ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a survey of major political developments in Poland after the victory of pluralist democracy behind which the once-outlawed Solidarity mass movement was the driving force. It focuses on shifts to some aspects which are typical of the present political situation in Poland. Mazowiecki immediately resigned, leaving his adversary Walesa with the problem of how to find a prime minister for the short period of three months until the next elections. The error lies not in the electoral law, but in the fact that most political parties have not yet managed to gain any political identity. Parliament could overrule decisions made by the Constitutional Court; Members of Parliaments could be both ministers and woiwods. During the 1970s and 1980s, the political opposition in Poland was dominated by a social democratic, liberal, tolerant, and pro-European intellectual elite which was mostly based in Warsaw.
