© Nova univerza, 2018
DIGNIT AS
Revija za človekove pravice
Slovenian journal of human rights
ISSN 1408-9653
From Old Times to New Europe: The Polish Struggle for Democracy and 
Constitutionalism (Robert Lewis)
Agata Fijalkowski
Article information:
To cite this document:
Fijalkowski, A. (2018). From Old Times to New Europe: The Polish Struggle for 
Democracy and Constitutionalism (Robert Lewis), Dignitas, št. 53/54, str. 397-
398.
Permanent link to this doument:
https://doi.org/ 10.31601/dgnt/53/54-22
Created on: 07. 12. 2018
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397
DIGNITAS n From Old Times to New Europe: The Polish Struggle for Democracy ...
In this work the author analyses Poland’s transition from a 
totalitarian communist to a fully democratic state, and the factors 
that influenced the manner in which this was achieved. Those 
factors arose from the country’s history over the preceding 150 
years, a period which saw profound and traumatic changes.
Western governments have learned, albeit slowly, that genuine 
democracy cannot be attained easily, and that countries with 
no tradition of rule of law governance rarely achieve it without 
experiencing social upheaval. In many cases, the previous, non-
democratic regime has been able to suppress deep fractures 
within society which freedom allows to resurface, fractures which 
impede the achievement of tolerant, liberal government. Such 
fractures may include differences of race (as in much of post-
colonial Africa where tribalism remains strong), and religion (as 
in the case of parts of former Yugoslavia). These issues have been 
widely studied and inform western policy towards countries such 
as Libya, which are only now emerging from totalitarianism into 
an uncertain future.
What makes Fijalkowski’s book fascinating is that it chronicles 
a similar transition, but one undertaken by a very different society, 
a people with a proud tradition of national cohesion, a cohesion 
strong enough to sustain the goal of nationhood for long periods 
when Poland did not even exist as an independent, sovereign 
state. Poland’s emergence as a genuinely free and democratic 
country demonstrates that, provided such national cohesion 
exists, even countries with very limited experience of participatory 
government can attain peaceful, liberal pluralism.
As an academic lawyer (Polish/American but based in the 
UK), Fijalkowski concentrates on the manner in which successive 
non-democratic governments prior to the fall of communism in 
From Old Times to New Europe:  
The Polish Struggle for Democracy 
and Constitutionalism. Ashgate  
Publishing
Agata Fijalkowski
22-Fijalkowski.indd   397 23.5.2012   21:48:54

398
DIGNITAS n Recenzija
1989 influenced legal aspects of Polish life. Institutions such as 
the constitution and the Bar, and aspects such as the freedom 
of judges and other lawyers, freedom of speech etc., are studied 
and the adjustments needed to be made to those institutions and 
norms as a key part of developing an open, democratic system are 
explained.
Throughout the period of history considered, the country, like 
other states in Central and Eastern Europe, was governed first by 
external monarchical empires (Austro-Hungarian then Russian), 
then by a period of independence from 1918 to 1939, before 
being invaded in 1939 by fascist Germany in the west and the 
Soviet Union in the East. Since the end of World War II the country 
was part of the communist bloc where laws and legal institutions 
were warped in order to serve the needs of the party. Judges were 
appointed who could be relied on, especially in criminal trials, to 
do the party’s bidding. The mismatch between values espoused in 
the law and the constitution on one hand, and the daily experience 
of ordinary Poles on the other, makes disturbing reading. The 
paranoia felt by the communist government towards those Poles 
who lived in areas previously occupied by Germany and who 
might therefore be tainted by fascism is an aspect insufficiently 
appreciated in the West.
As Fijalkowski remarks: “Achieving legal continuity between the 
communist and post-communist legal cultures is a formidable task”. 
One obvious example of this difficulty arose from the simple fact that 
the senior judges and advocates had been brought up, and appointed, 
under the previous system. Another key legal issue that needed to 
be faced was how the law should deal, retroactively, with serious 
breaches of human rights which, although now criminal, had at the 
time of commission been carried out lawfully behalf of the state.
Fijalkowski’s examination of these complex issues is masterly, 
and is the product of wide-ranging research in both Polish and 
Russian archives. Parallels are drawn to the similar experiences 
of other Central and Eastern European states such as Romania, 
Hungary and Czechoslovakia. For anyone interested in the way 
in which the most dramatic upheaval in Europe over the last 50 
years impacted on the law, lawyers and legal theory, this book is 
essential reading.
Robert Lewis
Barrister, London
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