Selected Reading List
This section provides a preliminary list of emerging research on the challenges of constitutional repair in Poland, with special focus on research and policy work produced by the speakers at the conference ‘A Playbook for Reinstating the Rule of Law’ at the University of Freiburg on 20-21 June 2024 (Note: this is not an official reading list for the conference). This collection functions as useful starting point for the main documents and debates in the English language, bearing in mind that the central debate is taking place in the Polish language.
GOVERNMENT OF POLAND DOCUMENTS
Ministry of Justice, Republic of Poland, ‘Polish Minister of Justice presents Action Plan for restoring the rule of law’ (21 February 2024)
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Briefing by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Justice on restoring rule of law and constitutional order in Poland (29 May 2024)
EU DOCUMENTS
European Commission, ‘Poland's efforts to restore rule of law pave the way for accessing up to €137 billion in EU funds’ (29 February 2024)
JUDICIAL ASSOCIATION DOCUMENTS
Iustitia, Act on the amendment of the Act on the National Council of the Judiciary, the Act on the Supreme Court and on certain other Acts, Iustitia website (29 November 2021).
ACADEMIC ANALYSIS
Book
Michal Bobek, Adam Bodnar, Armin von Bogdandy & Pál Sonnevend (eds), Transition 2.0: Re-establishing Constitutional Democracy in EU Member States (Nomos, 2023) * open access
Blog Posts
Krzysztof Jasiewicz & Agnieszka Jasiewicz-Betkiewicz, ‘Poland: Political Developments and Data in 2023: Liberal Democracy Returns?’ European Journal of Political Research (published online: 26 May 2024)
Tomasz Tadeusz Koncewicz, ‘On Rebuilding and … Keeping the Rule of Law’ Verfassungsblog (23 May 2024)
Andrzej Schultz & Jakub Sawicki, ‘Polish(ing) Broken Tribunal’ Verfassungsblog (22 March 2024)
Radoslaw Markowski, ‘The Polish election of 2023: mobilisation in defence of liberal democracy’ West European Politics (published online: 16 May 2024)
Marcin Szwed, ‘Rebuilding the Rule of Law’ Verfassungsblog (29 April 2024).
Wojciech Sadurski, ‘Hercules or Sisyphus? On the legacy of statutory lawlessness in post-autocratic Poland’ Verfassungsblog (12 April 2024).
John Morijn, ‘Polish Re-Democratisation as “Building Back Better”’ Verfassungsblog (16 February 2024).
Gertrude Lübbe-Wolff, ‘One-sidedly Staffed Courts’ Verfassungsblog (8 January 2024).
Marek Safjan, ‘We Are Not Helpless: How Poland can restore the Rule of Law by referring to its constitutional foundations’ Verfassungsblog (6 December 2023).
Anna Wójcik, ‘Restoring Poland’s Media Freedom’ Verfassungsblog (20 October 2023).
Marcin Matczak, ‘Pandering to peoples’ emotions is no solution: An essay on how to fix Poland’s rule of law issues’ Verfassungsblog (12 September 2022).
Wojciech Sadurski, ‘Extinguishing the Court: Why There Is No Salvation for the Current Polish Constitutional Tribunal’ Verfassungsblog (14 August 2022).
Aleks Szczerbiak, ‘Poland’s state-owned media dispute underlines the challenges facing the new Polish government’ EUROPP – European Politics and Policy (4 January 2024).
Podcasts & Interviews
RevDem, ‘The Rule of Law Restoration in Poland - Legal and Political Challenges’ (6 March 2024). Discussion between Kasia Krzyżanowska (RevDem), Krzysztof Izdebski (Batory Foundation) and Bartosz Pilitowski (Court Watch Poland).
Democracy Paradox, ‘Can Poland Repair its Constitutional Democracy? Tomás Daly Believes it Can’ (30 January 2024)
POLICY ANALYSIS
Jaroslaw Kuisz & Karolina Wigura, Poland’s Post-Populist Rehab: How to Unwind an Illiberal Democracy Foreign Affairs (12 March 2024).
Laura Thornton & Heather A. Conley, ‘Poland is Writing the Manual for Illiberal Detox’ German Marshall Fund (15 February 2024).
Adam Michnik & Irena Grudzińska Gross, ‘The Redemocratization of Poland’ Project Syndicate (26 January 2024).
Robert Benson, ‘Poland’s Democratic Resurgence: From Backsliding to Beacon’ Center for American Progress (14 November 2023).
Judy Dempsey, ‘A New Start for Poland’ Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (17 October 2023).
Background: THE DAMAGE CAUSED TO POLISH DEMOCRACY
Books
Tímea Drinoczi and Agnieszka Bień-Kacała, Illiberal Constitutionalism in Poland and Hungary: The Deterioration of Democracy, Misuse of Human Rights and Abuse of the Rule of Law (Routledge, 2022)
Wojciech Sadurski, Poland’s Constitutional Breakdown (Oxford University Press, 2019).
Book Chapters
Mirosław Wyrzykowski & Michał Ziółkowski, ‘Illiberal Constitutionalism and the Judiciary’ in András Sajó, Renáta Uitz & Stephen Holmes (eds), Routledge Handbook of Illiberalism (2023).
Articles
Laurent Pech, Patryk Wachowiec & Dariusz Mazur, ‘Poland’s Rule of Law Breakdown: A Five-Year Assessment of EU’s (In)Action’ (2021) 13 Hague Journal on the Rule of Law 1.
Anna Wójcik, ‘Memory Laws, Rule of Law, and Democratic Backsliding: The Case of Poland’ (2023) 3(3) Journal of Illiberalism Studies 71.
Interviews
RevDem, There is still hope. Interview with Adam Bodnar, Polish Ombudsman (30 April 2021). The interview features both Adam Bodnar and Professor Petra Bárd. Summary by Teodora Miljojković.
SELECTED COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
Book Introduction
Christoph Bezemek, ‘Constitutionalism 2030: A Prediction’ in Christoph Bezemek (ed), Constitutionalism 2030 (Hart Publishing 2022).
Book Chapters
András Jakab, ‘How to Return from a Hybrid Regime into a Constitutional Democracy. Hypothetical Constitutional Scenarios for Hungary and a Few Potential Lessons for Poland’ in Armin von Bogdandy, Adam Bodnar, Michal Bobek and Pál Sonnevend (eds), Transition 2.0. Reestablishing Constitutional Democracy in an EU-Member State (forthcoming, 2023)
Articles
Petra Bárd & Viktor Zoltán Kazai, ‘Enforcement of a Formal Conception of the Rule of Law as a Potential Way Forward to Address Backsliding: Hungary as a Case Study’ (2022) 14(2–3) Hague Journal on the Rule of Law 165
Gabriele Britz, ‘Feelings about Law/Justice: The Relevance of Affect for the Development of Law – in Jhering’s Struggle for Law and in Constitutional Democracies’ (2023) 3(1) Nomos 153.
Working Paper
Tom Gerald Daly, ‘Constitutional Repair: A Comparative Theory’ DEM-DEC Working Paper Series No. 2-2023 (December 2023)