ABSTRACT
One of the characteristic features of Polish political life after 1989 was the frequency with which governments changed. Superficially the polity was profoundly unstable: three presidents and nine prime ministers held office from 1989 to 1998 under three sets of constitutional arrangements (see Table 2.1). This was not just a product of the vagaries of coalition government, the problems of new and weak political parties, or the difficulties of constructing a parliamentary majority. It also resulted from serious policy disputes and institutional conflicts. Successive coalitions appeared fragile as members paraded their differences publicly with one another, with parliament, and with the president. No prime ministerial resignation was ‘normal’ until that of Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz in September 1997, when Solidarity won the parliamentary elections in its new guise of Solidarity Electoral Action (Akcja Wyborcza Solidarnosc, AWS). Nor did the constitutional settlement achieved in 1997 end the controversy over the shape of Poland’s post-communist institutions. This chapter provides an overview of successive governments and their place within the broader institutional configuration. It also identifies the key issues which preoccupied them.
