distinguishes a technical parliamentary obstruction and a physical parliamentary obstruction, called in the doctrine “improper”. The first one of the mentioned obstructions is principally a legal form and possibilities of counteracting it are procedural means of parliaments’ regulations. The second one is a form which shouldn’t be approved in the contemporary parliaments. Moreover, there is the need to reach the consent of all political options existing in the political scene to refuse such obstruction and counteract it because it is opposed to the idea of mature, democratic and free representative assembly.

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