Podcasts about polish studies

The memoirs of Paweł Z. Woś highlight the significant research challenges encountered by historians of the Intermarium area. Polish conspiracy during the German occupation, participation in the Warsaw Uprising, and operating a small business were all, in reality, acts of anti-communist resistance. The many omissions and instances of imprecision stem not only from the passage of time, but also from the carefully cultivated discretion imposed by the all-powerful communist secret police. For scholars, this represents a major challenge in the reconstruction of events and the discovery of historical truth. Dr. Sebastian Bojemski Graduated from the Institute of History of Warsaw University and gained his doctoral degree at The Cardinal Wyszyński University in Warsaw. At the Institute of World Politics (Washington, DC) he attended individual courses in geography and strategy, geoeconomy, strategic influence and propaganda. He was awarded scholarships by the Kosciuszko Foundation (USA) and the M. Grabowski Fund (UK). Mr Bojemski also has extensive experience in strategic communication, marketing, sales and management. For over 15 years (2003-2018) he had owned a Warsaw-based consulting firm. Between 2018-2024 he was an executive director for marketing at PKN Orlen – the largest oil company in Central Europe, a vice chairman at Lotos Fuels, the second largest oil company in Poland and a vice chairman at PERN, the largest fuel and logistics company in the region and critical infrastructure operator. He is currently affiliated with the University College of Professional Education as a member of the Center for Research on Disinformation and Cybersecurity and a senior fellow at the Eastern Flank Institute, a Brussels-based think tank. The Kościuszko Chair serves as a center for Polish Studies in the broadest sense, including learning, teaching, researching, and writing about Poland's culture, history, heritage, religion, government, economy, and successes in the arts, sciences, and letters, with special emphasis on the achievements of Polish civilization and its relation to other nations, particularly the United States. **Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academics/graduate-degree-programs/ ***Make a gift to the IWP Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies: https://wl.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=4

This talk argues that the ethnic conflicts of Southeast Europe are not the result of “ancient hatreds,” but of a specific historical configuration shaped during the Ottoman period. Under Ottoman rule, earlier forms of statehood did not disappear but survived in memory and identity in a kind of “suspended animation,” while at the same time demographic structures were significantly reshaped. Conflict emerged where these two processes intersected. In regions such as Kosovo, Bosnia, Vojvodina, and Transylvania, one group could claim historical precedence based on earlier statehood, while another could claim legitimacy based on later demographic dominance. The Greek–Turkish case shows a similar pattern, where a Byzantine territorial memory and Turkish nationhood collided over territories that became ethnically mixed during the Ottoman rule. The result is a particular type of conflict: not between truth and falsehood, but between competing and internally coherent forms of historical legitimacy — where both sides can plausibly claim that the land is, in different senses, their own. Csaba B. Horváth, PhD earned his PhD in International Relations at Corvinus University of Budapest after completing degrees in History and Political Science at Eötvös Loránd University. He is a member of the General Assembly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on geopolitics, with a particular emphasis on the Indo-Pacific as well as on Central and Eastern Europe. He has held visiting research fellowships at several universities in Australia, China and Taiwan, and earlier in his youth, spent two years living in Japan, where he acquired conversational proficiency in Japanese. He is also a regular participant in international conferences and held public talks across the Indo-Pacific, including in Australia, China, India, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. The Kościuszko Chair serves as a center for Polish Studies in the broadest sense, including learning, teaching, researching, and writing about Poland's culture, history, heritage, religion, government, economy, and successes in the arts, sciences, and letters, with special emphasis on the achievements of Polish civilization and its relation to other nations, particularly the United States. **Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academics/graduate-degree-programs/ ***Make a gift to the IWP Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies: https://wl.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=4

This presentation examines the growing tension between the sovereignty of nation-states and the expanding ideological and institutional pressure exerted by dominant left-liberal circles in Europe. It begins with the question of why Poland—particularly during the conservative governments of 2015–2023—became one of the primary targets of political and economic pressure from the central institutions of the European Union. At the heart of this conflict lies a fundamental clash of visions of the state and the law. On one side stands the model of a sovereign state grounded in its constitution, democratic legitimacy within the nation-state, and the Christian roots of European civilization, committed to protecting the family and the welfare of children. On the other side is the project of an increasingly centralized Europe, in which law is used as a tool to advance a harmful ideological agenda—ranging from radical woke doctrines and coercive net-zero policies to the mass relocation of culturally incompatible migrants—while simultaneously serving as an instrument of political pressure on member states. This tension is particularly visible in disputes concerning family law and the protection of children, where Poland under previous conservative administration —in cooperation with Hungary—resisted attempts to ideologically reshape these areas of European law. The presentation also addresses the growing phenomenon of lawfare in Poland after 2023, namely the use of legal mechanisms and state institutions as instruments of political repression against the conservative opposition. Marcin Romanowski is a Polish lawyer, academic, and Member of the Polish Parliament. He holds a PhD in law from Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and an LL.M. from the University of Regensburg. He served as Director of the Institute of Justice (2016–2019) and Deputy Minister of Justice (2019–2023), where he worked on justice system reform, cybersecurity, victim support, and family law. **Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academics/graduate-degree-programs/ ***Make a gift to the IWP Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies: https://wl.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=4

For centuries, Poland and Russia formed the heartland of the Jewish world. Until World War II, this area was home to over forty percent of world Jewry: nearly three and a half million Jews lived in Poland, and nearly three million more lived in the Soviet Union. Although the majority of American and European Jews originate from Eastern Europe, the history of this life and civilization is not well known, or has been reduced to a story of persecution and martyrdom. In his masterful three-volume history, The Jews in Poland and Russia: 1350 to the Present Day, Polonsky avoids sentimentalism and mythologizing, and provides a comprehensive and detailed account of this great civilization. From the towns and shtetls where Jews lived, to the emergence of Hasidism and the Haskalah movement, to the rise of Jewish urbanization, and Polish-Jewish relations during World War II, Polonsky's book dispels myths about this culture, while demonstrating the importance of Poland and Russia as a great center of Jewish life. Winner of the 2011 Kulczycki Book Prize for Polish Studies, and the Pro Historia Polonorum Prize for the best book on the history of Poland published in a foreign language between 2007 and 2011. This book talk originally took place on October 22, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

For centuries, Poland and Russia formed the heartland of the Jewish world. Until World War II, this area was home to over forty percent of world Jewry: nearly three and a half million Jews lived in Poland, and nearly three million more lived in the Soviet Union. Although the majority of American and European Jews originate from Eastern Europe, the history of this life and civilization is not well known, or has been reduced to a story of persecution and martyrdom. In his masterful three-volume history, The Jews in Poland and Russia: 1350 to the Present Day, Polonsky avoids sentimentalism and mythologizing, and provides a comprehensive and detailed account of this great civilization. From the towns and shtetls where Jews lived, to the emergence of Hasidism and the Haskalah movement, to the rise of Jewish urbanization, and Polish-Jewish relations during World War II, Polonsky's book dispels myths about this culture, while demonstrating the importance of Poland and Russia as a great center of Jewish life. Winner of the 2011 Kulczycki Book Prize for Polish Studies, and the Pro Historia Polonorum Prize for the best book on the history of Poland published in a foreign language between 2007 and 2011. This book talk originally took place on October 22, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

For centuries, Poland and Russia formed the heartland of the Jewish world. Until World War II, this area was home to over forty percent of world Jewry: nearly three and a half million Jews lived in Poland, and nearly three million more lived in the Soviet Union. Although the majority of American and European Jews originate from Eastern Europe, the history of this life and civilization is not well known, or has been reduced to a story of persecution and martyrdom. In his masterful three-volume history, The Jews in Poland and Russia: 1350 to the Present Day, Polonsky avoids sentimentalism and mythologizing, and provides a comprehensive and detailed account of this great civilization. From the towns and shtetls where Jews lived, to the emergence of Hasidism and the Haskalah movement, to the rise of Jewish urbanization, and Polish-Jewish relations during World War II, Polonsky's book dispels myths about this culture, while demonstrating the importance of Poland and Russia as a great center of Jewish life. Winner of the 2011 Kulczycki Book Prize for Polish Studies, and the Pro Historia Polonorum Prize for the best book on the history of Poland published in a foreign language between 2007 and 2011. This book talk originally took place on October 22, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

For centuries, Poland and Russia formed the heartland of the Jewish world. Until World War II, this area was home to over forty percent of world Jewry: nearly three and a half million Jews lived in Poland, and nearly three million more lived in the Soviet Union. Although the majority of American and European Jews originate from Eastern Europe, the history of this life and civilization is not well known, or has been reduced to a story of persecution and martyrdom. In his masterful three-volume history, The Jews in Poland and Russia: 1350 to the Present Day, Polonsky avoids sentimentalism and mythologizing, and provides a comprehensive and detailed account of this great civilization. From the towns and shtetls where Jews lived, to the emergence of Hasidism and the Haskalah movement, to the rise of Jewish urbanization, and Polish-Jewish relations during World War II, Polonsky's book dispels myths about this culture, while demonstrating the importance of Poland and Russia as a great center of Jewish life. Winner of the 2011 Kulczycki Book Prize for Polish Studies, and the Pro Historia Polonorum Prize for the best book on the history of Poland published in a foreign language between 2007 and 2011. This book talk originally took place on October 22, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/russian-studies

For centuries, Poland and Russia formed the heartland of the Jewish world. Until World War II, this area was home to over forty percent of world Jewry: nearly three and a half million Jews lived in Poland, and nearly three million more lived in the Soviet Union. Although the majority of American and European Jews originate from Eastern Europe, the history of this life and civilization is not well known, or has been reduced to a story of persecution and martyrdom. In his masterful three-volume history, The Jews in Poland and Russia: 1350 to the Present Day, Polonsky avoids sentimentalism and mythologizing, and provides a comprehensive and detailed account of this great civilization. From the towns and shtetls where Jews lived, to the emergence of Hasidism and the Haskalah movement, to the rise of Jewish urbanization, and Polish-Jewish relations during World War II, Polonsky's book dispels myths about this culture, while demonstrating the importance of Poland and Russia as a great center of Jewish life. Winner of the 2011 Kulczycki Book Prize for Polish Studies, and the Pro Historia Polonorum Prize for the best book on the history of Poland published in a foreign language between 2007 and 2011. This book talk originally took place on October 22, 2013 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/eastern-european-studies

Professor Przemysław Żurawski vel Grajewski - Polish political scientist, an academic, and an associate professor at the University of Lodz. Furthermore, he is an associate of the European Institute in Łódź, the Center for Political Thought, and a lecturer at the Natolin European Center and the National School of Public Administration. In 2015, Mr. Żurawski vel Grajewski became a member of the National Development Council, appointed by President Andrzej Duda. His main areas of research include international relations and geopolitics. This lecture is part of the 18th Annual Symposium of the Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies. The Kościuszko Chair serves as a center for Polish Studies in the broadest sense, including learning, teaching, researching, and writing about Poland's culture, history, heritage, religion, government, economy, and successes in the arts, sciences, and letters, with special emphasis on the achievements of Polish civilization and its relation to other nations, particularly the United States. This year, the 17th annual Kościuszko Chair Conference focuses on the topic of threats and opportunities in the Intermarium. **Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academics/graduate-degree-programs/ ***Make a gift to the IWP Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies: https://wl.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=4

Csaba B. Horváth, PhD earned his PhD in International Relations at Corvinus University of Budapest after completing degrees in History and Political Science at Eötvös Loránd University. He is a member of the General Assembly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on geopolitics, with a particular emphasis on the Indo-Pacific as well as on Central and Eastern Europe. He has held visiting research fellowships at several universities in Australia, China and Taiwan, and earlier in his youth, spent two years living in Japan, where he acquired conversational proficiency in Japanese. He is also a regular participant in international conferences and held public talks across the Indo-Pacific, including in Australia, China, India, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. The talk explores the idea that East-Central Europe is currently experiencing a rare strategic “window of opportunity” not seen since the 18th century. For centuries, the region functioned largely as a buffer zone dominated by external imperial powers. Today, the effective disappearance and disintegration of traditional continental empires has created a structural power vacuum in the region, which, combined with shifting global power balances and growing strategic interest from the United States, is generating unprecedented conditions for East-Central Europe to emerge as a more autonomous geopolitical actor. The presentation examines the risks, constraints, and potential pathways for such a transformation. This lecture is part of the 18th Annual Symposium of the Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies. The Kościuszko Chair serves as a center for Polish Studies in the broadest sense, including learning, teaching, researching, and writing about Poland's culture, history, heritage, religion, government, economy, and successes in the arts, sciences, and letters, with special emphasis on the achievements of Polish civilization and its relation to other nations, particularly the United States. This year, the 17th annual Kościuszko Chair Conference focuses on the topic of threats and opportunities in the Intermarium. **Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academics/graduate-degree-programs/ ***Make a gift to the IWP Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies: https://wl.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=4

Dr. Sebastian Bojemski graduated from the Institute of History of Warsaw University and gained his doctoral degree at The Cardinal Wyszyński University in Warsaw. At the Institute of World Politics (Washington, DC) he attended individual courses in geography and strategy, geoeconomy, strategic influence and propaganda. He was awarded scholarships by the Kosciuszko Foundation (USA) and the M. Grabowski Fund (UK). Mr Bojemski also has extensive experience in strategic communication, marketing, sales and management. For over 15 years (2003-2018) he had owned a Warsaw-based consulting firm. Between 2018-2024 he was an executive director for marketing at PKN Orlen – the largest oil company in Central Europe, a vice chairman at Lotos Fuels, the second largest oil company in Poland and a vice chairman at PERN, the largest fuel and logistics company in the region and critical infrastructure operator. He is currently affiliated with the University College of Professional Education as a member of the Center for Research on Disinformation and Cybersecurity and a senior fellow at the Eastern Flank Institute, a Brussels-based think tank. The start of the Russian invasion in 2014 changed the security architecture in Central and Eastern Europe. These changes deepened in 2021 after Belarus launched a border operation targeting Poland. Another milestone in this process was Russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine. The level of security on Poland's eastern border has significantly decreased. In this situation, it is necessary to make changes in the area of national security. This includes the development of the armed forces, the assignment of new strategy to the secret services, and the strengthening of critical infrastructure protection. This lecture is part of the 18th Annual Symposium of the Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies. The Kościuszko Chair serves as a center for Polish Studies in the broadest sense, including learning, teaching, researching, and writing about Poland's culture, history, heritage, religion, government, economy, and successes in the arts, sciences, and letters, with special emphasis on the achievements of Polish civilization and its relation to other nations, particularly the United States. This year, the 17th annual Kościuszko Chair Conference focuses on the topic of threats and opportunities in the Intermarium. **Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academics/graduate-degree-programs/ ***Make a gift to the IWP Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies: https://wl.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=4

George Byczynski is a defense and security expert specializing in Central and Eastern Europe. He is an Adviser to the UK's All-Party Parliamentary Group on Poland and a Chief Operating Officer of Anders de Wiart Associates. A former Adviser to the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Lithuania and Ukraine and a founder of the British Poles Media Group. He holds an LLM in International Law from the University of Westminster and a BSc in International Politics from Brunel University. He is a member of the New Security Leaders of the Warsaw Security Forum and co-author of the reports Three Seas Initiative and the Opportunities for Global Britain and Financing the Future – How to Attract More Foreign Investors to the Three Seas Region. He was awarded the Commission of National Education Honours (KEN) by the Polish Minister of Education and the “Ambassador of Polish History” state award by the Institute of National Remembrance. Byczynski volunteers for the Royal British Legion and the RAF Museum Charity and serves as an Ace Ambassador of the National Spitfire Project. This lecture examines the critical contributions of the British Polish community and the United Kingdom government to Poland's Solidarity movement during the 1980s. It analyzes the significance of the Polish Solidarity Campaign, Solidarity Working Group and the strategic advocacy by Polish émigrés in briefing British parliamentarians, the imposition of economic and diplomatic sanctions on Poland's communist regime following the introduction of martial law in December 1981, the public demonstrations that galvanized support for the Polish cause and the multifaceted approach of British trade unions towards Polish anti-communist movements. The lecture elucidates how these concerted efforts bolstered Poland's struggle for liberty and shaped the broader narrative of international solidarity against the communist oppression. This lecture is part of the 18th Annual Symposium of the Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies. The Kościuszko Chair serves as a center for Polish Studies in the broadest sense, including learning, teaching, researching, and writing about Poland's culture, history, heritage, religion, government, economy, and successes in the arts, sciences, and letters, with special emphasis on the achievements of Polish civilization and its relation to other nations, particularly the United States. This year, the 17th annual Kościuszko Chair Conference focuses on the topic of threats and opportunities in the Intermarium. **Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academics/graduate-degree-programs/ ***Make a gift to the IWP Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies: https://wl.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=4

Why are illiberal governments able to retain support? How are they defeated at election time? And how do (and should) governments driven by a desire to undo illiberalism proceed? For all interested in elections, democracy, accountability and representation Poland provides much food for thought. We have seen two important elections in the country in the past couple of years with contrasting outcomes. Those two elections can be placed within a wider and deeper story of the fate of democracy in Poland and indeed a broader story about the challenges facing liberal democracy in Europe today. Stanley Bill is Professor of Polish Studies at the University of Cambridge and Ben Stanley is an associate professor at the Centre for the Study of Democracy, SWPS University in Warsaw. Tim Haughton is Professor of Comparative and European Politics and a Deputy Director of CEDAR at the University of Birmingham. The People, Power, Politics podcast brings you the latest insights into the factors that are shaping and re-shaping our political world. It is brought to you by the Centre for Elections, Democracy, Accountability and Representation (CEDAR) based at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. Join us to better understand the factors that promote and undermine democratic government around the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Why are illiberal governments able to retain support? How are they defeated at election time? And how do (and should) governments driven by a desire to undo illiberalism proceed? For all interested in elections, democracy, accountability and representation Poland provides much food for thought. We have seen two important elections in the country in the past couple of years with contrasting outcomes. Those two elections can be placed within a wider and deeper story of the fate of democracy in Poland and indeed a broader story about the challenges facing liberal democracy in Europe today. Stanley Bill is Professor of Polish Studies at the University of Cambridge and Ben Stanley is an associate professor at the Centre for the Study of Democracy, SWPS University in Warsaw. Tim Haughton is Professor of Comparative and European Politics and a Deputy Director of CEDAR at the University of Birmingham. The People, Power, Politics podcast brings you the latest insights into the factors that are shaping and re-shaping our political world. It is brought to you by the Centre for Elections, Democracy, Accountability and Representation (CEDAR) based at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. Join us to better understand the factors that promote and undermine democratic government around the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/eastern-european-studies

Why are illiberal governments able to retain support? How are they defeated at election time? And how do (and should) governments driven by a desire to undo illiberalism proceed? For all interested in elections, democracy, accountability and representation Poland provides much food for thought. We have seen two important elections in the country in the past couple of years with contrasting outcomes. Those two elections can be placed within a wider and deeper story of the fate of democracy in Poland and indeed a broader story about the challenges facing liberal democracy in Europe today. Stanley Bill is Professor of Polish Studies at the University of Cambridge and Ben Stanley is an associate professor at the Centre for the Study of Democracy, SWPS University in Warsaw. Tim Haughton is Professor of Comparative and European Politics and a Deputy Director of CEDAR at the University of Birmingham. The People, Power, Politics podcast brings you the latest insights into the factors that are shaping and re-shaping our political world. It is brought to you by the Centre for Elections, Democracy, Accountability and Representation (CEDAR) based at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. Join us to better understand the factors that promote and undermine democratic government around the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Poland between 2015 and 2023, Jarosław Kaczyński and his Law and Justice Party (PiS) attempted a novel experiment. Could a governing party sustain a coalition committed religiously inspired social conservatism, old-school left-wing welfarism, and antipathy to Moscow and Brussels while also unravelling democratic institutions? It was, write Stanley Bill and Ben Stanley in Good Change: The Rise and Fall of Poland's Illiberal Revolution (Stanford University Press, 2025), an experiment in "how much illiberalism the electorate would bear". With Kaczyński and PiS now in opposition but threatening a return in 2027, Donald Tusk's liberal administration is road-testing how effectively illiberalism can be unpicked without antagonising the voters it needs to stay in office. Stanley Bill is Professor of Polish Studies at the University of Cambridge, and Ben Stanley is an associate professor at the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw. Tim Gwynn Jones is policy analyst at Medley Advisors and a writer/podcaster at 242.news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In Poland between 2015 and 2023, Jarosław Kaczyński and his Law and Justice Party (PiS) attempted a novel experiment. Could a governing party sustain a coalition committed religiously inspired social conservatism, old-school left-wing welfarism, and antipathy to Moscow and Brussels while also unravelling democratic institutions? It was, write Stanley Bill and Ben Stanley in Good Change: The Rise and Fall of Poland's Illiberal Revolution (Stanford University Press, 2025), an experiment in "how much illiberalism the electorate would bear". With Kaczyński and PiS now in opposition but threatening a return in 2027, Donald Tusk's liberal administration is road-testing how effectively illiberalism can be unpicked without antagonising the voters it needs to stay in office. Stanley Bill is Professor of Polish Studies at the University of Cambridge, and Ben Stanley is an associate professor at the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw. Tim Gwynn Jones is policy analyst at Medley Advisors and a writer/podcaster at 242.news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

In Poland between 2015 and 2023, Jarosław Kaczyński and his Law and Justice Party (PiS) attempted a novel experiment. Could a governing party sustain a coalition committed religiously inspired social conservatism, old-school left-wing welfarism, and antipathy to Moscow and Brussels while also unravelling democratic institutions? It was, write Stanley Bill and Ben Stanley in Good Change: The Rise and Fall of Poland's Illiberal Revolution (Stanford University Press, 2025), an experiment in "how much illiberalism the electorate would bear". With Kaczyński and PiS now in opposition but threatening a return in 2027, Donald Tusk's liberal administration is road-testing how effectively illiberalism can be unpicked without antagonising the voters it needs to stay in office. Stanley Bill is Professor of Polish Studies at the University of Cambridge, and Ben Stanley is an associate professor at the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw. Tim Gwynn Jones is policy analyst at Medley Advisors and a writer/podcaster at 242.news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/eastern-european-studies

In Poland between 2015 and 2023, Jarosław Kaczyński and his Law and Justice Party (PiS) attempted a novel experiment. Could a governing party sustain a coalition committed religiously inspired social conservatism, old-school left-wing welfarism, and antipathy to Moscow and Brussels while also unravelling democratic institutions? It was, write Stanley Bill and Ben Stanley in Good Change: The Rise and Fall of Poland's Illiberal Revolution (Stanford University Press, 2025), an experiment in "how much illiberalism the electorate would bear". With Kaczyński and PiS now in opposition but threatening a return in 2027, Donald Tusk's liberal administration is road-testing how effectively illiberalism can be unpicked without antagonising the voters it needs to stay in office. Stanley Bill is Professor of Polish Studies at the University of Cambridge, and Ben Stanley is an associate professor at the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw. Tim Gwynn Jones is policy analyst at Medley Advisors and a writer/podcaster at 242.news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/politics-and-polemics

In Poland between 2015 and 2023, Jarosław Kaczyński and his Law and Justice Party (PiS) attempted a novel experiment. Could a governing party sustain a coalition committed religiously inspired social conservatism, old-school left-wing welfarism, and antipathy to Moscow and Brussels while also unravelling democratic institutions? It was, write Stanley Bill and Ben Stanley in Good Change: The Rise and Fall of Poland's Illiberal Revolution (Stanford University Press, 2025), an experiment in "how much illiberalism the electorate would bear". With Kaczyński and PiS now in opposition but threatening a return in 2027, Donald Tusk's liberal administration is road-testing how effectively illiberalism can be unpicked without antagonising the voters it needs to stay in office. Stanley Bill is Professor of Polish Studies at the University of Cambridge, and Ben Stanley is an associate professor at the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw. Tim Gwynn Jones is policy analyst at Medley Advisors and a writer/podcaster at 242.news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Poland between 2015 and 2023, Jarosław Kaczyński and his Law and Justice Party (PiS) attempted a novel experiment. Could a governing party sustain a coalition committed religiously inspired social conservatism, old-school left-wing welfarism, and antipathy to Moscow and Brussels while also unravelling democratic institutions? It was, write Stanley Bill and Ben Stanley in Good Change: The Rise and Fall of Poland's Illiberal Revolution (Stanford University Press, 2025), an experiment in "how much illiberalism the electorate would bear". With Kaczyński and PiS now in opposition but threatening a return in 2027, Donald Tusk's liberal administration is road-testing how effectively illiberalism can be unpicked without antagonising the voters it needs to stay in office. Stanley Bill is Professor of Polish Studies at the University of Cambridge, and Ben Stanley is an associate professor at the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw. Tim Gwynn Jones is policy analyst at Medley Advisors and a writer/podcaster at 242.news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/book-of-the-day

In Poland between 2015 and 2023, Jarosław Kaczyński and his Law and Justice Party (PiS) attempted a novel experiment. Could a governing party sustain a coalition committed religiously inspired social conservatism, old-school left-wing welfarism, and antipathy to Moscow and Brussels while also unravelling democratic institutions? It was, write Stanley Bill and Ben Stanley in Good Change: The Rise and Fall of Poland's Illiberal Revolution (Stanford University Press, 2025), an experiment in "how much illiberalism the electorate would bear". With Kaczyński and PiS now in opposition but threatening a return in 2027, Donald Tusk's liberal administration is road-testing how effectively illiberalism can be unpicked without antagonising the voters it needs to stay in office. Stanley Bill is Professor of Polish Studies at the University of Cambridge, and Ben Stanley is an associate professor at the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw. Tim Gwynn Jones is policy analyst at Medley Advisors and a writer/podcaster at 242.news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this new episode of our special series produced in partnership with the Journal of Democracy, Stanley Bill and Ben Stanley draw on their new article “Democracy After Illiberalism: A Warning from Poland” (July 2025, Vol. 26, No. 3) to discuss the challenges, dilemmas, and paradoxes ofliberalism after illiberalism in Poland. They reflect on the concepts of liberalism and illiberalism to dissect the approach Donald Tusk's current government has taken and its major consequences. They also consider the wider lessons that may be drawn from recent and ongoing Polish experiences.Stanley Bill is professor of Polish Studies at the University of Cambridge. Ben Stanley is associate professor at the Centre for the Study of Democracy, SWPS University, Warsaw. They co-authored Good Change: The Rise and Fall of Poland'sIlliberal Revolution (2025).

About the Lecture: **This lecture is part of the Intermarium Lecture Series and the Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies at The Institute of World Politics** What is hybrid warfare? How does one identify and read unconventional attacks by autocratic regimes? Dr. Ivana Stradner will address these and related questions, providing insights into the various tools and techniques used by the Russian Federation against NATO countries and beyond. She will draw on her experience and research on Russian activities in Central Europe and the Balkans. About the Speaker: Dr. Ivana Stradner serves as a research fellow with FDD's Barish Center for Media Integrity. She studies Russia's security strategies and military doctrines to understand how Russia uses information operations for strategic communication. Her work examines both the psychological and technical aspects of Russian information security. Ivana also analyzes Russian influence in international organizations; she is currently focusing on the UN Cybercrime Treaty and UN efforts to regulate information security. Ivana has testified before the European Parliament and has briefed various government officials. Ivana also serves as a special correspondent for KyivPost. Before joining FDD, Ivana worked as a visiting scholar at Harvard University and a lecturer for a variety of universities, including the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, and as a Jeane Kirkpatrick fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Ivana has been published in academic journals and has written for The Washington Post, New York Post, Foreign Affairs, The Hill, Foreign Policy, Politico, The Telegraph, National Review, and more. **Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academic-programs/ ***Make a gift to IWP: https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=3

On this episode, Mark Blyth talks with Małgorzata Mazurek, a historian, associate professor of Polish Studies at Columbia University, and author of the forthcoming book “The Economics of Hereness: The Polish Origins of Global Developmentalism 1918-1968.”Mazurek explores how, between World Wars I and II, a group of thinkers led by economists Michał Kalecki and Ludwik Landau began to re-envision Poland's economy – and future. Their work, and Mazurek tells it, threatened many of the assumptions held by those in power about economic development in the mid-20th century, and would go on to influence thinkers around the world in the decades to come. In telling the story of these thinkers, Mazurek also recounts a fascinating moment in Poland's history, when a unique confluence of attitudes towards trade, immigration, and ethnic diversity created a laboratory for new economic ideas. Listen to other podcasts from the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University

Save the date for the next Polish Heritage Center at Panna Maria's virtual program “Remarkable Leaders of Poland From Its Birth to the Golden Age.” The program will be presented by Dr. Piotr Przybylski, assistant director of Polish Studies, University of St. Thomas, on Wednesday, Jan. 15, beginning at 6 p.m. Przybylski will describe the important Polish kings and dukes who led Poland from its birth in 966 to its “Golden Age” in the second half of 16th century. The charisma and determination of these strong leaders often saved Poland from its enemies, kept the country strong and wealthy, and...Article Link

In this episode, Małgorzata Mazurek (Columbia University) engages in a discussion with Thục Linh Nguyễn Vũ (RECET) on how Michał Kalecki and Ludwik Landau, Polish economists in the interwar period, responded to local and global challenges such as poverty and the Great Depression. Embedded in the Second Polish Republic — a fragile political entity — the economists in question generated innovative ideas about mass employment and economic development.   Małgorzata Mazurek is an associate Professor in Polish Studies in the History Department at Columbia University. Her interests include the history of social sciences, international development, the social history of labor and consumption in twentieth-century Poland, and Polish-Jewish studies. She published Society in Waiting Lines: On Experiences of Shortages in Postwar Poland (Warsaw, 2010), which deals with the history of social inequalities under state socialism. Her current book project, Economics of Hereness, revises the history of developmental thinking from the perspective of interwar Poland and its problem of multi-ethnicity. She has recently written about the idea of full employment in interwar Poland for the American Historical Review, history of social sciences for a survey handbook, The Interwar World, and the university as the Second-Third World Space in the Cold War for the volume Socialist Internationalism and the Gritty Politics of the Particular edited by Kristin Roth-Ey.

In Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities: Race Science and the Making of Polishness on the Fringes of the German Empire, 1840-1920 (Ohio University Press, 2019), Lenny Ureña Valerio offers a transnational approach to Polish-German relations and nineteenth-century colonial subjectivities. She investigates key cultural dynamics in the history of medicine, colonialism, and migration that bring Germany and Prussian Poland closer to the colonial and postcolonial worlds in Africa and Latin America. She also analyzes how Poles in the German Empire positioned themselves in relation to Germans and native populations in overseas colonies. She thus recasts Polish perspectives and experiences, allowing new insights into identity formation and nationalist movements within the German Empire. Crucially, Ureña Valerio also studies the medical projects and scientific ideas that traveled from colonies to the German metropole, and vice versa, which were influential not only in the racialization of Slavic populations, but also in bringing scientific conceptions of race to the everydayness of the German Empire. As a whole, Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities illuminates nested imperial and colonial relations using sources that range from medical texts and state documents to travel literature and fiction. By studying these scientific and political debates, Ureña Valerio uncovers novel ways to connect medicine, migration, and colonialism and provides an invigorating model for the analysis of Polish history from a global perspective. Lenny A. Ureña Valerio received her BA in history at the University of Puerto Rico and her PhD in Central/East European history from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Her dissertation, “The Stakes of Empire: Colonial Fantasies, Civilizing Agendas, and Biopolitics in the Prussian-Polish Provinces, 1840-1914,” was awarded the Distinguished Dissertation Award in Polish Studies by the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA) in 2010. Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities is the winner of the 2020 Kulczycki Book Prize in Polish Studies and honorable mention for the 2020 Heldt Prize for the best book by a woman in Slavic/East European/Eurasian Studies, awarded by the Association for Women in Slavic Studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities: Race Science and the Making of Polishness on the Fringes of the German Empire, 1840-1920 (Ohio University Press, 2019), Lenny Ureña Valerio offers a transnational approach to Polish-German relations and nineteenth-century colonial subjectivities. She investigates key cultural dynamics in the history of medicine, colonialism, and migration that bring Germany and Prussian Poland closer to the colonial and postcolonial worlds in Africa and Latin America. She also analyzes how Poles in the German Empire positioned themselves in relation to Germans and native populations in overseas colonies. She thus recasts Polish perspectives and experiences, allowing new insights into identity formation and nationalist movements within the German Empire. Crucially, Ureña Valerio also studies the medical projects and scientific ideas that traveled from colonies to the German metropole, and vice versa, which were influential not only in the racialization of Slavic populations, but also in bringing scientific conceptions of race to the everydayness of the German Empire. As a whole, Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities illuminates nested imperial and colonial relations using sources that range from medical texts and state documents to travel literature and fiction. By studying these scientific and political debates, Ureña Valerio uncovers novel ways to connect medicine, migration, and colonialism and provides an invigorating model for the analysis of Polish history from a global perspective. Lenny A. Ureña Valerio received her BA in history at the University of Puerto Rico and her PhD in Central/East European history from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Her dissertation, “The Stakes of Empire: Colonial Fantasies, Civilizing Agendas, and Biopolitics in the Prussian-Polish Provinces, 1840-1914,” was awarded the Distinguished Dissertation Award in Polish Studies by the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA) in 2010. Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities is the winner of the 2020 Kulczycki Book Prize in Polish Studies and honorable mention for the 2020 Heldt Prize for the best book by a woman in Slavic/East European/Eurasian Studies, awarded by the Association for Women in Slavic Studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/german-studies

In Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities: Race Science and the Making of Polishness on the Fringes of the German Empire, 1840-1920 (Ohio University Press, 2019), Lenny Ureña Valerio offers a transnational approach to Polish-German relations and nineteenth-century colonial subjectivities. She investigates key cultural dynamics in the history of medicine, colonialism, and migration that bring Germany and Prussian Poland closer to the colonial and postcolonial worlds in Africa and Latin America. She also analyzes how Poles in the German Empire positioned themselves in relation to Germans and native populations in overseas colonies. She thus recasts Polish perspectives and experiences, allowing new insights into identity formation and nationalist movements within the German Empire. Crucially, Ureña Valerio also studies the medical projects and scientific ideas that traveled from colonies to the German metropole, and vice versa, which were influential not only in the racialization of Slavic populations, but also in bringing scientific conceptions of race to the everydayness of the German Empire. As a whole, Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities illuminates nested imperial and colonial relations using sources that range from medical texts and state documents to travel literature and fiction. By studying these scientific and political debates, Ureña Valerio uncovers novel ways to connect medicine, migration, and colonialism and provides an invigorating model for the analysis of Polish history from a global perspective. Lenny A. Ureña Valerio received her BA in history at the University of Puerto Rico and her PhD in Central/East European history from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Her dissertation, “The Stakes of Empire: Colonial Fantasies, Civilizing Agendas, and Biopolitics in the Prussian-Polish Provinces, 1840-1914,” was awarded the Distinguished Dissertation Award in Polish Studies by the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA) in 2010. Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities is the winner of the 2020 Kulczycki Book Prize in Polish Studies and honorable mention for the 2020 Heldt Prize for the best book by a woman in Slavic/East European/Eurasian Studies, awarded by the Association for Women in Slavic Studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/medicine

In Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities: Race Science and the Making of Polishness on the Fringes of the German Empire, 1840-1920 (Ohio University Press, 2019), Lenny Ureña Valerio offers a transnational approach to Polish-German relations and nineteenth-century colonial subjectivities. She investigates key cultural dynamics in the history of medicine, colonialism, and migration that bring Germany and Prussian Poland closer to the colonial and postcolonial worlds in Africa and Latin America. She also analyzes how Poles in the German Empire positioned themselves in relation to Germans and native populations in overseas colonies. She thus recasts Polish perspectives and experiences, allowing new insights into identity formation and nationalist movements within the German Empire. Crucially, Ureña Valerio also studies the medical projects and scientific ideas that traveled from colonies to the German metropole, and vice versa, which were influential not only in the racialization of Slavic populations, but also in bringing scientific conceptions of race to the everydayness of the German Empire. As a whole, Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities illuminates nested imperial and colonial relations using sources that range from medical texts and state documents to travel literature and fiction. By studying these scientific and political debates, Ureña Valerio uncovers novel ways to connect medicine, migration, and colonialism and provides an invigorating model for the analysis of Polish history from a global perspective. Lenny A. Ureña Valerio received her BA in history at the University of Puerto Rico and her PhD in Central/East European history from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Her dissertation, “The Stakes of Empire: Colonial Fantasies, Civilizing Agendas, and Biopolitics in the Prussian-Polish Provinces, 1840-1914,” was awarded the Distinguished Dissertation Award in Polish Studies by the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA) in 2010. Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities is the winner of the 2020 Kulczycki Book Prize in Polish Studies and honorable mention for the 2020 Heldt Prize for the best book by a woman in Slavic/East European/Eurasian Studies, awarded by the Association for Women in Slavic Studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

In Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities: Race Science and the Making of Polishness on the Fringes of the German Empire, 1840-1920 (Ohio University Press, 2019), Lenny Ureña Valerio offers a transnational approach to Polish-German relations and nineteenth-century colonial subjectivities. She investigates key cultural dynamics in the history of medicine, colonialism, and migration that bring Germany and Prussian Poland closer to the colonial and postcolonial worlds in Africa and Latin America. She also analyzes how Poles in the German Empire positioned themselves in relation to Germans and native populations in overseas colonies. She thus recasts Polish perspectives and experiences, allowing new insights into identity formation and nationalist movements within the German Empire. Crucially, Ureña Valerio also studies the medical projects and scientific ideas that traveled from colonies to the German metropole, and vice versa, which were influential not only in the racialization of Slavic populations, but also in bringing scientific conceptions of race to the everydayness of the German Empire. As a whole, Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities illuminates nested imperial and colonial relations using sources that range from medical texts and state documents to travel literature and fiction. By studying these scientific and political debates, Ureña Valerio uncovers novel ways to connect medicine, migration, and colonialism and provides an invigorating model for the analysis of Polish history from a global perspective. Lenny A. Ureña Valerio received her BA in history at the University of Puerto Rico and her PhD in Central/East European history from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Her dissertation, “The Stakes of Empire: Colonial Fantasies, Civilizing Agendas, and Biopolitics in the Prussian-Polish Provinces, 1840-1914,” was awarded the Distinguished Dissertation Award in Polish Studies by the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA) in 2010. Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities is the winner of the 2020 Kulczycki Book Prize in Polish Studies and honorable mention for the 2020 Heldt Prize for the best book by a woman in Slavic/East European/Eurasian Studies, awarded by the Association for Women in Slavic Studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities: Race Science and the Making of Polishness on the Fringes of the German Empire, 1840-1920 (Ohio University Press, 2019), Lenny Ureña Valerio offers a transnational approach to Polish-German relations and nineteenth-century colonial subjectivities. She investigates key cultural dynamics in the history of medicine, colonialism, and migration that bring Germany and Prussian Poland closer to the colonial and postcolonial worlds in Africa and Latin America. She also analyzes how Poles in the German Empire positioned themselves in relation to Germans and native populations in overseas colonies. She thus recasts Polish perspectives and experiences, allowing new insights into identity formation and nationalist movements within the German Empire. Crucially, Ureña Valerio also studies the medical projects and scientific ideas that traveled from colonies to the German metropole, and vice versa, which were influential not only in the racialization of Slavic populations, but also in bringing scientific conceptions of race to the everydayness of the German Empire. As a whole, Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities illuminates nested imperial and colonial relations using sources that range from medical texts and state documents to travel literature and fiction. By studying these scientific and political debates, Ureña Valerio uncovers novel ways to connect medicine, migration, and colonialism and provides an invigorating model for the analysis of Polish history from a global perspective. Lenny A. Ureña Valerio received her BA in history at the University of Puerto Rico and her PhD in Central/East European history from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Her dissertation, “The Stakes of Empire: Colonial Fantasies, Civilizing Agendas, and Biopolitics in the Prussian-Polish Provinces, 1840-1914,” was awarded the Distinguished Dissertation Award in Polish Studies by the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA) in 2010. Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities is the winner of the 2020 Kulczycki Book Prize in Polish Studies and honorable mention for the 2020 Heldt Prize for the best book by a woman in Slavic/East European/Eurasian Studies, awarded by the Association for Women in Slavic Studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-technology-and-society

In Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities: Race Science and the Making of Polishness on the Fringes of the German Empire, 1840-1920 (Ohio University Press, 2019), Lenny Ureña Valerio offers a transnational approach to Polish-German relations and nineteenth-century colonial subjectivities. She investigates key cultural dynamics in the history of medicine, colonialism, and migration that bring Germany and Prussian Poland closer to the colonial and postcolonial worlds in Africa and Latin America. She also analyzes how Poles in the German Empire positioned themselves in relation to Germans and native populations in overseas colonies. She thus recasts Polish perspectives and experiences, allowing new insights into identity formation and nationalist movements within the German Empire. Crucially, Ureña Valerio also studies the medical projects and scientific ideas that traveled from colonies to the German metropole, and vice versa, which were influential not only in the racialization of Slavic populations, but also in bringing scientific conceptions of race to the everydayness of the German Empire. As a whole, Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities illuminates nested imperial and colonial relations using sources that range from medical texts and state documents to travel literature and fiction. By studying these scientific and political debates, Ureña Valerio uncovers novel ways to connect medicine, migration, and colonialism and provides an invigorating model for the analysis of Polish history from a global perspective. Lenny A. Ureña Valerio received her BA in history at the University of Puerto Rico and her PhD in Central/East European history from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Her dissertation, “The Stakes of Empire: Colonial Fantasies, Civilizing Agendas, and Biopolitics in the Prussian-Polish Provinces, 1840-1914,” was awarded the Distinguished Dissertation Award in Polish Studies by the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA) in 2010. Colonial Fantasies, Imperial Realities is the winner of the 2020 Kulczycki Book Prize in Polish Studies and honorable mention for the 2020 Heldt Prize for the best book by a woman in Slavic/East European/Eurasian Studies, awarded by the Association for Women in Slavic Studies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Marek Jan Chodakiewicz discusses "Reflections about Oskar Halecki." This lecture is part of the 16th annual Kościuszko Chair Conference and the 4th Oskar Halecki Symposium, titled "Intermarium and Trimarium - Concepts and New Realities." About the Speaker At IWP, Dr. Chodakiewicz holds the Kosciuszko Chair in Polish Studies and leads IWP's Center for Intermarium Studies. He teaches courses on Contemporary Politics and Diplomacy, Geography and Strategy, Mass Murder Prevention in Failed and Failing States, and Russian Politics and Foreign Policy. He also leads directed studies. Dr. Chodakiewicz was formerly an assistant professor of history of the Kosciuszko Chair in Polish Studies at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at University of Virginia. He also served as a visiting professor of history at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Dr. Chodakiewicz has authored numerous works in both English and Polish. While at the University of Virginia, he edited the Kosciuszko Chair's bulletin: Nihil Novi. Dr. Chodakiewicz writes weekly columns for popular Polish press and has published on foreign policy in various venues, including The Journal of World Affairs, American Spectator, and National Review Online. He is the author of numerous scholarly monographs and books, including  Intermarium: The Land Between the Black and Baltic Seas, which is a depiction of the Eastern Borderlands of the West on the rim of the former Soviet Union. His interests include the post-Soviet zone, the Second World War and its aftermath, Europe in the 19th and 20th century, Western civilization and its intellectual tradition, extremist movements in history, conspiracy theory and practice, and comparative civilizations. About the Symposium This virtual joint symposium is organized by The Institute of World Politics, in Washington, D.C., USA, and The Oskar Halecki Institute in Ottawa, ON, Canada to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the passing away of Professor Oskar Halecki. Sponsors The Institute of World Politics, Washington, D.C., United States The Oskar Halecki Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada Co-Sponsors Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IH PAN) Institute of Heritage of the Polish National Thought (IDMN) Instytut Historii USKW (Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski University) ***Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academic-programs/ ***Make a gift to IWP: https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=18

In this episode, Agnieszka Wądołowska, deputy editor of Notes from Poland, speaks with Stanley Bill, the founder and editor-at-large of Notes from Poland and professor in Polish Studies and director of the Polish Studies Programme at the University of Cambridge. They analyse the results of the parliamentary elections that took place on 15 October in Poland, discuss who were the biggest winners and losers, and look back over what was an intense, often bitter campaign. They also look ahead to what comes next with the imminent formation of a new government by the opposition and the challenges and obstacles it will face. Finally, they look at how the election will impact Poland's stand on supporting Ukraine and its relations with the European Union. Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We can't do what we do without your support. Every donation helps us to create new content – from breaking news stories to deeper insight pieces. By supporting our work, you'll be part of our mission to bring the full picture on Poland to the world. Thank you! (https://notesfrompoland.com/donations/support-us/)

Dr. Peter J. Boettke, Professor of Economics and Philosophy at George Mason University, discussed his book, "The Road to Socialism and Back: An Economic History of Poland, 1939–2019." About the Author Peter J. Boettke, Senior Fellow at the Fraser Institute, is a Professor of Economics and Philosophy at George Mason University, the director of the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, and BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism at the Mercatus Center. He received his Ph.D. from George Mason University. Prof. Boettke has developed a robust research program that expands an understanding of how individuals acting through the extended market order can promote freedom and prosperity for society, and how the institutional arrangements shape, reinforce, or inhibit the individual choices that lead to sustained economic development. His most recently published books include F. A. Hayek: Economics, Political Economy and Social Philosophy; and The Four Pillars of Economic Understanding. Prof. Boettke is the editor of numerous academic journals, including the Review of Austrian Economics and the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, and of the book series, Cambridge Studies in Economics, Choice, and Society. He has served as President of the Southern Economic Association, the Mont Pelerin Society, the Association of Private Enterprise Education, and the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics. About the Book The Road to Socialism and Back: An Economic History of Poland, 1939–2019 For four decades during the latter half of the 20th century, Poland and its people were the subjects of a grand socio-economic experiment. Under the watchful eye of its Soviet masters, the Polish United Workers' Party transformed the mixed economy of this nation of 35 million into a centrally planned, socialist state (albeit one with an irrepressible black market). Then, in the closing decade of the 20th century, under the leadership of Polish minister of finance Leszek Balcerowicz, the nation was transformed back into a mixed economy. In this book, we document the results of this experiment. We show that there was a wide chasm between the lofty goals of socialist ideology and the realities of socialism as the Polish people experienced them. We also show that while the transition back from a socialist to a mixed economy was not without its own pain, it did unleash the extraordinary productive power of the Polish people, allowing their standard of living to rise at more than twice the rate of growth that prevailed during the socialist era. The experiences of the Poles, like those of so many behind the Iron Curtain, demonstrate the value of economic freedom, the immiserating consequences of its denial, and the often painful process of regaining lost freedoms. Read more: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/the-road-to-socialism-and-back-an-economic-history-of-poland-1939-2019 Download the book for free:https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/road-to-socialism-and-back-an-economic-history-of-poland-1939-2019.pdf This event is sponsored by the Center for Intermarium Studies and the Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies at IWP. ***Learn more about IWP graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academic-programs/ ***Make a gift to IWP: https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=18

Support the podcast, become a patron, get additional benefits: https://bit.ly/3nMGeYj In this episode of Talk Eastern Europe, Adam and Agnieszka catch up over the most recent developments, mainly the political situation currently unfolding in Poland around the new law on Russian influence as well as the massive opposition-organised march which took place last weekend. They also discuss the news coming out of Ukraine, namely the Russian blowing of the dam at Nova Kakhovka which has the potential to create disastrous consequences for thousands of Ukrainians. Later, Adam and Aga are joined by Stanley Bill, an associate professor in Polish Studies at Cambridge University and the Director of the Slavonic Studies Section and Chair of the Cambridge Committee for Russian and East European Studies. He is the founder and editor-at-large of the news and opinion website Notes from Poland (www.notesfrompoland.com). Stanley not only discusses the recent developments but also gives some important insight into the upcoming parliamentary elections later this fall. Stay up to date: visit us at: www.talkeasterneurope.euJoin the TEE Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/talkeasterneuropeThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4065065/advertisement

Maria Juczewska ('19) discusses the role of anti-Ukrainian propaganda and disinformation campaigns in Poland's political and social arena. This is a recording of a lecture that was originally given at The Institute of World Politics on June 23, 2022. It is part of the Intermarium lecture series. About the Speaker: Maria Juczewska is a communication specialist with a versatile international experience. Her education in linguistics, culture studies, and international affairs, combined with years of living abroad, makes her point of view unique and comprehensive. Mrs. Juczewska worked for the Kościuszko Chair of Polish Studies from 2014-2020, and she is a graduate of IWP's M.A. program. At present, she is working on her Ph.D. in political philosophy. IWP Admissions: https://www.iwp.edu/admissions/ Support IWP: https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E231090&id=3

This lecture is part of the 12th Annual Kościuszko Chair Spring Symposium in honor of Lady Blanka Rosenstiel sponsored by the Kościuszko Chair in Polish Studies and the Center for Intermarium studies. About the lecture: The current crisis in Ukraine has understandably evoked not only worldwide sympathy for the appalling plight of the Ukrainian people but also admiration for the magnanimous Polish response to the consequent mass exodus of refugees. These developments, however, serve to obscure the complex historical reality of Polish-Ukrainian relations in the modern era. This presentation offers an objective and impartial assessment of a generally tense and often violent symbiosis. About the speaker: Peter Stachura held a Personal Chair in Modern European History at the University of Stirling (UK), where he was also Director of The Centre for Research in Polish History. He is now Director of the independent Research Centre for Modern Polish History and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, London. Professor Stachura has published extensively in his primary research specialisms of Weimar Germany and the Second Polish Republic.

This lecture event is part of the 12th Annual Kościuszko Chair Spring Symposium in honor of Lady Blanka Rosenstiel sponsored by the Kościuszko Chair in Polish Studies and the Center for Intermarium studies. About the lecture: This talk will provide a broad overview of Germanic expansion into Eastern Europe which provides the historic background to Hitler's Eastern Dream. About the speaker: Joseph Poprzeczny holds a Master of Arts degree in history from the University of Western Australia, where he also majored in Economics. He has been a part-time tutor (American and Soviet Politics), 1971-1972, at the University of Western Australia; full-time Teaching Fellow (British and Chinese Economic History), 1973-1975, Monash University, Melbourne; and part-time tutor (South-East Asian history course), 1982, Murdoch University, Perth. He has worked for various federal politicians as an electoral officer and researcher. This eventually led him to become a journalist with various State and national publications before he retired in 2015. In 2004 his book, Hitler's Man in the East, Odilo Globocnik, was published in America. He is currently working on two other unconnected research projects.

This lecture is part of the 12th Annual Kościuszko Chair Spring Symposium in honor of Lady Blanka Rosenstiel sponsored by the Kościuszko Chair in Polish Studies and the Center for Intermarium studies. About the lecture: In Ukraine, Russia has presently redeployed a trusty Soviet propaganda trope: “liberation from Nazism.” This narrative is, of course, mendacious. Yet, every lie contains a kernel of truth. Our objective here is to extract it and put it in its proper context. We shall consider “liberation” and “Nazism” separately. “Liberation from Nazism” is standard Soviet cliche originating in the Second World War. However, Moscow also lustily employed it during the crushing of the Polish Poznan uprising in June 1956, the Hungarian insurrection in November 1956, and the Czechoslovak upheaval in August 1968. In fact, throughout its history, the USSR justified its imperialist aggression invariably in terms of bringing “liberty” and annihilating evil. Usually, the target was “fascism/Nazism/Hitlerism” but there were derivatives such as “imperialism,” “oppression,” and so forth. Often the Soviets would refer to their actions as “rendering fraternal assistance.” All those propaganda threads are present today in the war in Ukraine. A more sophisticated iteration of “liberation from Nazism” focuses on the Western public, while its cruder form targets domestic, Russian audiences. About the speaker: Dr. Chodakiewicz holds the Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies at The Institute of World Politics and leads IWP's Center for Intermarium Studies. At IWP, he also serves as a Professor of History and teaches courses on Contemporary Politics and Diplomacy, Geography and Strategy, Mass Murder Prevention in Failed and Failing States, and Russian Politics and Foreign Policy. He is the author of Intermarium: The Land Between the Black and Baltic Seas and numerous other books and articles. He holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and has previously taught at the University of Virginia and Loyola Marymount University.

This lecture is part of the 12th Annual Kościuszko Chair Spring Symposium in honor of Lady Blanka Rosenstiel sponsored by the Kościuszko Chair in Polish Studies and the Center for Intermarium studies. About the lecture: In early 1919, newly reborn Poland was virtually a landlocked country. Border conflicts caused by the geopolitical earthquake of World War I had brought international trade to a standstill. The only hope for economic relief and humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged nation was access to the Baltic sea through German-controlled Danzig. In the late winter of 1919, the small Mission to Danzig, led by the first chief of the American Relief Administration in Poland, Colonel William R. Grove, and the versatile Chief Delegate of the Polish Government, Mieczysław Jałowiecki, would play an indispensable role in opening Poland's economy to the world, before the decisive showdown with Bolshevik Russia in 1920. About the speaker: Nicholas Siekierski earned his PhD at the Tadeusz Manteuffel Institute of History at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. His dissertation, "Operations of the American Relief Administration in Poland, 1919-1922", tells the story America's critical role in the early history of the Second Polish Republic. Dr. Siekierski is also a translator, most recently of 485 Days at Majdanek, the memoir of concentration camp survivor Jerzy Kwiatkowski, published last year by the Hoover Institution. It was the subject of a presentation at last year's Kościuszko Chair Spring Symposium at IWP.

In this video, Dr. Marcin Romanowski discusses "Current Discussions on the Rule of Law in Poland – In Light of Changes in the Judiciary after 1989." This lecture is part of the 12th Annual Kościuszko Chair Spring Symposium in honor of Lady Blanka Rosenstiel sponsored by the Kościuszko Chair in Polish Studies and the Center for Intermarium studies. About the lecture: Since 2015, the United Right (Zjednoczona Prawica) has won the presidential and parliamentary elections twice, gaining a majority that allows for self-rule. The reforms, in particular in the area of the judiciary, met with fierce resistance from liberal and post-communist opposition parties and judges from higher courts. The central institutions of the European Union (the Commission, the EU Parliament, and the CJEU) are also involved in the dispute, interfering – in the opinion of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal – with the constitutional competencies of the EU Member States in a way that goes beyond scope of the competences conferred upon the EU by its Members in the Treaties. However, the real source of the aggressive opposition to judicial reforms is the fact that the Polish judiciary has not been transformed since 1989 when communism has officially fallen in Poland. As a result of the so-called “Round Table,” agreements were made in 1989 between a part of the opposition and the communist party, leaving the judiciary unchanged, becoming a de facto guarantee of the status quo for post-communist interest groups. Since 2015, Poland has been struggling with many unresolved problems from the communist era. Settlements with the past were implemented after 1989 to a very small extent, which influenced and still affects the quality of political, social, and academic life, and media, making Poland a country of “late post-communism.” The judiciary, the reform of which is under dispute, is one of the most important areas of this “late post-communism.” The lecture will present the causes of contemporary disputes over the Polish rule of law. About the speaker: Dr. Romanowski is an assistant professor at the Department of Theory and Philosophy of Law of the Faculty of Law and Administration within the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw. He has a doctoral degree in law from the Faculty of Law and Administration at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun. The main areas of his research interest are the law of settlement with the past lawlessness in countries, the natural law and the non-positivist concepts of law, the theory of European and global law, and legal anthropology and its applications in the creation and application of the law. During his professional career, Dr. Romanowski was the Director of the Institute of Justice (2016-2019), an expert of the parliamentary investigative commission to investigate allegations of corruption cases disclosed in the media during work on the amendment of the Broadcasting Act (2003-2004) and a co-author of the report prepared by this commission and, in the years 2005-2007 and 2015-2019, advisor to the Minister of Justice. Since 2019, he has served as Poland's Deputy Minister of Justice. Make a gift to IWP: https://www.iwp.edu/donate/ IWP admissions: https://www.iwp.edu/admissions/

Dr. Lucja Cannon discusses "War in Ukraine: Geopolitical Implications for Europe and the United States." This lecture is part of the 12th Annual Kościuszko Chair Spring Symposium in honor of Lady Blanka Rosenstiel sponsored by the Kościuszko Chair in Polish Studies and the Center for Intermarium studies. About the lecture: Analysis of far reaching effects that the war in Ukraine is having on foreign policies of Western Europe, mainly Germany, and Eastern Europe, mainly Poland, and the increasing distance between the two. Repercussions for European integration and the position of the United States are also explored. About the speaker: Dr. Lucja Swiatkowski Cannon is a strategist, expert and author on Eastern Europe, Russia and US-East European relations. She has a BA, M.Phil. and Ph.D. in international relations and Russian/East European studies from Columbia University. Make a gift to IWP: https://www.iwp.edu/donate/ IWP admissions: https://www.iwp.edu/admissions/

This event is a part of the Intermarium Lecture Series at The Institute of World Politics. About the lecture: On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation launched a war on Ukraine. Building upon its aggressive strategy, which began in 2014, Russia continues its attack, encroaching upon Ukraine's sovereignty and leaving disaster in its wake. Dr. Marek Chodakiewicz will discuss the situation and give insight into what is going on in Ukraine. About the speaker: Dr. Marek Jan Chodakiewicz holds the Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies at The Institute of World Politics and leads IWP's Center for Intermarium Studies. At IWP, he also serves as a Professor of History and teaches courses on Contemporary Politics and Diplomacy, Geography and Strategy, Mass Murder Prevention in Failed and Failing States, and Russian Politics and Foreign Policy. He is the author of Intermarium: The Land Between the Black and Baltic Seas and numerous other books and articles. He holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and has previously taught at the University of Virginia and Loyola Marymount University. More about IWP: Learn more about our graduate programs: https://www.iwp.edu/academic-programs/. Learn more about supporting the work of IWP: https://www.iwp.edu/donate/.

This event is part of the Intermarium Lecture Series sponsored by The Institute of World Politics. About the lecture: On December 13, 1981, the Communist regime imposed martial law in Poland. The objective was to crush “Solidarity,” a Polish national liberation movement which was masking as the Soviet Bloc's first independent, self-governed trade union. Thousands were imprisoned, and hundreds died when the red riot police and military assaulted industrial plants, mines, offices, and universities. Inspired by John Paul II and assisted by the Catholic Church, the Poles resisted underground. Afterwards the Communists claimed that they saved Poland from a Soviet invasion. They had no choice but destroy “Solidarity” because the Soviets were going to attack otherwise. However, Moscow preferred for Warsaw to restore order itself. In fact, Poland's Communist dictator General Wojciech Jaruzelski himself begged the Kremlin to intervene. Ultimately, Jaruzelski himself carried out the Soviet Union's orders and destroyed overt “Solidarity.” He did not do it for “Poland” or “the Poles.” He lashed out at “Solidarity” because he feared punishment by the Kremlin. Woven into our analysis, we supply also some personal recollections, naming names of our confederates and sharing the events that we participated in. About the speaker: Dr. Marek Jan Chodakiewicz holds The Kosciuszko Chair in Polish Studies at The Institute of World Politics and leads IWP's Center for Intermarium Studies. At IWP, he also serves as a Professor of History and teaches courses on Geography and Strategy, Contemporary Politics and Diplomacy, Russian Politics and Foreign Policy, and Mass Murder Prevention in Failed and Failing States. He is the author of Intermarium: The Land Between the Black and Baltic Seas and numerous other books and articles. He holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and has previously taught at the University of Virginia and Loyola Marymount University.

This lecture event is part of the 14th Annual Kościuszko Chair Conference presented by the Kościuszko Chair of Polish Studies and the Center for Intermarium Studies. About the lecture: This lecture will focus on the forgotten human aspect of the 1940 Katyń massacre of Polish officers by the NKVD. Dr. Alexander Jabłoński will discuss the life of one Polish officer – Major Władysław Julian Siemek, a staff member of the highly regarded pre-war military institution, the Military Geographical Institute (Wojskowy Instytut Geograficzny) in Warsaw, Poland. More than 30% of its staff perished during WWII, with the majority killed in Katyń forest. About the speaker: Alexander M. Jabłoński received his BSc & MS in civil engineering at the Technical University of Cracow, Poland (1970), MS in mechanics and materials engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago (1982) and PhD in structural dynamics at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada (1989). He has more than 50 years of experience in various fields of engineering, and reconnaissance projects, project management and strategy planning. He worked as an engineer in Poland, Finland, Norway, Germany, and in the USA. Since 1992, he has been working as Research Scientist, Research Engineer and Manager in Canadian Public Service. He was one of Managers of the Space Plan Task Force (SPTF) for the development of the Long-Term Space Plan III for Canada (1999-2009). Currently, he is working at the David Florida Laboratory, Canadian Space Agency in Ottawa. He is also an Adjunct Research Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Carleton University in Ottawa. He is Fellow of CASI, Associate Fellow of AIAA, Member of Aerospace Division of ASCE, and recipient of various engineering and scientific awards. Since his early life in Poland, he has studied the Polish and world history for decades. He writes historical essays and presentations, especially on the modern history of Poland including the World War II and the postwar era of the Soviet occupation. Currently he serves as President of the Oskar Halecki Institute in Canada and as a member of the Program Council of the newly established Institute of the Heritage of the National Thought in Warsaw, Poland.

This lecture event is part of the 14th Annual Kościuszko Chair Conference presented by the Kościuszko Chair of Polish Studies and the Center for Intermarium Studies. About the lecture: Dr. Radzilowski will discuss the Invasion of Poland in 1939 by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union and the seemingly deliberate amnesia about the campaign that persisted for almost 80 years. He will examine Poland's defensive strategy and its successes and failures and why historians have failed so often to understand the campaign's importance. He will draw on recent scholarship on the topic as well as comparisons with another campaign that is similarly misremembered, the Sino-Japanese War that began in 1937. Lastly, Dr. Radzikowski will examine the role of Cold War politics and efforts of Western countries to save face after their inadequate response to the threats of totalitarianism in the 1930s and 1940s in shaping popular perceptions of these campaigns. About the speaker: Dr. John Radzilowski has taught history, art history, and geography at University of Alaska Southeast on the Ketchikan campus since 2007. Prior to moving to Alaska, he taught history courses at the University of St. Thomas, Hamline University, and Anoka-Ramsey College in Minnesota. Dr. Radzilowski also served as assistant project director at Center for Nations in Transition, at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota where he helped design and administer USAID and State Department-sponsored training programs for business, economics, and political science faculty and NGO leaders in Ukraine and east central Europe. Dr. Radzilowski's research and teaching interests are wide-ranging and diverse: immigration and ethnicity, military history, war and genocide, the impact of technology on the history and geography of the Great Plains and Midwest, local and regional studies, and the history of Poland, Russia, Ukraine, and central and eastern Europe.

This lecture event is part of the 14th Annual Kościuszko Chair Conference presented by the Kościuszko Chair of Polish Studies and the Center for Intermarium Studies. About the lecture: On July 10, 1941, the Germans burned alive most of the Jewish population of Jedwabne in north-eastern Poland. Some of the local Christians assisted in the crime but the nature of their exact involvement and deeds remains obscure. In fact, recently declassified documents suggest it was more negligible than some scholars argued before. However, we shall not know the precise details of the crime and the exact perpetrators without an exhumation and further forensic study of the victims. Dr. Chodakiewicz will discuss new evidence and present a documentary collection he co-edited: over 2,000 pages of newly accessible evidence of the crime. About the speaker: Dr. Marek Jan Chodakiewicz holds The Kosciuszko Chair in Polish Studies at The Institute of World Politics and leads IWP's Center for Intermarium Studies. At IWP, he also serves as a Professor of History and teaches courses on Geography and Strategy, Contemporary Politics and Diplomacy, Russian Politics and Foreign Policy, and Mass Murder Prevention in Failed and Failing States. He is the author of Intermarium: The Land Between the Black and Baltic Seas and numerous other books and articles. He holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and has previously taught at the University of Virginia and Loyola Marymount University.