Customer Reviews

The Struggle for Constitutionalism in Poland (St. Antony's Series)

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I have read this book with a very long delay , but it was well worth it. Since I am a historian I will begin with some words to that unfavorable review that I have read. As a historian I find this book very good for two reasons. First, Mr.Brzezinski at least went to the trouble of providing a historical background for his work , which I have to say is not been a standard for American political scientists writing on Poland. Second, in his review he has shown that Polish constitutional history goes back a long way. One may argue that already articles of Henry of 1573 are the first constitution , as Mr.Brzezinski notes. This a very important aspect and a big plus for the book. May we let those few mistakes fall on the backs of the books editors, because they are really very minor and not taking away from the gist of the book. This as a historian. As a person , who after 15 years of living in USA now has spent two years in Poland I have to command Mr.Brzezinski on his insights that the Constitutional Court will become a strong independent institution in Polish life. As events have shown the Tribunal has consistently shown in its decisions to stay free of political pressure and become an oasis of good jurisprudence in the system full of corruption and inefficiency. I believe that this work is well written and Mr.Brzezinski should continue to disseminate knowledge about justice system in Poland with more works. Tomasz Kolodziej

Dr. Mark Brzezinski has done an excellent job in doing a research on Constitutionalism in Poland. I understand that Mark' book is for the English Reader outside of Poland. Dr. Brzezinski invested a few years of his life to study the issue of constitutionalism in Poland ( he is an American of the Polish background) and to work at the Constitutional Tribunal in Poland. I've had the opportunity to meet Mark on several ocassions and and I've done several radio and newspaper interviews with him. Dr. Brzezinski has done a superb job during every interview. In my personal opinion Dr. Mark Brzezinski is: *very disciplined scholar, *constitutional lawyer, *good strategic thinker *leader with an enormous potential - similar to his Father - who was former US National Security Advisor. One of Dr. Mark Brzezinski Academic Advisors at Oxford has been Dr. Z. Pelczynski - who has mentored many world leaders, including US President Bill Clinton during his Oxford' years. It is my strong personal conviction that Mark has scientific, ethical and leadership potential to serve humanity in the most responsible positions. Give him several more years to develop his potential. Andrew M.

I had the good fortune to come across Mr. Brzezinski's book on amazon.com. The greatest contribution that any scholar can make to the study of contemporary Central Europe politics is to provide a view on recent developments with a basic historical perspective. This is exactly what Mr. Brzezinski's book provides, even when considering the comments of the review below. One of the less regarded success stories of the post communist era is the triumph of the law of politics and Mr. Brzezinski's chapter on judicial review in Poland fills that gape in hole. We in Japan credit the awesome task Mr. Brzezinski has achieved for his book and we congratulate him for this much needed work. A reader from Japan

Dr. Mark Brzezinski has done an excellent job in doing a research on Constitutionalism in Poland. I understand that Mark' book is for the English Reader outside of Poland. Dr. Brzezinski invested a few years of his life to study the issue of constitutionalism in Poland ( he is an American of the Polish background) and to work at the Constitutional Tribunal in Poland. I've had the opportunity to meet Mark on several ocassions and and I've done several radio and newspaper interviews with him. Dr. Brzezinski has done a superb job during every interview. In my personal opinion Dr. Mark Brzezinski is: *very disciplined scholar, *constitutional lawyer, *good strategic thinker *leader with an enormous potential - similar to his Father - who was former US National Security Advisor. One of Dr. Mark Brzezinski Academic Advisors at Oxford has been Dr. Z. Pelczynski - who has mentored many world leaders, including US President Bill Clinton during his Oxford' years. It is my strong personal conviction that Mark has scientific, ethical and leadership potential to serve humanity in the most responsible positions. Give him several more years to develop his potential. Andrew M.

Mark Brzezinski is a political scientist focusing on post-1989 Polish judicial structure and in chapters dealing with this period he does show a great grasp of the material and issues. However, one must question the seriousness of one's reseerch methods when glaring factual mistakes are made even in chapters that are outside of primary scope of the book. for example in the intorduction Mr.Brzezinski writes that in the 18th century the Polish sejm took over the direction of the army and the nomination process for state officials. I wonder where Mr.Brzezinski got this information because it is obviously wrong. Never in the history of the Commonwealth did such instance occur. Also one is very saddened by many dating probelsm .Ffor example stating that crown Tribunal wa sformed in 1687 when it was 100 years earlier or describing Stanislaw Orzechowski as 18th century Polish Enlightenemnt writer when he was a 16th century author. These mistakes really raise a question of re! search rigor in this study. One understands that Mr.Brzezinski is not a specialist in early modern Polish history and maybe one should question the rigor of the editorial board that did not catch these glaring mistakes.