Stage 1 (July-December 2021):
In the first, initial phase of the project preparatory activities were taken.
Organizational activities:
- Recruitment of the PhD student – scholarship holder – who is to participate in the project.
- Purchase of the planned necessary materials, equipment (digital recorders) and software (MAXQDA plus).
- Preparation of the project’s website in two language versions.
In addition, preliminary substantive activities were undertaken:
1. Preparation of a list of publications on democracy, democratization and de-democratization – at the national and subnational levels in Poland and Europe, theoretical and empirical, in Polish and English.
2. Gathering available publications about the project in an electronic version.
Stage 2 (January-June 2022):
In the second stage, the team dealt with the theoretical and conceptualization side of the project and preliminary preparatory activities for empirical research.
1. Refining the theoretical framework – taking into account the theoretical framework of democratization and democracy research as well as territorial politics.
2. Preparation in two stages of conceptualization of research – selection of democratic models for research and issues within these models, which may be manifestations of democratization or de-democratization at the subnational levels.
3. Selection of voivodships for the pilot research and cities in these voivodships – taking into account a number of criteria, including primarily the variability and diversity of political constellations (voivodships and cities) and size, status and significance (cities).
Selection result:
Voivodships (and cities):
Lubusz v.: Zielona Góra, Gorzów Wielkopolski, Nowa Sól and Słubice.
Silesia v.: Katowice, Częstochowa, Bielsko-Biała and Gliwice
Subcarpathian v.: Rzeszów, Przemyśl, Sanok, Dębica (or Ustrzyki Dolne)
Masovian v.: Warsaw + Radom, Płock, Otwock
Lublin v.: Lublin, Zamość, Świdnik, Chełm (or Biała Podlaska)
4. Preparation of a descriptive text on de-democratization changes in Europe – national and subnational level, based on V-dem data and studies, in order to outline the conditions in which de-democratization processes are developing in Poland.
Stage 3 (July 2022-July 2023)
In the third stage of the project, empirical research was launched.
1. Analysis of local and regional media in selected voivodships (July 2022 – Jul 2023)
a) review of press titles and their selection – selection of local editions of Gazeta Wyborcza (purchase of access) and selected local press titles, based on such criteria as: the importance of a given press title in the region/city, owner/publisher, possible political connections, the content (m.in. whether the work of local government bodies is taken into account), circulation and frequency of publication.
b) Preparation of a list of keywords based on the theoretical and conceptualization framework.
c) Pre-search for press articles.
d) Comprehensive search for press articles – part 1 (saving in two versions: whole pages and the text itself).
2. Focus group interviews (July-October 2022) – carried out in cooperation with the Zatoka Foundation – online, one with representatives of local non-governmental organizations, the other – with local journalists.
a) Preparation of the interview scenario.
b) Recruitment of focus group interview’s participants.
c) Conducting focus group interviews – 20 and 21 September 2022
d) Preparation of transcripts of the interviews.
3. Pilot in-depth interviews (December 2022 – July 2023)
a) preparation of the interview scenario
b) selection of interviewees
c) arranging and conducting first interviews (online) with representatives of local government bodies and experts (mainly from the Podkarpackie and Silesian Voivodeships).
In addition, the first activities going beyond the Internet were taken to disseminate the first results of the research, i.e. the theoretical and methodological side of this research and the first empirical observations:
1. Presentation by the project principal, Adam Szymański, of a paper entitled Role of Large Cities in Democratization and Autocratization – Analysis of Cases of Istanbul and Warsaw as part of the 35th Annual Conference of Italian Political Science Association (SISP), Rome, 8-10 September 2022 – use of the first research results concerning Warsaw and the Mazowieckie voivodship.
2. Presentation by the project principal, Adam Szymański, of a paper entitled Democratization and de-democratization in multi-level democracies. Theoretical and methodological dilemmas, in the panel entitled “Democratization and de-democratization in multi-level democracies in Europe, part II. 2”, organized by the project principal – during the Congress of Political Science in Wrocław, on September 22, 2022 – presentation of the theoretical and methodological part of research.
3. Presentation by the project principal, Adam Szymański, of a paper entitled Democratization and Autocratization in Multi-level Democracies. Case Study of Poland as part of the 94th Southern Political Science Association (SPSA) Conference – January 11-14, 2023 in St. Pete Beach, Florida, USA – presentation of the theoretical and methodological side of research and the first results of empirical research.
4. Participation of the project principal, Adam Szymański,, in a seminar at the Free University of Brussels (ULB) on 10 February 2023, devoted to the preparation of a special issue for the journal Contemporary Politics (Routledge) on democracy in large metropolises, entitled “Democratic enclaves: understanding the role of major urban areas as arenas of resistance against autocratization processes.”
Adam Szymański is co-editor of this special issue (together with external project partners Luca Tomini, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Giulia Sandri, ESPOL Lille and Regis Dandoy, USFQ, Ecuador) and plans to publish an article entitled Role of Large Cities in Democratization and Autocratization – Analysis of Cases of Istanbul and Warsaw – using the results of design research on Warsaw and the Mazowieckie voivodship.
5. Presentation of the project assumptions by Adam Szymański, principal investigator, during a webinar on 18 May 2023 organized by the Warsaw Branch of the Polish Association for European Studies.
6. Presentation by Adam Szymański, the principal investigator, of the paper on Democratization and Autocratization in Multi-level Democracies. Case Study of Poland within the 27th World Congress of Political Science, Buenos Aires, 15-19 July 2023, organized by IPSA (International Political Science Association) – presentation of the theoretical and methodological framework and the first results of empirical research.
Stage 4 (August 2023-July 2024)
In the fourth phase of the project, the empirical research was continued.
1. Analysis of local and regional media in selected voivodships (September 2023 – January 2024)
a) comprehensive search of press articles – part 2 (saving in two versions: full pages and text only).
b) creating a database of articles (to be used in future projects).
2. Individual in-depth interviews (September 2023 – April 2024)
a) conducting further in-depth interviews with local government officials in 5 voivodships (regional assemblies and executive bodies headed by marszałek) and selected cities in these voivodships (representatives of city councils and executive bodies headed by presidents or mayors) and with experts from 5 voivodships.
b) preparation of transcripts of in-depth interviews.
3. Mini-survey as part of the CATI CBOS omnibus survey (June 2024) – two questions on the attitudes of city and municipality residents towards the mechanisms of local democracy:
a) impact on the affairs of the city/municipality through the use of tools and mechanisms of local democracy;
b) a change in this matter over the last 10 years.
In addition, further activities were undertaken beyond the Internet website and Facebook to disseminate the first results of the research:
1. Presentation by the principal investigator, Adam Szymański of a paper entitled Democratization and Autocratization in Multi-level Democracies. Case Study of Poland as part of the CEPSA (Central European Political Science Association) conference in Dubrovnik, 28-29 September 2023 – presentation of the first results of empirical research.
2. Presentation (in Polish) by the principal investigator, Adam Szymański, of the paper on Democratization and Autocratization in Multilevel Democracies. Polish case study – during the plenary session of the conference Evolution of the political system. Representative democracy vs. direct democracy in the face of contemporary challenges, organized in Słubice on 16-17 November 2023 by Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and the Polish Political Science Association – presentation of the first results of empirical research.
Congress programme (in Polish)
3. Presentation (in Polish) by the principal investigator, Adam Szymański, the paper entitled Sejmik – a democratic institution? Analysis of selected voivodeships – during the national conference Sejmiki in Polish political systems organized in Wrocław on 25-26 January 2024 by the University of Wrocław and the Polish Political Science Association – presentation of the first results of empirical research on regional assemblies (sejmiki).
Conference programme (in Polish)
4. Presentation by the principal investigator, Adam Szymański, of the paper Crisis of Democracy in Poland – Does It Affect the Subnational Levels? – during the international conference Elections-Democracy-Crisis, organized by the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies of the University of Warsaw and the Institute of Philosophy and Social Theory of the University of Belgrade on 29 February-1 March 2024 in Warsaw, at the University of Warsaw. In his speech, he presented the results of the project’s research to date.
5. Presentation by the principal investigator Adam Szymański of a paper entitled Major cities as “democratic enclaves” in de-democratising countries. Analysis of Polish cities of Warsaw and Rzeszów – as part of the 29th conference of the Hungarian Political Science Association, organized at the University of Pécs on 16-17 May 2024. He presented the results of research on two of the five voivodeships analysed in the project, i.e. the Masovian and Subcarpathian voivodeships.
6. Presentation by the principal investigator Adam Szymański and project investigator Izolda Bokszczanin-Gołaś of the papers entitled Local democracy or its appearances? Mechanisms of social participation in Polish cities and Local aspects of democratic resilience: conclusions from pilot research – during the conference “Local government in Poland in the process of change”, organized on 6-7 June 2024 in Lublin, by the Faculty of Political Science and Journalism of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University. They presented the results of the research carried out so far within the project – concerning the possibilities of social and political participation of the inhabitants of the cities covered by the analysis – Warsaw, Rzeszów and Lublin, respectively.
Conference programme (in Polish)
In addition, at the end of the fourth stage of the project, the research team organised a consultation meeting with nearly 20 Polish experts on democratisation, local government and territorial policy as well as political systems from various academic centres and research institutes (from Bydgoszcz, Katowice, Kielce, Lublin, Łódź, Olsztyn, Poznań, Rzeszów, Warsaw and Wrocław). It took place on 4 April 2024 online, on the zoom platform and lasted over an hour and a half. Project participants shared their observations from in-depth interviews and partial research results. After the introduction prepared by the principal investigator, Dr. Adam Szymański, there was a very interesting discussion with the participation of the seminar participants.
