Idealny wzór partii politycznej a dzisiejsza rzeczywistość w Polsce

The paper attempts to formulate an answer to the question of what an ideal party should look like at present, and what contemporary reality in Poland is like. In his attempt to create an ideal model for a political party, the author adopts the concept of the ‘good state’, as developed in the paper Wyznaczniki dobrego pañstwa, as a point of reference. He goes on to compare the way in which contemporary parties fulfill their functions to the objectives of a good state (egoistic objectives: to retain power and maintain social and political security; altruistic objectives: social order and reforms). He adopts six fundamental functions of a national party: intermediary, electoral, ruling, shaping public opinion, educational and organizational function. The author concludes by saying that there is no ideal political party in Poland that performs its functions in relation to the ‘good state’ well. Instead of convincing society about themselves, contemporary (2007) Polish parties have created conflicts and created sharp social divisions that continue to exist.