Archiwum Filozofii Prawa i Filozofii Społecznej

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

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Search Results for: democracy

Ethics of Strategic Voting in Popular Elections

Mgr Łukasz Łyżwa

Jagiellonian University in Kraków

English abstract: Misreporting of preferences is a common behavior among voters but still considered as moral wrongdoing. I propose the conceptual framework of its dilemmas and argue that tactical voting may NOT be regarded as a moral wrong if implemented in a popular election. I examine the relationship between strategic voting and its moral burden in correspondence to particular moral doubts possible to found in respective literature. Thanks to voting paradoxes revealed by mathematicians and economists gathered around a movement called social choice theory I challenge 1) “the consequentialistic argument” and 2) the “express value argument” which eventually is regarded as non-conclusive whereas it presupposes not commonly accepted view on the role of election in democracy itself. In answer to 3) “sincere argument” which suggests manipulation since the agent does not express one’s profound preference, so to say, does not vote naively, I distinguish sincere and insincere manipulations. Then, I challenge five of Sattherwaite’s “transparency arguments”: 4) inequality of skills, 5) inefficiency, 6) non-transparency of voters’ preferences, 7) non-transparency of representatives’ preferences, and 8) randomness, which I treat by and large as a valid with minor comments added. However, I believe that some of the “transparency arguments” can be adopted as a virtue rather than a vice of democracy, because encourage cooperation and induce to actualize ongoing coalitions. Finally, I distinguish a weak and a strong position against treating strategic voting as moral wrongdoing. Former one argues that strategic voting may be “sincere”, therefore morally acceptable according to argument 3). However, the latter rejects the election’s claim to bear any moral burden and persuades that voting itself should be perceived as an ethics-free decision-making device.

Keywords: ethics, moral, elections, social choice theory, strategic voting, Sattherwaite, Arrow’s paradox

Language: English

Published: Number 3(32)/2022, pp. 60-71

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2022.3.60

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Number of downloads: 473

This text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial – No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Arrow’s paradox, elections, ethics, moral, Sattherwaite, social choice theory, strategic voting

Equality of Narrative Inclusion in Decision-Making Processes: A Deliberative Approach

Mgr Marta Zuzanna Huk

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

English abstract: This paper explores the relationship between narrative inclusion and the notion of equality from the perspective of the theory of deliberative democracy. It is based on the assumption that taking into account the diversity of discursive competences influences the constructed justifications constituting the source of legitimacy of political decisions. Moving beyond a purely argumentative discourse towards emphasising pluralism provides a significant enough modification of the theory to claim that it constitutes a separate model of deliberation. At the starting point, the role and purpose of narrative is presented, as well as the conditions under which it can be incorporated into deliberative processes. Then, consideration is given to the transformation of the category of equality that is brought about by introducing narrative to the framework of subject inclusion. The shift in meaning from unconditional equality to equalisation of opportunities is also addressed, in both procedural and substantive terms. Finally, the paper outlines the possible practical problems and risks that the inclusion of narrative in deliberation may raise.

Keywords: narration, theory of deliberative democracy, substantive inclusion, equalisation of opportunities, public legitimacy, mutual justifications

Language: English

Published: Number 3(32)/2022, pp. 49-59

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2022.3.49

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Number of downloads: 435

This text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial – No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: equalisation of opportunities, mutual justifications, narration, public legitimacy, substantive inclusion, theory of deliberative democracy

The Impact of Constitutional Regulations of the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Lithuania on the Participation of Women in the Public Sphere

Dr hab. Małgorzata Niewiadomska-Cudak

University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw

English abstract: The article analyses the constitutional norm on gender equality referred to in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 1997 and the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucija) of 1992. The author tries to answer the question of how the principle of gender equality is enshrined in the two most important normative acts for both countries, which have the highest legal force in the system of legal sources. The scope of research interests therefore includes the issue of constitutional regulations and their impact on the participation of women in the governments of both surveyed countries, their national parliaments, and the European Parliament. The current democratic deficit can be viewed from the point of view of underrepresentation of women in political structures. The participation of women increases the legitimacy of democratic institutions and contributes to reducing gender inequalities in public life. Building awareness of the role of public institutions in the field of equal opportunities regardless of gender corresponds to the principle of social justice, according to which women and men should have equal access to high offices, including the national and European parliaments. Equality and justice are the core values and essence of democracy. A feature of particular importance is gender equality. A reliable basis for defining it is provided by the constitution, therefore the article presents how its provisions may have an impact on women’s participation in the political sphere.

Keywords: constitution, the principle of gender equality, political participation of women, underrepresentation, government, parliament

Language: Polish

Published: Number 2(31)/2022, pp. 70-83.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2022.2.70

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Number of downloads: 404

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Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Constitution, government, parliament, political participation of women, the principle of gender equality, underrepresentation

The Crisis of Dialogue and Political Community: Philosophical Reflections on the Relationship Between Pluralism, Difference and Dialogue

Dr hab. Anna Rossmanith

University of Warsaw

English abstract: The aim of this article is to present the relationship between pluralism, difference and dialogue as the foundation of an open society. The fundamental philosophical perspective of the study is centred around unique Levinas’ ethics. According to Levinas, we can see a difference as a creative component of a community and therefore abandon the ontological notion of the world understood as a whole and totality. In the undertaken considerations, the author refers to categories such as polis, deliberative democracy and external morality of law.

Keywords: dialogue, political community, polis, pluralism, difference, communication, open society

Language: Polish

Published: Number 1(30)/2022, pp. 91-99

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2022.1.91

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Number of downloads: 451

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Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: communication, dialogue, difference, open society, pluralism, polis, political community

Protection of Fundamental Rights as an Argument in the Dispute over the Legitimacy of Judicial Review. Selected Issues

Prof. UMK dr hab. Aleksandra Kustra-Rogatka

Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń

English abstract: The dynamic development of judicial review of the constitutionality of laws in the second half of the twentieth century is reflected in contemporary theories of judicial review. They go beyond the original axis of the dispute over the legitimacy of judicial review, which was shaped by the counter-majoritarian dilemma, and often become more nuanced. In addition to arguments related to the conceptions of institutional cooperation and accountability function of judicial review, rights-based theories of judicial review take on more and more importance.

The aim of this article is to outline a wide range of issues related to the protection of fundamental rights, which protection is considered as an argument in the dispute over the legitimacy of constitutional courts. The study presents selected issues that influence the current discourse on judicial review, which include: types of such judicial review; types of arguments used in the analysed discourse; the link between fundamental rights and various concepts of democracy; and judicial review of legislative decisions concerning positive rights guarantees.

Keywords: constitutional courts, fundamental rights, democracy, positive rights

Language: Polish

Published: Number 1(30)/2022, pp. 33-43

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2022.1.33

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Number of downloads: 454

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Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: constitutional courts, democracy, fundamental rights, positive rights

Polish Disputes Between Populist and Legal Constitutionalism in the Context of Reflexivity of Constitution

Dr hab. Maciej Pichlak

Uniwersytet Wrocławski

English abstract: The article aims to analyse legal constitutionalism and populist constitutionalism as two dominant ideological positions in the constitutional discourse of the last decades. The analysis is focused on the exemplifications of these positions in writings of selected Polish legal scholars, in the context of the Polish constitutional crisis of the rule of law, and conducted from the perspective of the philosophy of reflexivity. This theoretical and methodological approach enables demonstrating that the two examined doctrines – despite all the differences between them – share common erroneous assumptions regarding the relationships between law, democracy, and constitutional practice. Both of them strive to shape this practice in a closed-end and monological manner, subjected to one particular type of rationality. For legal constitutionalism, this will be juridical rationality, and for its populist counterpart – political rationality. This shared fallacy makes their ongoing dispute futile. An alternative approach to constitutionalism is to take into account the fundamental reflexivity of constitutional practice (regarded as the practice of creating, applying and interpreting a constitution, and of public debate on its text). In line with the general characteristics of reflexivity, constitutional practice appears as an open and pluralistic process, mediating between different viewpoints in society. Such an alternative is important not only when considering the Polish constitutional disputes, but also in the broader context of the contemporary crisis of liberal-democratic constitutional orders.

Keywords: legal constitutionalism, populist constitutionalism, reflexive constitutionalism, reflexivity of law, constitutional crisis, crisis of the rule-of-law state, crisis of the rule of law

Language: Polish

Published: Number 1(30)/2022, pp. 63-73

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2022.1.63

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Number of downloads: 474

This text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial – No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: constitutional crisis, crisis of the rule of law, crisis of the rule-of-law state, legal constitutionalism, populist constitutionalism, reflexive constitutionalism, reflexivity of law

Public Truths and Their Legal Protection

Dr Mateusz Klinowski

Jagiellonian University in Kraków

English abstract: In this paper I deal with two key concepts of a modern political theory, i.e. truth and public interest, and examine relationships between them. This subject seems particularly important in the context of the observed crisis of the liberal democracy and the spread of misinformation and fake news. I argue that there is a need to create a public system of protection designed to defend the logical status of those statements which have a value for the society. By using the notion of public interest as a tool for analysis, I demonstrate how such a system might be structured. I suggest employing existing public institutions to construct a system of public protection of the truth, yet supplemented by a coordinating body based on the ombudsman model.

Keywords: post-truth, disinformation, public interest, personal truths, public truths, factual knowledge, public protection of truth, ombudsman institutions, spokesman of truth

Language: English

Published: Number 3(24)/2020, pp. 7-23.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2020.3.7

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Number of downloads: 824

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: disinformation, factual knowledge, ombudsman institutions, personal truths, post-truth, public interest, public protection of truth, public truths, spokesman of truth

Truth Revelation Procedures as a Rights-based Alternative to the Politics of (Non-)Memory

Mgr Emilia Kowalewska

Polish Academy of Sciences

English abstract: This article offers a socio-legal reflection on the relation between law, state obligation, and attempts to institutionalize collective memory. As the question of memory institutionalization becomes most pertinent in the context of regime change that imposes on an incumbent government certain expectations for addressing the past, the article considers this research problem from the perspective of transitional justice theory. The transitional justice paradigm allows for an interdisciplinary consideration of the topic. Special attention is paid to legal norms and mechanisms directed towards establishing authoritative knowledge about the past. The emerging principle of the right to truth is presented as an integrating and rights-based perspective from which to approach societal demands for acknowledging injustices of the past. Measured against the fundamental rights that lie at the heart of transitional justice theory, three types of truth revelation procedures are presented. The article shows that the relationship between law and memory – which is often reduced to one of political instrumentalization – should, in accordance with the values of a liberal democracy, be reframed from the perspective of individual and collective rights. The article seeks to contribute to the field of memory studies in the social sciences by exposing functions of legal norms and mechanisms that are often overlooked when discussed from the perspective of the politics of memory.

Keywords: collective memory, truth revelation procedures, transitional justice, right to truth, politics of memory, post-communist Poland

Language: English

Published: Number 3(21)/2019, pp. 51-66.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2019.3.51

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Number of downloads: 669

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: collective memory, politics of memory, post-communist Poland, right to truth, transitional justice, truth revelation procedures

Law as a Social Engineering Tool in the Legal Philosophy of Roscoe Pound

Mgr Aleksander Olaf Szpojankowski

Cardinal Wyszyński University in Warsaw

Abstract: The article discusses the subject of Roscoe Pound’s sociological jurisprudence with particular emphasis on the concept of social engineering, as well as the use of law as a tool through which the assumptions of this concept are implemented. The article also presents the key concepts of social engineering, specifically the theory of social interests, defined by R. Pound, and the theory of social development stages, which theories form the basis which enables the assumptions of social engineering to be implemented. The article also presents the sources of inspiration that R. Pound was guided by in the process of developing his theories. The concept of social engineering is compared to the theories of Leon Petrażycki, Alf Ross, and Karl Popper. The benefits and threats of social engineering are also indicated. The conclusions touch upon the subject of the topicality of R. Pound’s philosophy in the context of contemporary democracy and the potential threats to civil liberties that could flow from the implementation of the assumptions of R. Pound’s philosophy.

Keywords: sociological jurisprudence, Roscoe Pound, social engineering, social interest, American legal realism, legal realism

Language: Polish

Received: 26.02.2018
Accepted:
01.09.2018

Published: Number 1(19)/2019, pp. 94-107

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2019.1.94

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Number of downloads: 854

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Aleksander Olaf Szpojankowski, American legal realism, legal realism, Roscoe Pound, social engineering, social interest, sociological jurisprudence

Four puzzles about the rule of law: why, what, where? And who cares?

Prof. dr Martin Krygier

UNSW Sydney


English abstract:
Central among the many obscurities that attend the rule of law are those named in the title of the article. The first part contains some preliminary remarks and attempt to answer the first question. This attempt is based on distinguishing two ways of understanding what rule of law is. By the first way rule of law is a theological concept, i.e. to know what it is we have to know its aims and by the second, anatomical one, the most important thing to understand it are rules and institutions that are usually conceived as its part. The author holds a position that only the first way is appropriate and gives his own interpretation of aims of rule of law. This aim is legal reduction of the possibility of arbitrary exercise of power that is connected with four important reductions – of domination, of fear, of indignity, and of confusion.

Keywords: rule of law, arbitrariness, exercise of power, aims of rule of law

Language: Polish
Translated by: Katarzyna Mikołajczyk-Graj

Published: Number 2(3)/2011, pp. 5-19.

Download file: Download

Number of downloads:
901

References

  1. Call Ch. (red.), Constructing Justice and Security after War, Washington 2007 
  2. Fleming J. (red.), Getting to the Rule of Law, NO MOS 54, New York 2011/11 
  3. Fuller L.L., The Morality of Law, New Haven 1969
  4. Shklar J., Political Theory and the Rule of Law w: Hoffman S.(red.), Political Theory and Political Thinkers, Chicago 1998 
  5. Golub S., A House Without Foundations w: Carothers T. (red.), Promoting the Rule of Law Abroad, Washington 2006 
  6. Holmes S., Judicial Independence as Ambiguous Reality and Insidious Illusion w: Dworkin R. (red.), From Liberal Values to Democratic Transition. Essays in Honor of János Kis, Budapest 2004 
  7. Jacoby W., Priest and Penitent: The European Union as a Force in the Domestic Politics of Eastern Europe, “East European Constitutional Review” 1999/8 
  8. Jensen E., Heller T. C. (red.), Beyond Common Knowledge. Empirical Approaches to the Rule of Law, Stanford 2003 
  9. Krygier M., Approaching the Rule of Law, w: Mason W. (red.), The Rule of Law in Afghanistan: Missing in Inaction, Cambridge 2010 
  10. Krygier M., Ethical Postivism and the Liberalism of Fear, w: Campbell T., Goldsworthy J. (red.), Judicial Powers, Democracy and Legal Positivism, Aldershot 2000
  11. Krygier M., The Grammar of Colonial Legality: Subjects, Objects, and the Australian Rule of Law, w: Brennan G., Castles F.G. (red.), Australia Reshaped: 200 Years of Institutional Transformation, Cambridge 2002 
  12. Krygier M., The Rule of Law: An Abuser’s Guide, w: Sajó A. (red.), The Dark Side of Fundamental Rights, Utrecht 2006 
  13. MacCormick N., Waldron J., Rhetoric and the Rule of Law, Oxford 2005 
  14. Magalhães P., The Politics of Judicial Reform in Eastern Europe, “Comparative Politics” 1999/1 
  15. Miller P.N. (red.), Political Writings, Cambridge 1993 
  16. Oakeshott M., Political Education w: Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays, Indianapolis 1991 
  17. Palombella G., Walker N. (red.), Relocating the Rule of Law, Oxford 2009 
  18. Palombella G., The Rule of Law as an Institutional Ideal w: Palombella G., Morlino L. (red.), Rule of Law and Democracy: Internal and External Issues, Leiden 2010 
  19. Peerenboom R., Human Rights and Rule of Law: What’s the Relationship?, “Georgetown Journal of International Law” 2005/36 
  20. Pettit Ph., Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government, Oxford 1997 
  21. Poggi G., Durkheim, Oxford 2000 
  22. Reid J. Ph., Rule of Law, DeKalb 2004 
  23. Sannerholm R., Rule of Law after War: Ideologies, Norms and Methods for Legal and Judicial Reform, “Örebro Studies in Law” 2009/1 
  24. Selznick Ph., The Moral Commonwealth, Berkeley 1992 
  25. Trubek D., Santos A. (red.), The New Law and Economic Development: A Critical Approach, New York 2006 
  26. Upham F., The Illusory Promise of the Rule of Law, w: Sajó A. (red.), Human Rights with Modesty: The Problem of Universalism, Leiden-Boston 2004 
  27. Waldron J., Is the Rule of Law an Essentially Contested Concept (in Florida?), “Law and Philosophy” 2002/21 
  28. Waldron J., The Rule of Law and the Importance of Procedure w: Fleming J. (red.), Getting to the Rule of Law, NO MOS 54, New York 2011 

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: aims of rule of law, arbitrariness, exercise of power, Martin Krygier, rule of law

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