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Journal of the Polish Section of IVR (ISSN:2082-3304)

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Transitional Justice and the Constitutional Crisis: The Case of Poland (2015–2019)

Dr Michał Krotoszyński

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

English abstract: During the last four years the situation in Poland has been a matter of interest to the worldwide legal community mostly due to the constitutional crisis. Yet, the years 2015–2019 were also a time of a revival of transitional justice measures, such as cleansing the public sphere of communist symbols, remodelling of lustration law, and further reduction of pensions of communist secret service employees and officers. In this paper I argue that these spheres are interconnected and that Poland’s constitutional crisis has a transitional justice dimension. I start with an overview of retrospective instruments dealing with the communist past introduced in the last four years. Next, I turn to the constitutional crisis itself, discussing its possible explanations and transitional justice aspects. In the end I claim that the dramatic constitutional backsliding that Poland has recently experienced can be explained not only as a power grab, but also as a result of the tension between the rule of law and the principle of individual responsibility on one hand – and the resort to collective accountability in an attempt to get what the government sees as justice on the other.

Keywords: transitional justice, lustration, decommunization, Poland’s constitutional crisis, Polish Supreme Court, rule of law, sincerity principle

Language: English

Published: Number 3(21)/2019, pp. 22-39.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2019.3.22

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Number of downloads: 66

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: decommunization, lustration, Poland’s constitutional crisis, Polish Supreme Court, rule of law, sincerity principle, transitional justice

Uniformed Services Pension Amendment Acts in Poland as Part of State Politics of Memory

Mgr Mateusz Grabarczyk

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

English abstract: The article is an analysis of the regulations regarding the reduction of pensions of former officers of the People’s Republic of Poland’s security services as an element of state politics of memory, presenting the Uniformed Services Pension Amendment Acts of 2009 and 2016 from the perspective of transitional justice.

Whilst investigating the admissibility of using such a retribution mechanism, the author draws attention to the purpose of this type of regulation. Reducing pensions has, in fact, two goals – a retrospective one and a prospective one. The retrospective goal is about administering historical justice by penalizing a specific group of people using various mechanisms (in this case administrative sanctions). In the prospective aspect, it is an element of institutionalizing memory and building a specific political narrative. As a consequence, apart from commemorative practices, it aims to produce and disseminate knowledge in public space, while clearly rejecting the past regime.

In relation to the Uniformed Services Pension Amendment Acts, while the Act of 2009 was to some extent aimed at the retrospective goal, the 2016 Act is primarily an element of politics of memory used by authorities to control the recollection of past events by explicitly condemning the previous system and all persons in any way related to it. For this reason, the author focuses on the mechanism of reducing pensions as one of the elements of politics of memory in Poland.

Keywords: Uniformed Services Pension Amendment Acts in Poland, politics of memory, institutionalization of collective memory, decommunization, reducing pensions of communist officials, transitional justice

Language: English

Published: Number 3(21)/2019, pp. 67-80.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2019.3.67

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Number of downloads: 68

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: decommunization, institutionalization of collective memory, politics of memory, reducing pensions of communist officials, transitional justice, Uniformed Services Pension Amendment Acts in Poland

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Keywords

Marta Dubowska restorative justice general legal theories derivative practical reasoning conflict resolution cognitive dissonance professional ethics prototype theory dialogical cosmopolitanism Karl Popper dynamic interpretation Michał Dudek Edward Abramowski existentialism legal advisors rule of recognition Martin Krygier narratology Anscombe society Paweł Banaś rhetoric Integrative Theory of Law human person interests of the deceased state neutrality lawmaking Olga Sitarz law beyond statutory law death financial market resentment professional ethics of legal advisors extra legem gap psychoanalysis WTO nostalgia Stanisław Jędrczak psycholinguistics judicial formalism ordoliberalism ethical justification judicial proceedings individual guilt Judith Butler religious argumentation metaphysical realism in dubio contra reo instrumentalization of law

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