The
politics of PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
take place in the framework of a
parliamentaryA parliamentary system is a system of government where in the ministers of the executive branch are drawn from the legislature, and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined...
representative democraticElectoral democracies require a majority of the votes cast. Many representative democracies are constitutional republics in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law".- Criticisms :...
republicA republic is a form of government in which the head of state is not a monarch and the people have an impact on its government. The word 'republic' is derived from the Latin phrase res publica which can be translated as "a public affair".Both modern and ancient republics vary widely in their...
, whereby the
Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland represents the Council of Ministers and directs their work, supervises territorial self-government within the guidelines and in ways described in the Constitution and other legislation, and acts as the superior for all government administration workers...
is the
head of governmentHead of government is the chief officer of the executive branch of a government, often presiding over a cabinet. In a parliamentary system, the head of government is often styled Prime Minister, President of the Government, Premier, etc...
and of a
multi-party systemA multi-party system is a system in which three or more political parties have the capacity to gain control of government separately or in coalition....
.
Executive powerExecutive Power is Vince Flynn's fifth novel, and the fourth to feature Mitch Rapp, an American agent that works for the CIA as an operative for a covert counterterrorism unit called the "Orion Team."-Plot summary:...
is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the
governmentA government is the body within a community, political entity or organization which has the authority to make and enforce rules, laws and regulations.....
and the two chambers of parliament, the Sejm and the Senate. The
JudiciaryThe judiciary is the system of courts which interprets and applies the law in the name of the sovereign or state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...
is independent of the executive and the legislature.
Executive powerExecutive Power is Vince Flynn's fifth novel, and the fourth to feature Mitch Rapp, an American agent that works for the CIA as an operative for a covert counterterrorism unit called the "Orion Team."-Plot summary:...
is exercised by the government, which consists of a council of ministers led by the
Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland represents the Council of Ministers and directs their work, supervises territorial self-government within the guidelines and in ways described in the Constitution and other legislation, and acts as the superior for all government administration workers...
. Its members are typically chosen from a majority coalition in the lower house of parliament (the
SejmThe Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. Each member of Sejm is called Poseł.Before the 20th century, the term "Sejm" referred to the entire three-chamber Polish parliament, comprising the lower house , the upper house and the King. It was commonly termed a three-estate parliament...
), although exceptions to this rule are not uncommon. The government is formally announced by the president, and must pass a motion of confidence in the Sejm within two weeks.
Legislative power is vested in both the
governmentA government is the body within a community, political entity or organization which has the authority to make and enforce rules, laws and regulations.....
and the two chambers of parliament, Sejm and Senate. Members of parliament are elected by proportional representation, with the proviso that non-ethnic-minority parties must gain at least 5% of the national vote to enter the lower house. Currently four parties are represented. Parliamentary elections occur at least every four years.
The
presidentThe President of the Republic of Poland is the Polish Head of State. His or her rights and obligations are determined in the Constitution of Poland....
, as the
head of stateHead of state is the generic term for the individual or collective office that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state...
, has the power to veto legislation passed by parliament, but otherwise has a mostly representative role. Presidential elections occur every 5 years.
The political system is defined in the Polish Constitution, which also guarantees a wide range of individual freedoms.
The
judicial branchThe judiciary is the system of courts which interprets and applies the law in the name of the sovereign or state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...
plays a minor role in politics, apart from the Constitutional Tribunal, which can annul laws that violate the freedoms guaranteed in the constitution.
Recent developments (since 2000)
In the
presidential electionThe 2000 Polish presidential election took place in Poland on 8 October 2000. Incumbent President Aleksander Kwaśniewski was easily re-elected in the first round after winning more than 50% of the votes.-Candidates:...
of 2000,
Aleksander KwaśniewskiAleksander Kwaśniewski is a post-communist Polish socialist politician who served as the President of Poland from 1995 to 2005...
, the incumbent former leader of the post-communist SLD, was re-elected in the first round of voting, with 53.9% of the popular vote. Second place, with only 17.3%, went to
Andrzej OlechowskiAndrzej Olechowski is a Polish politician. He was one of the co-founders of conservative liberal party Civic Platform in 2001 with Maciej Płażyński and Donald Tusk....
. It is thought that the opposition campaign was hindered by their inability to put forward a charismatic (or even a single major) candidate, as well as falling support for the centre-right AWS government. This was related to internal friction in the ruling parliamentary coalition.
The (then) fresh Constitution and the reformed administrative division (as of 1999) required a revision of the electoral system, which was passed in April 2001. The most important changes were: 1) the final liquidation of the party list (previously, some of the members of parliament were elected from a party list, based on nationwide voter support, rather than from local constituencies), and 2) modification of the method of allocating seats to the
Sainte-Laguë methodThe Sainte-Laguë method of the highest average is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems...
, which gave less premium to large parties. Incidentally, this change was soon reverted back to the
d'Hondt methodThe d'Hondt method is a highest averages method for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. The method is named after Belgian mathematician Victor d'Hondt...
in 2002.
The
September 2001 parliamentary electionsPolish parliamentary election in 2001 to Sejm and Senate of Poland were held on the 23rd September. In Sejm elections, 46.29% of citizens cast their votes, 96.01% of those were counted as valid. In Senate elections, 46.28% of citizens cast their votes, 96.46% were valid...
in 2001 saw the SLD (successor to the communist party twice removed) triumph on the back of voter dissolusionment with the AWS government and internal bickering within that bloc. So much so that this former ruling party did not enter parliament due to falling below the 8% threshold for coalitions. (Symptomatically, they had failed to form a formal political party, which has only a 5% threshold, and formally remained a "coalition" of parties).
The SLD went on to form a coalition with the agrarian
PSLThe Polish People's Party is a political party in Poland...
and leftist UP, with
Leszek MillerLeszek Miller is a Polish left-wing politician, a many-year leader of the Democratic Left Alliance, Prime Minister of the government of the Republic of Poland in 2001-2004.- Childhood and youth :...
as Prime Minister.
A leading issue in the subsequent years was negotiations with the
European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
regarding accession and internal preparation for this. Poland joined the
EUThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
in May 2004. Both President Kwaśniewski and the government were vocal in their support for this cause. The only party decidedly opposed to EU entry was the populist right-wing
League of Polish FamiliesThe League of Polish Families is a right-wing political party in Poland. It was represented in the Polish parliament, forming part of the cabinet of Jarosław Kaczyński, until the latter dissolved in September 2007....
(LPR).
Despite broad popular support for joining the EU, which was considered an overriding issue, the government rapidly lost popularity due to incompetence on various issues (e.g. building of motorways, and a botched reform of the health system), a general economic slump, and numerous corruption scandals. The most famous of these were the
Rywin affairThe Rywin affair was a corruption scandal in Poland, which began in late 2002 while the post communist government of the SLD was in power...
(an alleged attempt to interfere with the legislative process, so named after the main suspect
Lew RywinLew Rywin, is a Polish film producer associated with Heritage Films . He worked also in state-run TV....
) -- this case was investigated by a special parliamentary committee, whose proceedings were televised and widely followed), and the Starachowice affair (government ministers informed friends with links to organised crime about an impending raid).
In March some prominent SLD politicians and MPs (including the then Speaker of the Sejm:
Marek BorowskiMarek Borowski is a Polish left-wing politician, the former leader of the Democratic Left Alliance and the former Speaker of the Sejm ....
) formed a split, creating the new SDPL party. The cabinet led by
Leszek MillerLeszek Miller is a Polish left-wing politician, a many-year leader of the Democratic Left Alliance, Prime Minister of the government of the Republic of Poland in 2001-2004.- Childhood and youth :...
resigned on May 2, 2004, just after Poland's admission to the European Union.
A new cabinet was formed, with
Marek BelkaMarek Belka is a Polish professor of Economics, a former Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Poland, and the current Director of the IMF's European Department. He was designated Prime Minister of Poland by President Aleksander Kwaśniewski on March 29, 2004 and sworn into office the next May 2...
as prime minister. After two initial unsuccessful attempts, it eventually won parliamentary support (24 June) and governed until the
parliamentary elections in late 2005Parliamentary elections for both houses of the Parliament of Poland were held on September 25, 2005. Thirty million voters were eligible to vote for all 460 members of the lower house, the Assembly of the Republic of Poland , and all 100 members of the upper house, the Senate of the Republic of...
. Several of the new ministers were seen as non-partisan experts, and the government was considered a marked improvement upon the previous cabinet. This did not carry over into any rise in voter support for the SLD, however, even despite an economic upturn through 2005. Part of the reason being that this government was considered to be largely apart from the party backbone, and only held in office by the fear of early elections by the majority of the MPs.
A fear not unfounded, as the SLD saw its support drop by three-fourths to only 11% in the subsequent elections.
In the autumn of 2005 Poles voted in both parliamentary and presidential elections.
September's parliamentary pollParliamentary elections for both houses of the Parliament of Poland were held on September 25, 2005. Thirty million voters were eligible to vote for all 460 members of the lower house, the Assembly of the Republic of Poland , and all 100 members of the upper house, the Senate of the Republic of...
was expected to produce a coalition of two centre-right parties,
Law and JusticeLaw and Justice Law and Justice Law and Justice (Polish: (PiS) is a national conservative Polish political party.The party was established in 2001, by the Kaczyński twins, Lech, the current President of Poland, and Jarosław, current party chairman...
(
Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS) and
Civic PlatformThe Civic Platform is a christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Poland. Since the 2007 general election, it is the largest party in the Sejm, the Lower House of the Polish parliament....
(
Platforma Obywatelska, PO). PiS eventually gained 27% of votes cast and became the largest party in the sejm ahead of PO on 24%. The out-going ruling party, the left-wing
Democratic Left AllianceDemocratic Left Alliance is a centre-left Polish social-democratic political party. A coalition of left-wing parties used this name from 1991 to 1999. It was formally established as a single party on April 15, 1999.- History :...
(
Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej, SLD), achieved just 11%.
Presidential elections in OctoberPresidential elections were held in Poland on October 9 and October 23, 2005. The outgoing President of Poland, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, had served two five-year terms and was unable to stand for a third term....
followed a similar script. The early favourite,
Donald TuskDonald Franciszek Tusk is a center-right Polish politician, co-founder and chairman of the Civic Platform , and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland....
, leader of the PO, saw his opinion poll lead slip away and was beaten 54% to 46% in the second round by the PiS candidate
Lech KaczyńskiLech Aleksander Kaczyński is the President of the Republic of Poland, a politician of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość . Kaczyński served as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005, the day before his presidential inauguration...
(one of the twins, founders of the party).
Both elections were blighted by low turn-outs -- only 51% in the second and deciding round of the presidential election, and just over 40% in the parliamentary election. The suggested cause of the low turnout is popular disillusionment with politicians.
Coalition talks ensued simultaneously with the presidential elections. However, the severity of the campaign attacks and the willingness of PiS to court the populist vote had soured the relationship between the two largest parties and made the creation of a stable coalition impossible. The ostensible stumbling blocks were the insistence of PiS that it control all aspects of law enforcement: the Ministries of Justice and Internal Affairs, and the special forces; as well as the forcing through of a PiS candidate for the head of the
SejmThe Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. Each member of Sejm is called Poseł.Before the 20th century, the term "Sejm" referred to the entire three-chamber Polish parliament, comprising the lower house , the upper house and the King. It was commonly termed a three-estate parliament...
with help of several smaller populist parties. The PO decided to go into opposition.
PiS then formed a minority government with the previously little-known
Kazimierz MarcinkiewiczKazimierz Marcinkiewicz is a Polish conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland from October 31, 2005 to July 14, 2006...
as Prime Minister instead of party leader, Jarosław Kaczyński who remained influential in the background. This government relied on the tacit and rather stable support of smaller populist and agrarian parties (PSL, Samoobrona, LPR) to govern.
The new government enjoyed quite strong public support (as is, in fact, generally common in the first few months after an election), while the popularity of the populist parties giving it support has significantly waned. With this background, a parliamentary crisis appeared to loom in January 2006, with these small populist parties fearing that PiS was about to force new elections (on which they would lose out) by using the pretext of failing to pass the budget within the constitutional timeframe. However, this crisis appears to have abated.
In
July 2006July 2006 was a month with thirty-one days.The following events also occurred during the month:...
, following a rift with his party leader, Jarosław Kaczyński, Marcinkiewicz tendered his resignation as Prime Minister and was replaced by Kaczyński, who formed a new government. This government lasted until October 2007, when Donald Tusk's PO gained the lead again, and Kaczýnski announced to go into opposition.
Executive branch
|
PresidentThe President of the Republic of Poland is the Polish Head of State. His or her rights and obligations are determined in the Constitution of Poland....
|
Lech KaczyńskiLech Aleksander Kaczyński is the President of the Republic of Poland, a politician of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość . Kaczyński served as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005, the day before his presidential inauguration...
|none, formerly
PiSLaw and Justice Law and Justice Law and Justice (Polish: (PiS) is a national conservative Polish political party.The party was established in 2001, by the Kaczyński twins, Lech, the current President of Poland, and Jarosław, current party chairman...
|December 23, 2005
|-
|
Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland represents the Council of Ministers and directs their work, supervises territorial self-government within the guidelines and in ways described in the Constitution and other legislation, and acts as the superior for all government administration workers...
|
Donald TuskDonald Franciszek Tusk is a center-right Polish politician, co-founder and chairman of the Civic Platform , and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland....
|
POThe Civic Platform is a christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Poland. Since the 2007 general election, it is the largest party in the Sejm, the Lower House of the Polish parliament....
|November 16, 2007
|}
The president is elected by popular vote for a five-year term, the prime minister and deputy prime ministers are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Sejm. The
Council of MinistersThe Council of Ministers , or Polish government, consists of ministers, heads of departments of ministerial rank, and heads of central institutions. The Council of Ministers is the body which exercises executive power...
is responsible to the prime minister and the
SejmThe Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. Each member of Sejm is called Poseł.Before the 20th century, the term "Sejm" referred to the entire three-chamber Polish parliament, comprising the lower house , the upper house and the King. It was commonly termed a three-estate parliament...
; the prime minister proposes, the president appoints, and the Sejm approves the Council of Ministers.
Legislative branch
The
Polish ParliamentPolish parliament is an expression referring to the historical Polish parliaments. It implies chaos and general disorder, and that no real decision can be reached during sessions. The origin is that all Polish noblemen during the 17th and 18th century had absolute veto Polish parliament (Swedish...
has two
chambersIn government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses. Bicameralism is an essential and defining feature of the classical notion of mixed...
. The lower chamber (
SejmThe Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. Each member of Sejm is called Poseł.Before the 20th century, the term "Sejm" referred to the entire three-chamber Polish parliament, comprising the lower house , the upper house and the King. It was commonly termed a three-estate parliament...
) has 460 members, elected for a four year term by
proportional representationProportional representation , sometimes referred to as full representation, is a category of electoral formula aimed at securing a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates obtain in elections and the percentage of seats they receive...
in multi-seat
constituenciesA constituency is any cohesive body of people bound by shared identity, goals, or loyalty. Constituency can be used to describe a business's customer base and shareholders, or a charity's donors or those it serves...
using the
d'Hondt methodThe d'Hondt method is a highest averages method for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. The method is named after Belgian mathematician Victor d'Hondt...
similar to that used in many parliamentary political systems, with a 5 % threshold (8% for coalitions, threshold waived for national minorities). The
SenateThe Senate is the upper house of the Polish parliament. It consists of 100 senators elected by universal ballot and is headed by the Marshal of the Senate .-History:...
(
Senat) has 100 members elected for a four year term in 40 multi-seat
constituenciesAn electoral district is a distinct region for holding a separate election for one or more seats in a legislative body. Not all political systems use separate districts to conduct elections; Israel and The Netherlands, for instance, conduct parliamentary elections using a single, nationwide district...
under a rare plurality
bloc votingPlurality-at-large voting, commonly referred to as block voting or bloc voting, is a voting system for electing several representatives from a single multimember electoral district using a series of check boxes and tallying votes similar to a plurality election...
method where several candidates with the highest support are elected from each
electorateAn electoral district is a distinct region for holding a separate election for one or more seats in a legislative body. Not all political systems use separate districts to conduct elections; Israel and The Netherlands, for instance, conduct parliamentary elections using a single, nationwide district...
. When sitting in joint session, members of the Sejm and Senate form the National Assembly, (
PolishPolish is a West Slavic language and the official language of Poland. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet which corresponds basically to the Latin alphabet with a few additions...
Zgromadzenie Narodowe). The National Assembly is formed on three occasions: Taking the oath of office by a new president, bringing an indictment against the President of the Republic to the Tribunal of State, and declaration of a President's permanent incapacity to exercise their duties due to the state of their health. Only the first kind has occurred to date. Since 1991 elections are supervised by the National Electoral Commission (
Państwowa Komisja Wyborcza), whose administrative division is called the National Electoral Office (
Krajowe Biuro Wyborcze).
Political parties and elections
Some contemporary Polish politicians in alphabetical order:
Leszek BalcerowiczLeszek Balcerowicz is a Polish economist and the former chairman of the National Bank of Poland...
,
Marek BelkaMarek Belka is a Polish professor of Economics, a former Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Poland, and the current Director of the IMF's European Department. He was designated Prime Minister of Poland by President Aleksander Kwaśniewski on March 29, 2004 and sworn into office the next May 2...
,
Marek BorowskiMarek Borowski is a Polish left-wing politician, the former leader of the Democratic Left Alliance and the former Speaker of the Sejm ....
,
Bogdan BorusewiczBogdan Michał Borusewicz, is the Speaker in the Polish Senate since October 20, 2005...
,
Jerzy BuzekProfessor Jerzy Buzek is a Polish engineer, academic lecturer and politician. He was the Prime Minister of Poland from 1997 to 2001 and has been a member of the European Parliament since June 13 2004...
,
Ludwik DornLudwik Dorn - Polish conservative politician of Jewish origin, former Deputy Prime Minister, vice chairman of Law and Justice party, Member of Polish Parliament . Former Minister of Interior and Administration - resigned on February 7, 2007, due to alleged conflict with the Prime Minister...
, Bronisław Geremek,
Roman GiertychRoman Jacek Giertych is a Polish politician; he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education until August 2007...
,
Zyta GilowskaZyta Gilowska is a Polish economist and politician. From 7 January until 23 June 2006 she was Deputy Prime Minister of Poland and Finance Minister in the Law and Justice government led by Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz and then by Jaroslaw Kaczynski.Gilowska is a former vice chairman of Citizens...
,
Danuta HübnerDanuta Hübner is a Polish economist, academic, and policy maker. She served as European Commissioner for Regional Policy from 22 November 2004 until 4 July 2009, when she resigned to become a Member of European Parliament for the Civic Platform.-Early life:Danuta Hübner was born in Nisko as Danuta...
,
Marek JurekMarek Jurek is a Polish right-wing politician, since 20 April 2007 leader of the party Right of the Republic....
, Jarosław Kaczyński,
Lech KaczyńskiLech Aleksander Kaczyński is the President of the Republic of Poland, a politician of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość . Kaczyński served as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005, the day before his presidential inauguration...
, Jarosław Kalinowski, Bronisław Komorowski,
Aleksander KwaśniewskiAleksander Kwaśniewski is a post-communist Polish socialist politician who served as the President of Poland from 1995 to 2005...
,
Andrzej LepperAndrzej Zbigniew Lepper is a Polish politician; the leader of Samoobrona RP political party....
,
Kazimierz MarcinkiewiczKazimierz Marcinkiewicz is a Polish conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland from October 31, 2005 to July 14, 2006...
,
Stefan MellerStefan Meller was a Polish diplomat and academician. He served as foreign minister of Poland from October 31, 2005, to May 9, 2006, in the cabinet of Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz....
,
Wojciech OlejniczakWojciech Olejniczak is a Polish leftist politician and member-elect of the European Parliament.He was the chairman of the Democratic Left Alliance from May 29, 2005, to May 31, 2008 and the vice-speaker of Sejm since October 26, 2005...
,
Zbigniew ReligaZbigniew Eugeniusz Religa was a prominent cardiac surgeon and politician.- Career as physician :Religa finished his studies at the Medical University of Warsaw in 1963. From 1966 to 1980 he worked in the Szpital Wolski in Warsaw, where he qualified in surgery...
,
Jan RokitaJan Rokita is a Polish conservative politician, a member of the Sejm, the lower chamber of the Polish parliament. He was chairman of the parliamentary club of Platforma Obywatelska from 2003 to 2005....
,
Jacek Saryusz-WolskiJacek Emil Saryusz-Wolski is a Polish diplomat, politician and a MEP: member of the European Parliament .- Scientific career :...
,
Donald TuskDonald Franciszek Tusk is a center-right Polish politician, co-founder and chairman of the Civic Platform , and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland....
,
Zbigniew WassermannZbigniew Wasserman is a Polish politician. He is an MP representing Law and Justice ....
,
Zbigniew ZiobroZbigniew Robert Ziobro is a Polish politician, since October 2005 until November 2007 Minister of Justice and Public Prosecutor General. He was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 in the 13th Kraków district, running on the Prawo i Sprawiedliwość list...
.
See :Category:Polish politicians
National security
Poland's top
national securityNational security is the requirement to maintain the survival of the nation-state through the use of economic, military and political power and the exercise of diplomacy.Measures taken to ensure national security include:...
goal is to further integrate with
NATOThe North Atlantic Treaty Organization ); ), also called "the Atlantic Alliance", is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949...
and other
west EuropeanWestern Europe is the collection of countries in the westernmost region of Europe, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a cultural entity—the region lying west of Central Europe...
defense, economic, and political institutions via a modernization and reorganization of its military. Polish military doctrine reflects the same defense nature as its NATO partners.
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
maintains a sizable armed force recently counted at 175,343 troops divided among an army of 96,733, an air and defense force of 39,649, and a navy of 15,980. The Ministry of Defense has announced that the armed forces of Poland will number 150,000 by 2006. Poland relies on military
conscriptionConscription is a general term for involuntary labor demanded by an established authority. It is most often used in the specific sense of requiring citizens to serve in the armed forces...
for the majority of its personnel strength. All males (with some exceptions) are subject to a 9-month term of military service.
The Polish military continues to restructure and to modernize its equipment. The Polish Defense Ministry General Staff and the Land Forces staff have recently reorganized the latter into a NATO-compatible J/G-1 through J/G-6 structure. Budget constraints hamper such priority defense acquisitions as a multi-role fighter, improved communications systems, and an attack helicopter.
Poland continues to be a regional leader in support and participation in the NATO Partnership for Peace Program and has actively engaged most of its neighbors and other regional actors to build stable foundations for future European security arrangements. Poland continues its long record of strong support for UN Peacekeeping Operations by maintaining a unit in Southern Lebanon, a battalion in NATO's
KosovoKosovo is a disputed territory in the Balkans. Its majority is governed by the partially-recognised Republic of Kosovo , a self-declared independent state which has de facto control over the territory; the exceptions are some Serb enclaves...
Force (KFOR), and by providing and actually deploying the KFOR strategic reserve to Kosovo. Poland is a strong ally of the US in Europe and leads the Multinational Division Central South in
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
.
Biuro Ochrony Rządu
The
Biuro Ochrony RząduBiuro Ochrony Rządu is Poland's equivalent of the United States Secret Service, providing antiterrorism and VIP security services for the Polish government.-Subjects of protection:* President of the Republic of Poland...
(BOR), or
Government Protection Bureau, is Poland's equivalent of the Secret Service in the United States- providing antiterrorism and VIP security detail services for the government.
Administrative divisions
Poland is divided in 16 provinces or Voivodeships (
województwaThe voivodeship or province has been a high-level administrative subdivision of Poland since the 14th century. Pursuant to the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998, which came into effect on January 1, 1999, sixteen new voivodeships were created...
, singular -
województwoA voivodeship, also spelled voivodship, voivodina or vojvodina , is a type of administrative...
);
Lower SilesiaLower Silesian Voivodeship is one of the 16 voivodeships into which Poland is currently divided...
,
Kuyavia-PomeraniaKuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship is one of the 16 voivodeships into which Poland is now divided...
, Łódź,
LubelskieLublin Voivodeship is a voivodeship, or province, in eastern Poland. It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Lublin, Chełm, Zamość, Biała Podlaska and Tarnobrzeg and Siedlce Voivodeships, pursuant to Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998...
,
LubuszLubusz Voivodeship is a voivodeship in western Poland....
,
Lesser PolandLesser Poland Voivodeship is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland...
,
MasoviaMasovian Voivodeship is the largest and most populous of the sixteen Polish provinces, or voivodeships, created in 1999. It occupies of...
,
OpoleOpole Voivodeship is a Polish voivodeship, or province, created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Opole Voivodeship and parts of Częstochowa Voivodeship, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998...
,
SubcarpathiaSubcarpathian Voivodeship is a voivodeship, or province, situated in the far south-east of Poland...
,
PodlaskiePodlaskie Voivodeship is a voivodeship in north-eastern Poland. It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Białystok and Łomża Voivodeships and the eastern half of the former Suwałki Voivodeship, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998...
,
PomeraniaPomeranian Voivodeship, known in Polish as województwo pomorskie or simply Pomorskie, is a voivodeship, or province, in north-central Poland. It comprises most of Pomerelia , as well as an area east of the Vistula river...
,
SilesiaSilesian Voivodeship is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland, centring on the region known as Upper Silesia...
,
ŚwiętokrzyskieŚwiętokrzyskie Voivodeship is one of the 16 voivodeships into which Poland is presently divided. It is situated in south-central Poland, in the historical province of Lesser Poland, and takes its name from the Świętokrzyskie mountain range...
,
Warmia-MasuriaWarmian-Masurian Voivodeship is a voivodeship, or province, in north-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Olsztyn...
,
Greater PolandGreater Poland Voivodeship is a voivodeship, or province, in west-central Poland. It was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Poznań, Kalisz, Konin, Piła and Leszno Voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998...
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West PomeraniaWest Pomeranian Voivodeship is a voivodeship, or province, in north-western Poland...
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See also
- Political parties in Poland
- Liberalism in Poland
This article gives an overview of liberalism in Poland. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in that scheme...
- Far right in Poland
Like in other nations across the world, there are several far-right organizations in Poland. Public support of these parties is marginal, as they received 2.8% of the popular vote in the 2007 parliamentary elections. There is also a limited amount of nonparliamentary far-right extremism. Poland's...
- Anarchism in Poland
The anarchist movement in Poland first developed at the turn of the 20th century under the influence of anarchist ideas from Western Europe and Russia....
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