Constructing the Identity of a Nation-State.Symbolic Conflict over the Preamble to the Constitution of the Third Republic of Poland
Constructing the Identity of a Nation-State.Symbolic Conflict over the Preamble to the Constitution of the Third Republic of Poland

Summary/Abstract: The conflict over the contents of the Preamble to the Constitution of the Third Republic of Poland is presented as a symbolic discursive struggle on the public arena of organized collective agents—the representatives of political parties, NSZZ “Solidarnos´c´” (Solidarity) and the Roman-Catholic Church. It is a study of the function of symbolization, based on the example of Constitutionalism, which reveals the undercurrents of the reclaiming and control of political power with the help of symbols after the downfall of real socialism. The text of the Preamble was formulated in the process of interaction. Its meaning can be understood only—as this article proposes—through a re-contextualisation, i.e. reconstructing the course of symbolic interactions between the sides of the conflict. The article focuses on describing the stages of the negotiations, as well as the strategies and tactics associated with the inclusion of the Invocatio Dei. Of special importance are the entries which assumed a dialectical form—the expressions “We—the Polish Nation—all citizens of the Republic,” “…both those who believe in God as the source of truth, justice, good and beauty, and those who do not share this faith, but deriving those universal values from other sources” and “in the sense of responsibility before God or before one’s own conscience.” These expressions symbolically mark the borders of a consensus which divide society within the bounds of a problematic identity of the nation-state of the Third Republic of Poland. The structure of civic, national, universal, religious and secular values in the final text of the Preamble is also presented.

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