Frances Millard

The Representation of Women

The position of women is of little consequence to those who deny the significance of the role of women in the political process or in the composition of parliaments. The underlying assumptions of this chapter accept many of the arguments on women’s representation noted in Chapter 2, namely that social representation does matter. Unfortunately we cannot address all facets of those arguments. Our focus is on the numbers, nature, and characteristics of women candidates and deputies. We thus ignore the issue of women’s behaviour as deputies, and in particular the important question of whether gender matters to decision-making.1 Instead we concentrate on aspects of the input side of the electoral process.

Presidents and democratization in Poland: The roles of Lech Wałesa and Aleksander Kwaśniewski in building a new polity

Comparative studies of post‐communist presidencies have focused mainly on the formal powers of presidencies. Such studies should be complemented by empirical studies of how presidents actually use these powers, especially as the role of personality appears very strong in the early stages of institution‐building. In Poland president and former Solidarity leader Lech Wałesa lacked appreciation of the need for political bargaining and compromise and failed to build a political base. He continued his pre‐1989 strategy of confrontation, both with parliament and with government. His system‐building initiatives were unconvincing and his influence on subsequent institutional developments was largely negative. The ex‐communist Aleksander Kwaśniewski, by contrast, benefited from his considerable political experience and solid political backing to carve out a self‐conscious, overt and productive system‐shaping role. The reduction in formal presidential powers in 1997 did not reduce the capacity of the president to influence the polity.

Elections in Poland 2001: electoral manipulation and party upheaval

Abstract The Polish parliamentary elections of 2001 took place in a context of fresh upheavals in the configuration of political parties. The architects of the new electoral law aimed to reduce the seats gained by the social democrats and increase their own. They succeeded in the first aim by a change of electoral formula, forcing the victorious social democratic electoral coalition to seek a third coalition partner. They did not achieve the second aim, as their own failures in government drastically reduced their electoral support and facilitated the breakthrough of populist formations. The result had implications for party development and the composition and workings of both parliament and government. While representation was enhanced by a parliament more accurately reflecting the voters’ choice, the impact appeared potentially harmful to Polish democracy as a whole.

The parliamentary elections in Poland, September 2001

Abstract The parliamentary election in Poland in September 2001 accelerated upheaval in the party system. It saw the victory of a new left-wing electoral coalition led by the successor social democrats of the Democratic Left Alliance, the defeat of previous incumbents, and new entrants into parliament. The government lost because it was weak, divided and ineffective, while the opposition SLD appeared competent, professional and united. The fragmentation of the post-Solidarity right and centre provided opportunities for populist formations to make gains in a context of continuing transition-anxieties. The election marked the end of the historic division between the heirs of communism and the heirs of Solidarity.

Environmental policy in Poland

Environmental policy in Poland after 1989 remains largely state centred and technocratic. The green movement is extensive but fragmented and divided and political parties have given little attention to environmental issues, while public concerns have shifted to the fundamental economic issues of daily life. Yet achievements have been substantial, albeit only partly as a result of government policy: industrial recession and restructuring have had a significant impact on the reduction of environmental degradation. Cleanup rather than ‘eco‐development’ remains the key focus. The Ministry of the Environment remained weak, lacking a coherent strategy and proving unable to ensure the effective implementation of much new legislation.

The Influence of the Catholic Hierarchy in Poland, 1989-96

The Catholic Church in Poland was a major social and political force in communist Poland and it mobilized its diverse resources to achieve significant policy victories in the period of Solidarity governments after 1989. The social welfare activities of Catholic organ izations increased. Thus it looked for a time as though the new social welfare regime would be a type of Catholic corporatism. However, the Church hierarchy did not adapt effectively to pluralist diversity. It often appeared more concerned with its own institutional interests than with the social problems arising from the new capitalist system. The electoral triumph of the successor parties in September 1993 inaug urated a deterioration in the relationship be tween Church and the new government, dominated by secular elements. The Church shifted its attention to a more overtly political agenda, especially the Concordat and the Constitution, and once again abortion. It did not participate in policy debates on welfare benefits, pensions, health or poverty. The coalition delayed ratification of the Concordat and proved resistant to the Churchs demands on the formulation of the Church-State re lationship. However, the continuing signifi cance of the Catholic Church should not be underestimated. Politicians remained wary of its influence and it retained an impressive array of political resources.

Democratization and the Media in Poland 1989–97

Poland constitutes a ‘best case’ example of post‐communist media development. The emergence of a diverse media free of direct political interference can be analysed as both a cause and a characteristic of the democratization process. Although the media reflected and contributed to political turbulence, they performed significant functions of informing, investigating and agenda‐setting. The diversity of the print media ensured pluralism of viewpoints, although the press remained generally partisan. The state broadcasting media did not fulfil their public service brief fully and they were subject to constant attempts at political manipulation and bitter controversy. Yet these developments did not work in the same direction; rather there were numerous crosscurrents and counter‐tendencies.

Romania: Stability without Consensus

In post-communist Romanian politics, electoral legislation was not a major point of contention and stability characterized the electoral system after 1990. The main principles of the provisional electoral law adopted prior to the first post-authoritarian election were maintained in legislation adopted by the first democratically elected parliament in 1991–2, and few changes were introduced thereafter (see Table 5.1). Romania has a bicameral parliament elected by closed-list proportional representation in 42 constituencies with a two-tier seat allocation.1 The most important amendments introduced a 3 per cent legal threshold in 1992 and then raised it to 5 per cent for parties and 8–10 per cent for alliances before the 2000 elections. However, fuelled by dissatisfaction with politics, discussions over a radical change to a majoritarian system surfaced in the press in 1999. A government bill was planned for inclusion on the legislative agenda for 2001, but in early 2002 the focus of the debate shifted to issues of constitutional reform.

Rights Transmission by Mimesis: the Biomedicine Convention in Central Europe

All new postcommunist members of the European Union signed the Council of Europes Biomedicine Convention, and all but one subsequently ratified it. Although some studies have shown strong mimetic tendencies in human rights transmission, the controversial nature of the Convention suggested that in this instance the process of rights transfer would entail serious substantive consideration of the multifarious issues raised. Left-wing parties would constitute the main opposition to the Convention. However, examination of the parliamentary process in the nine ratifying countries shows that this was not the case. The process was mimetic, with no indication of engagement by parliamentary deputies, specialist committees, professional bodies, or the wider public. The pull of “Europe” and the legitimizing effects of international treaty ratification, the lack of challenge to state sovereignty, the pressures for regional conformity, and the phenomenon of legislative overload in Central and Eastern Europe can partly explain the imitative character of rights’ transmission in these cases. The implications of mimetic rights transmission also suggest a continuing research agenda in this arena.

Representation and Elections

The concept of representation has remained central to democracy but it is neither easy nor uncontested. Historically several different notions of representation have coexisted in different political systems. For two centuries debates have continued in Western Europe over what is being represented, who should be doing the representing, and how they should do it. Much of Eastern Europe joined these debates in the inter-war years; after 1989 it joined them once again. The Soviet concept of representation, transmitted to Eastern Europe after the Second World War, was less heterogeneous but not without its own contradictions. It remained a minor but persistent influence.