Country in E Europe, bounded N by the
Baltic Sea, NE by Lithuania, E by
Belarus and Ukraine, S by the Czech
Republic and the Slovak Republic, and W
by Germany.
• government
Under the revised constitution adopted
1990-91, Poland has a limited presidential
political system. The executive president,
directly elected for a maximum of two
consecutive five-year terms in a two-round
majority contest, has responsibility for
military and foreign affairs and has the
authority to appoint the prime minister,
dissolve parliament, call referenda, veto
bills, and impose martial law. There is a
two-chamber legislature, comprising a
460-member lower assembly, the Sejm
(parliament), and a 100-member upper
chamber, the Senat (senate). Deputies
are elected to the Sejm for four-year
terms by means of proportional
representation in free, multiparty
contests. The Sejm passes bills, adopts
the state budget and economic plan, and
appoints a 24-member executive council
of ministers, headed by a chair, or prime
minister. The Senat is elected on a
provincial basis, each province returning
two senators, except Warsaw and
Katowice, which elect three. The Senat
has the power of veto in specified areas,
which can be overridden by a two-thirds
Sejm vote.
• history
In the 10th century the Polish tribes were
first united under one Christian ruler,
Mieczyslaw. Mongols devastated the
country 1241, and thereafter German and
Jewish refugees were encouraged to
settle among the Slav population. The first
parliament met 1331, and Casimir the
Great (1333-1370) raised the country to a
high level of prosperity. Under the
Jagiellonian dynasty (1386-1572) Poland
became a great power, the largest
country in Europe when it was united with
Lithuania (1569-1776). Elected kings
followed the death of the last Jagiello, a
reactionary nobility wielded much power,
and Poland's strength declined. But
Stephen Báthory defeated Ivan the
Terrible of Russia 1581, and in 1683 John
III Sobieski forced the Turks to raise their
siege of Vienna. In the mid-17th century a
war against Russia, Sweden, and
Brandenburg ended in the complete
defeat of Poland, from which it was never
allowed to recover.
• market economy
In June 1991 a treaty of
good-neighbourliness and friendly
cooperation was signed with Germany,
confirming the Oder-Neisse border and
recognizing the rights of the
500,000-strong German minority in
Poland to their own culture, language,
and religion.
• public discontent
The IMF approved further major loans
April 1991 in support of the Polish
government's economic reform
programme. There was growing public
discontent at the decline in living
standards brought about by currency
reform and the deepening recession. This
led to industrial unrest as unemployment
reached 1.5 million (8.4% of the working
population) by June 1991.
Country in E Europe, bounded N by the
Baltic Sea, NE by Lithuania, E by
Belarus and Ukraine, S by the Czech
Republic and the Slovak Republic, and W
by Germany.
