Department of Constitutional Law and Political Institutions

Research staff:

Assoc. Prof. Krzysztof Grajewski, D.Sc. (Head of the Department) [e-mail]

Assoc. Prof. Anna Rytel-Warzocha, D.Sc. [e-mail]

Assoc. Prof. Piotr Uziębło, D.Sc. [e-mail]

Assoc. Prof. Marcin Michał Wiszowaty, D.Sc. [e-mail]

Agnieszka Gajda, Ph.D. [e-mail]

Aleksandra Szydzik, M.A. [e-mail]

Department secretary:

Magdalena Drzycimska, M.A.

e-mail: sekretariat01@prawo.ug.edu.pl

Scientific development and research of the Department
on the 50th Anniversary of the Faculty of Law and Administration (1970-2020)

The Department of Constitutional Law and Political Institutions has existed as an organisational unit within the structures of the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Gdańsk since its beginning, i.e. the 1st of October 1970, initially as the "Department of State Law". On October 1, 1973, the name was changed to the “Department of Constitutional Law and Political Institutions" and the new name was modeled on the title of M. Duverger's fundamental work “Droit constitutionnel et institutions politiques” (1955).

The clearest indication of the Department’s strong scientific position are the publications of its staff. The 50th anniversary brought together more than 1,300 papers, in a wide variety of their forms: authored and co-authored books, editions of collective papers, chapters in books, articles in scientific journals, comments, reviews, expert opinions, participation in discussion, reports and translations, biographies, introductions, bibliographies. The first 20 years of the employees' publication activity had been the years before the transition started in 1989, while the second period – 30 years – was already a time of full freedom of science. The last 30 years have allowed for a development that is not bound by artificial limitations to science.

When discussing the lines of academic research of the Department, it should be noted that the tradition of the constitutionalist community is that, at intervals of about ten years, a report about the legal research conducted by individual departments of constitutional law in Poland is published. As a Department from Gdańsk, we presented in subsequent editions the following "research directions" with published research results: a) for the 1970s (1979): systemic issues of capitalist states, issues of modern federalism, issues of the legislative process in the Polish People's Republic, b) for the 1980s (1988): constitutional theory and control of the constitutionality of law, principles of modern constitutionalism, issues of legislation, protection of civil rights, c) for the 1990s (1998): systems of government, principles of the Constitution, the system of sources of law and legislation, the control of constitutionality of law, parliamentary law, institutional citizen rights protection (d) for the period 2000-2008 (2008): regime of democratic states, general issues of the Constitution, basic ideas of constitutionalism and general principles of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, problems of sources of law and legislation, issues of parliamentary law, issues of direct democracy, electoral law, problems of protection of citizens' rights, constitutional problems of central banking, legal issues of lobbying, problems of the system of the Baltic states, (e) 2010: Democratic state governments, General issues of the Constitution, Basic ideas of constitutionalism and primal principles of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, Problems of the sources of law and legislation, Issues of parliamentary law, Issues of direct democracy, Election law issues, Civil and political rights issues, The constitutional problems of central banking, Legal issues of lobbying, Systemic problems of the Baltic states.

The period from 2010 to the beginning of the 50th anniversary of the Faculty (2019/2020) can be seen as a period of development for the Department in terms of stabilizing its staff composition. The young academic staff already held doctoral degrees, systematically obtaining the degrees of habilitated doctors. The last personnel change at that time was the retirement of prof. Andrzej Pułło and prof. Andrzej Szmyt. In 2019, Aleksandra Szydzik, MA was hired as a full-time assistant.

A valuable manifestation of the research work at the Department was often teamwork or co-authorship, as well as the intellectual and organizational ability in organizing national publishing ventures. The Department as a team regularly achieves one of the highest results in the scientific achievements in the scale of the entire Faculty.

Intensive scientific cooperation enhances the scientific status of the Department. This took the form of internship trips, participation in international conferences, including keynote speeches, publications in congress languages, including books and foreign journals. Overall, it should be stressed that it was over 100 trips, over 200 publications, over 20 countries - from the former Eastern Bloc (Belarus, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Ukraine) as well as Western European countries (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, Finland) and the USA.

An important feature of the academic activities of the Department's staff was e.g. a close connection with the systemic practice, which has resulted in the preparation of expert reports, opinions for State and Local authorities as well as NGOs.