by PRAGATHI GURUPRASAD | Mar 30, 2018 | University of California, Los Angeles
For many years, Poland was regarded as the leading pro-democracy nation within Eastern Europe. Its seamless transition from communism was an example for other countries to follow. It soon became the success story for democratic transformation as it was the first...
by Luke Shapiro | Mar 30, 2018 | Columbia University
The ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) passed a series of controversial measures to overhaul the country’s judiciary late last year. In response, the European Commission (EC) took the unprecedented step of invoking Article 7 of the European Union treaty for the rule...
by Matthew Graff | Mar 18, 2018 | University of Pennsylvania
Poland is perhaps the most well-known nation-state undergoing serious democratic erosion, in part because it is Eastern Europe’s strongest economy and seen as a model for other post-Soviet states of the region. The crisis over the Constitutional Tribunal, Poland’s...
by BENJAMIN LEE | Mar 15, 2018 | University of California, Los Angeles
On January 15, 2018, Dariusz Zawistowski, the president of Poland’s National Council of the Judiciary (KRS), the body in charge of maintaining the impartiality of Polish courts, resigned from his position “as a sign of protest” in response to the Law...
by JUSTIN JOOST VAN BEURDEN | Mar 15, 2018 | University of California, Los Angeles
Once viewed as a source of inspiration for countries transitioning to democracy, Poland now appears as if it is representative of another political trend in Eastern Europe: democratic backsliding. Poland, along with Hungary and other countries in the region, is...
