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SWPS University - Main page

Center for the Study of Democracy

Institute of Social Sciences

The Center researches theories, models, and quality of democracy. Researchers study citizen participation in democratic and political processes, democratic innovations, social movements, as well as political views and attitudes. The goal of the Center is to improve the public sphere.

Center for the Study of Democracy SWPS University

Research Goals

The Center undertakes research into theories and models of democracy, the quality of democracy, civic and political participation, democratic innovation, social movements, and political views and opinions. It cooperates with numerous research institutes in Poland and abroad, and also with non-governmental organisations. Aside from its academic objectives, the work of the Center is dedicated to identifying those good practices which improve the functioning of the public sphere.

Cześnik, Mikołaj
Bio
Tak
Permanent employee
Tak
Role in the Faculty
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Role in the Department
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Role in the Institute
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Specialization
sociologist and political scientist, specializes in analysis of political systems
First and last name
Mikołaj Cześnik
Academic degree or title
Ph.D. / Associate Professor
City
warszawa
Discipline
political-science-and-public-administration
Position
profesor uczelni
Role in the Research Center
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Faculty
Array
Institute
Array
Ph.D. / Associate Professor Mikołaj Cześniksociologist and political scientist, specializes in the analysis of poitical systems
Kotnarowski, Michał
Bio
Nie
Specialization
socjolog, asystent w Instytucie Studiów Politycznych PAN, zajmuje się metodologią badań społecznych, zastosowaniami metod ilościowych oraz analizą zachowań wyborczych
Permanent employee
Nie
First and last name
Michał Kotnarowski
Academic degree or title
dr
Institute
Center for the Study of Democracy
dr Michał Kotnarowskisocjolog, asystent w Instytucie Studiów Politycznych PAN, zajmuje się metodologią badań społecznych, zastosowaniami metod ilościowych oraz analizą zachowań wyborczych
Lyubashenko, Igor
Bio
Tak
Specialization
political scientist, researches the principles of effective public policy design
Permanent employee
Tak
First and last name
Igor Lyubashenko
Academic degree or title
Ph.D. / Associate Professor
City
warszawa
Discipline
political-science-and-public-administration
Position
profesor uczelni
Role in the Faculty
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Role in the Department
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Role in the Institute
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Role in the Research Center
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Faculty
Array
Institute
Array
Ph.D. / Associate Professor Igor Lyubashenkopolitical scientist, researches the principles of effective public policy design
Stanley, Ben
Bio
Tak
Specialization
Sociologist and political scientist
Permanent employee
Tak
First and last name
Ben Stanley
Academic degree or title
Ph.D. / Associate Professor
City
warszawa
Discipline
sociology
Position
profesor uczelni
Role in the Faculty
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Role in the Department
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Role in the Institute
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Role in the Research Center
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Faculty
Array
Institute
Array
Ph.D. / Associate Professor Ben StanleySociologist and political scientist
Zagórski, Piotr
Bio
Tak
Specialization
political scientist, sociologist
Permanent employee
Tak
First and last name
Piotr Zagórski
Academic degree or title
Ph.D. / Assistant Professor
City
warszawa
Position
adiunkt
Role in the Research Center
{"funkcja-w-centrum0":{"Funkcja":"","\u0141\u0105cznik":"","Nazwa w mianowniku":"Center for the Study of Democracy"}}
Discipline
Array
Institute
Center for the Study of Democracy
Role in the Faculty
[]
Role in the Department
[]
Role in the Institute
[]
Ph.D. / Assistant Professor Piotr Zagórskipolitical scientist, sociologist
Żerkowska-Balas, Marta
Bio
Tak
Specialization
sociologist and political scientist
Permanent employee
Tak
First and last name
Marta Żerkowska-Balas
Academic degree or title
Ph.D. / Assistant Professor
City
warszawa
Discipline
political-science-and-public-administration
Position
adiunkt
Role in the Faculty
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Role in the Department
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Role in the Institute
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Role in the Research Center
{"funkcja-w-centrum0":{"Funkcja":"","\u0141\u0105cznik":"","Nazwa w mianowniku":"Center for the Study of Democracy"}}
Faculty
Array
Institute
Array
Ph.D. / Assistant Professor Marta Żerkowska-Balassociologist and political scientist, specializing in theory and practice of democracy

Research
Projects

The Center researches theories, models, and quality of democracy. The team of researchers working at the Center have conducted a Democratic Audit of Poland, the first comprehensive assessment of democracy in Poland.

Polish National Election Study

The purpose of the Polish National Election Study is to provide a record and analysis of the most important of political events: parliamentary elections. It is a counterpart to nationally representative post-election surveys conducted in many other countries around the world and in the majority of mature democracies, which constitute part of the canon of knowledge in the disciplines of political sociology and political science.

ActEU

ActEU is an international project focused on researching the levels of trust in democratic institutions across the European Union. SWPS University is part of a research consortium, which includes 12 European universities that will carry out this 4-year project. Read more about ActEU

Democratic Audit of Poland

This is the first attempt at a comprehensive and comparative examination of the condition of Polish democracy. It takes three perspectives on the issue: institutions (their characteristics and the quality of their functioning); political elites, parties and programmes (democratic supply); and citizens, their preferences and their attitudes towards democracy (democratic demand).

The aim of the Audit is to provide a multi-faceted description of Polish democracy: both democratic procedures and the legal and socio-cultural context in which they are located. This objective is achieved through the use of an interdisciplinary approach which analyses political institutions, legal conditions, social attitudes and economic processes, and drawing on knowledge from political science, legal analysis, sociology, economics and publicly available statistical data.
more information »

The Impact of Electoral Rules on the Quality of Local Democracy in Poland

This project, financed by the Polish National Science Centre, aims to evaluate the impact of changes to the election laws at the level of local elections in Poland. In 2011, the Polish legislature introduced a distinction between municipal communes with county (powiat) status, and those without. In the first of these communes, local councils are to be elected in majoritarian single-member constituencies, while in the latter they will be elected in multi-member districts according to a proportional system. This situation creates a unique possibility to observe the impact of institutional systems (electoral rules) in a quasi-experimental fashion. Our principal aim is to analyse the impact of this change on a range of phenomena which are held to be of key importance for the quality of contemporary democracy and the effectiveness of government. We will observe the impact of electoral rules on (a) the composition of elected councils and the way in which they function; (b) electoral participation; (c) political efficacy; (d) the level of citizen participation in processes of governance. The project will test a range of precisely formulated hypotheses and research questions. It is necessary to stress that the basic logic of our expectations with respect to our hypotheses flows from the theoretical insights and empirical findings of the literature on the impact of electoral rules. The logical mechanisms of electoral systems have been tested at the country level, but reliable data on the local level are much rarer. However, we are not aware of any reasons to assume that the logical mechanisms of electoral systems should be fundamentally different in these two contexts.

Reserach
Publications

 
Determinants of Democratic Legitimacy: Liberal Democracy and Social Justice

Markowski R. (2016), M. Ferrín and H. Kriesi (eds.), How Europeans View and Evaluate Democracy, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Normative and Empirical Models of Democracy

Markowski R., (2015), J. Zielonka (ed.), Media and Politics in New Democracies. Europe in a Comparative Perspective, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Demokracja – gospodarka – polityka. Perspektywa polskiego wyborcy (Democracy – Economy – Politics. Perspective of a Polish Voter)

Markowski R., Cześnik M., Kotnarowski M., (2015), Warszawa: Scholar.

Democratic Audit of Poland 2014

Markowski R., Kotnarowski M., Wenzel M., Żerkowska-Balas M. (2015), Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

Trying to move a rock. Lustration in Ukraine

Lyubashenko I. (2016), New Eastern Europe, 2, 2016, 116-121.