Naming the Nation: A Critical Analysis of Names in Polish Political Discourse

This article offers a critical discursive analysis of proper names used in Polish political discourse, focusing on six addresses to the nation made by prominent public figures of the Polish political scene?the president, prime minister, and the primate of the Catholic Church. The names used in the speeches did not function merely as means of referring to places or persons. The speakers used them to construct an ideologically preferred reality. Those used by the president of Poland ''embellished'' the Communist past of the country and showed his political (post-Communist) option as a viable proposal for Poland. The speeches made by the primate of Poland created a politically uncontroversial image of the country, with the head of the Catholic Church positioned as a moral authority. Finally, the visible absence of names in the prime minister's speech represented the etatistic view of Poland.     

A rare case of lethal methadone intoxication of a 3-week-old infant

The authors describe a rare case of lethal methadone intoxication of a 3-week-old infant. Born of a drug-addicted mother who was undergoing methadone substitution therapy, the newborn presented withdrawal symptoms and was immediately admitted to a paediatric ward where it was treated for 3 weeks, without administration of methadone. The infant died during bottle feeding within 24 h following discharge home.A post-mortem examination was performed as well as histopathological, toxicological and genetic tests were carried out in order to establish the cause and mode of death.The autopsy revealed obstruction of the lower air passages by stomach contents along with classical features of asphyxia. Toxicological tests revealed high concentrations of methadone and its metabolite in blood and urine as well as presence of methadone in stomach contents, and the DNA polymorphism analysis of the (sex-specific) amelogenin locus gave a negative result.On the basis of the results of the post-mortem examination, the laboratory tests and the police investigation, it was concluded that the drug was ingested with the bottle milk, and the possibility of administration of methadone at the hospital or its ingestion with the breast milk was precluded. Though both the cause and mode of death were established, the public prosecutor discontinued proceedings in the case due to inability to find the perpetrator.     

How communism could have been saved: Formal analysis of electoral bargaining in Poland in 1989

During the 1989 Roundtable Talks Solidarity and PUWP (the communist party) were bargaining over the electoral law for the 1989 parliamentary elections in Poland – the first semi-free elections held in the Soviet Bloc. I show that the PUWP consent to the elections was founded on an overly optimistic estimate of its popular support. A surprising Solidarity's victory led to the subsequent collapse of the communist regime in Poland and initiated the fall of communism in other countries. An alternative electoral law, a Single Transferable Vote, would have been mutually acceptable to both parties while producing an outcome that would have been critically better for the communists.     

Understanding Dual Identities in Poland

'Parallel' divisions of identity in Poland are a thing of the past – and perhaps the future – but not the present. Yet contemporary Poles are still politically divided by identities – albeit by 'nested' Polish/European identities rather than by 'parallel' ethnic identities. They are not divided between Polish and European identities, however, but between exclusive and dual identities – in essence a division between parochial and cosmopolitan identities. Contrary to fears that Europeanism in Poland especially might be narrow, culturally restrictive, or even racist, our data show that dual identities reflect broader cosmopolitan perspectives as well as specifically European or Western sympathies. There is a real significant difference of values between exclusive and dual identifiers which extends well beyond attitudes to Europe – and far beyond attitudes to the EU in particular. To a considerable degree this is a difference – some have argued a conflict – between traditional and modern Poland, between secular and devout Poland, between educated and ignorant Poland, between young and old Poland, and between hopeful and fearful Poland.