| "Is Democracy in Poland in Danger?". Co-presented with the Sydney Democracy Network and the Australian Institute of Polish Affairs. A recent series of controversial moves by the new Polish Government, especially the weakening of the Constitutional Tribunal and subjecting the public media to ministerial appointments and supervision, have triggered mass protests in Poland and concerns among EU officials.
Professor Jan Pakulski analyses these developments in the broader context of the rapid economic development, new social divisions, and the polarisation within the Polish political elite combined with electoral re-alignment. He argues that Poland shows some symptoms of ‘political decay’, weakening liberal democracy, and gradual transition towards populist ‘leader democracy’.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Jan Pakulski, MA (Warsaw), PhD (ANU), is Professor Emeritus at the University of Tasmania, Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA), Affiliate with Stanford Centre for Poverty and Inequality, Visiting Fellow and Professor at Oxford, Harvard, Stanford, CEU, and currently Collegium Civitas. He is the author/editor of 10 books and over 120 scholarly articles on political elites, democratisation, multiculturalism, post-communism, social movements, and social inequality. His most recent books are Toward Leader Democracy (with Andras Korosenyi, 2012), Declining Political Leadership in Australia (with Bruce Tranter, 2015) and Violence and the State (co-edited and co-written with Matt Killingsworth and Matthew Sussex, 2015).
This lecture is an initiative of, and is supported by, the Australian Institute of Polish Affairs (AIPA). AIPA is a voluntary non-political association created soon after Poland's transition to democracy in 1989.
Wednesday 24 February
6-7.30pm
Philosphy Room
The Quadrangle
The University of Sydney
Free event with online registration requested. Please click here for the registration page.
whatson.sydney.edu.au/events/published/sydney-ideas-professor-jan-pakulski
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