Democratic government has now been entrenched in Poland. An increasingly significant European actor, Poland presents problematic but also stimulating challenges to new NATO and EU associates. This authoritative overview examines in depth the constitutional and governmental framework in Poland since 1989 and its central political institutions, mechanisms and actors. Sanford demonstrates how the governmental system evolved pragmatically during the 1990s to cope with modernization and consolidated viable independent statehood consensually around Poland's hardy constitutional values.

The Soviet massacre of Polish prisoners of war at Katyn and in other camps in 1940 was one of the most notorious incidents of the Second World War. The truth about the massacres was long suppressed, both by the Soviet Union, and also by the United States and Britain who wished to hold together their wartime alliance with the Soviet Union.

This informative book examines the details of this often overlooked event, shedding light on what took place especially in relation to the massacres at locations other than Katyn itself. It discusses how the truth about the killings was hidden,...

Poland has had an exceptionally turbulent thousand-year history marked by extremes of national greatness and decline including patrition and foreign occupation. Currently undergoing another dramatic transformation, Poland has been building a democratic and market system since the fall of communism. The largest and most important nation in Eastern Europe, outside the ex-Soviet Union, is now returning to the European mainstream from which she was for long periods isolated politically and economically, although not culturally. Although Poland has been widely popularized in journalistic cliches...

The focus of this work is the international dimension of democratization in eastern Europe. Coverage of this theme includes: the role of national governments and international organizations; the behaviour of non-state actors such as entrepreneurs and ethnic groups with cross-border allegiances; unintentional effects, such as those of market forces; and deliberate attempts to exercise influence, such as the use of trade barriers.

The themes and data generated by Poland's move away from Communism are crucial for discussing prospects for democratization and marketization in Eastern Europe. This is a case-study of the mechanisms of power transfer, the dynamics of the initial transition and the prospects for democratization.