For many years, Poland used to be recognized as the post-communist poster child for democratic reform and economic growth. Contemporary observers warn however, that the country might be backsliding into non-democracy. And while social scientists generally agree that the Catholic Church helped Poland democratize in 1989, we know little about its institutional posture towards democracy…
Rumor has it that Jarosław Kaczyński will retire from politics in four years. I have a hard time believing that, even though Kaczyński is 70 years old. However, should he in fact retire, PiS will need much more than robust economic growth (link) to continue its political dominance. Kaczyński is an interesting figure. Political scientists…
Almost a month has passed since my return to Poland. It is always strange to be back home, at least initially, but then I somehow adjust like an old fish entering familiar pond. But Poland is changing. The country I left behind in 2005 no longer exists and the improved standard of living is hard…
It is a common practice for American universities to offer generous scholarships to foreign student-athletes. What is the point of a such investment? Short- and long-term development US coaches offer large scholarship to foreign student-athletes (FSA) who will make their teams better. This of course makes sense. In this scenario, scholarships are a form of…
America is becoming more secular. This trend is evident whether one looks at public policy impact of religious institutions or survey research findings. The American Catholic Church, for instance, opposes the legality of the death penalty, abortion, euthanasia, and same-sex marriage, while US Catholics are abandoning the Church in droves. How should the Catholic Church…
Ronald Inglehart is one of the most prolific political scientists ever. On Wednesday afternoon he visited Albion College to talk about “The Authoritarian Personality and the Authoritarian Reflex.” Rarely do Albion students get an opportunity to attend a talk by a scholar of Inglehart’s magnitude, so the auditorium was rightfully packed. Inglehart underscored that the…
I was first introduced to the pendulum theory of politics two years ago, when carrying out my fieldwork in Poland. In the context of my research, this „theory” goes something like this: When politicians pursue unpopular proposals – restriction of abortion laws, for example – they will soon find themselves voted out of office in…
I have written extensively about How Democracies Die on this blog – both in English (link) and Polish (link, link, link, link, link). Since my „Democratic Transitions” class is now over, I would like to provide an overview of the second half of the book and offer some general comments about its promises and limitations….
Adam Przeworski is a well known political scientist and a very forceful writer. In one of his articles, Democracy: A Never-Ending Quest, he offers the following advice to graduate students: So my advice to young people is to study the basics, and basics for me are mathematics, philosophy, and history. Political science can wait (p….
Since this year is coming to an end, I decided to put together a list of books I read or listened to in the last 12 months (given my 45 min work commute, audiobooks are a fabulous way to get a lot of „reading” done). In what follows, I briefly describe each book and assigned…