Tworzenie Konstytucji z 1997 roku. Przejaw kooperacji czy rywalizacji elit politycznych?
The Creation of the Constitution of 1997: A Sign of Cooperation or Competition between Political Elites?

Summary/Abstract: The author raises a hypothesis that the creation of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 1997 is the effect of the activity of those political forces which, within the “Round Table” talks in the spring of 1989, established the way and character of political changes, while the passing of the Constitution is the conclusion of that process. This situation is connected with a negative perception among large social groups of those political formations whose efforts led to the preparation and passing of the Constitution. The second hypothesis is as follows: the socio-political background which does not favour treating the constitution as an act that determines the architecture of processes taking place in the state in a commonly accepted and permanent way and the anti-constitutional constitutional traditions at home are overlapped by patterns of political competition also including the constitutional matters. The consequence is that although a maximally broad constitutional coalition appeared in the Sejm of the second term which largely considered the reasons and postulates of non-parliamentary formations, the effect of its activity had to be negated by the largest non-parliamentary formations and large social groups placing trust in them. Different goals of the activity of parliamentary and nonparliamentary parties, as well as confl icts of their aspirations and interests, made it impossible to arrive at a common consensus. Non-parliamentary formations made the argument concerning the constitution the main axis of the current socio-political divisions. In the light of the parliamentary elections of 21 September 1997, i.e. those conducted after the constitutional referendum and before the Constitution came into force, that strategy of political action proved effective for them.

• Details
• Contents