Jacek Kurczewski & Małgorzata FuszaraChair in Sociology and Anthropology of Custom & Law, Institute of

Applied Social Sciences, University of Warsaw, Poland

Further Developments in Study of Dispute Settlement Patterns in

Central-Eastern Europe

History of research

• Research on public opinion, Social Conciliatory Committees and courts in 4 Polish localities in 1977/78

• Research on public opinion and courts in 8 Polish localities 2001/02

• Nation-wide survey of random sample Polish public opinion (CBOS, May 2014, n = 1060) and studies of local public opinion in 4 Polish (Górowo 2013, Lesko 2014, Olesno 2014 and Warsaw 2015), 1 Latvian (2014-,Daugavpils), 1 Romanian (2014-, Cluj-Napoca) and 1 Ukrainian (2014-, Drohobych) locality and local justice agencies (2013-2015).

The purpose of research

• 1) to check the previous theory considering effects of regime transition from state communist totalitarianism to capitalist democracy on perception and use of official and unofficial dispute settlement agencies (1970s/2000s/2010th compared);

• 2) to check the role of local and national state legal system on popular legal culture by keeping ethnic affiliation and state’s jurisdiction under control (Polish, Ukrainian, Latvian, Russian, Romanian and Hungarian ethnic groups in Poland, Ukraine, Latvia and Romania compared).

Research Bibliography

• J. Kurczewski & K. Frieske, The Social Conciliatory Commissions in Poland in: M, Cappelletti & J. Weisner, Access to Justice, vol. II, book I, Giuffre/Sijthoff and Noordhoff 1978

• J.Kurczewski, Spory i sądy, Warsaw 1985• M. Fuszara, Codzienne konflikty i odswiętna sprawiedliwość,

Warsaw 1989• J.Kurczewski & M. Fuszara (Eds.), Polskie spory i sądy, Warsaw

2004• J. Kurczewski & M. Fuszara,Disputes and Courts in Poland 25

Years Later, Societas/Communitas 2009

Frequency of dispute experience as declared by inhabitants of Lesko (PL)

1978 2002 2014Reputation/slander 16 9 16Physical integrity 7 6 7Neighbour 13 12 7Border etc. 8 7 5Lease or hire 4 0 3Private debt 10 5 6Consumer 10 3 14With administration 6 7Vertical at job 16 6 11Health service xxx xxx 7Traffic accident xxx xxx 7Household xxx xxx 5other 4N total = 100% 211 234 201

Frequency of dispute experience as declared (%)

Górowo 2013(n=207)

Lesko 2014 (n=201)

Poland 2014 (n=1060)

Reputation/Slander 32 16 14

Physical integrity 10 7 3

Neighbors 15 7 6

Border 9 5 x

Lease or hire 1 3 x

Debt 17 6 5

Consumer 13 14 7

Administration 13 7 3

Work 12 11 5

Health service 9 7 3

Traffic accident 7 7 2

Household 6 5 5

Patterns declared

• The second set of questions was composed of 8 vignettes and offered 5 types of options on reaction to the hypothetical conflict situations:

• - don’t react, give up;• - negotiate the compromise and agreement with opponent;

• - satisfy your demands on your own;• - go to the court;

• - go to another official agency.

Hypothetical reaction declared nationwide (PL May 2014,n=1060, CBOS)

Reaction type

Kids beaten

Friend takes pledge

Friend slaps face

Hospital indiscreet

Police beats bystanders

House to be put down

Wife keeps moneyfor her

Husband batterswife

exit 2 7 6 3 5 . 23 5

dyad 59 65 68 26 30 34 71 57

Self-help

6 10 16 7 5 3 2 6

Court 17 11 4 51 47 52 2 13

another

13 4 2 6 7 5 . 12

DK 2 3 4 7 6 4 2 7

Reactions in a hypothetical case in small town Górowo by gender (%, n=201,2013)

Dispute type Avoidance Compromise Self-help Court Other office

Children beaten M 3 44 21 17 1

F 10 45 19 14 0

Faces Slapping M 9 45 34 4 7

F 23 54 14 4 5

Self help M 12 38 20 9 21

F 15 52 18 5 9

Hospital indiscreet 5 17 17 46 15

F 12 23 18 33 14

Beaten by police

M

9 7 17 46 21

F 12 18 15 31 23

House to be put

down M

4 16 6 60 11

F 4 15 18 43 20

Wife keeps money

for her M

40 45 7 4 3

F 19 70 9 2 .

Wife battered M 4 43 20 7 22

F 3 43 10 9 33

Gender

• Only in a few cases there are gender differences as to the reaction preferred, but there is no one dominant gender style: the choice depends on the circumstances.

• External solutions (police) more preferred by women in case of wife battery, by men in case of pledge taken by a creditor; court mobilized more often by men against the public bodies.

•

Age

• Age significantly related to several aspects of reported and declared dispute patterns but within the dichotomies:

• Eldest (65+) more likely to prefer out of court settlement

Education

• Education significantly related to dispute patterns as well but within the dichotomies.

• F.i. choice of the court against mediation:• 48% of people with elementary education

choose court as against 57% of those with higher education. Significant at 0.01 level, phi = 0.159

Ecology

• Type of environment is significantly related to dispute patterns but within the dichotomies.

• F.i. choice of the court against mediation :• 61% of living in towns over 100,000 thousands

choose court as against 49% of those from smaller settlements. Significant at 0.01 level, phi = 0.161

Dependent variable: Reported disputes

e• B St. Error t signif.•1 (Controlled) 1, 057 .028 37,754 ,000• Ecology .013 .004 significant at .001 level • Education -.002 .007• Age .000 .000• Gender -.027 .024 • Court experience .009 .015• Trust in courts .019 .005 (.014) significant at .001 level

•

Dependent variable: court as hypothetically chosen procedure

1 (controlled) 3,976 ,254 15,642 ,00

Education -.067 .071

Ecology .069 .141

Age -.479 .071 significant at .001

Gender -.262 .024

Court experience -.077 .154

Trust in courts -.168 .050 significant at .001

Dependent variable: Court advocated against mediation

• B St.error beta t sign.• 1 (Stała) 1,446 .175 8,279 .000• Education .057 .050 • Ecology -.025 .030 • Age .202 .049 (.014) significant at .001 level• Gender .108 .104

Court experience .246 .104

Trust in courts .196 .087 (.025) significant at .05 level

Ethnicity by State

• Górowo is small bi-national (Polish/Ukrainian) town in Poland where ethnic variable had been studied in Summer 2013.

• Drohobych is ca 70,000 town in Western Ukraine where research started in March 2014

Declarations of dispute experience across ethnic boundaries (%)

Górowo 2013 (Poland) Poles (n=120)

Górowo 2013 (Poland) Ukrainians (n=76)

Drohobych 2014 (n=95)

Reputation 30 32 19

Physical int 12 8 3

Neighbor 16 13 25

Debt 1 3 13

Consumer 20 9 17

Administration 12 13 16

Job 16 8 18

Health service 15 8 14

Traffic acc 10 5 7

household 9 7 30

other 7 3

Three European legal cultures?Data from Flash EUROBAROMETER 385 „Justice in the EU”

Direct agreement favored by more than 50%

Direct agreement favored by 50% or less

Administration of justice trusted by more than 50%

Belgium 59/53, Estonia 56/70,

NWEurope: Denmark 85/35, Germany 77/38, Ireland 61/34, France 59/36, Luxemburg 77/45, Hungary 58/56, Netherlands 70/45, Austria 78/45 ,Finland 85/50, Sweden 76/42, UK 61/26

Administration of justice trusted by 50% or less

CEEurope: Bulgaria 35/51, Czech Republic 25/54, Latvia 48/57 , Lithuania 31/53 , Malta 45/53 , POLAND 42/56 , Portugal 44/54 , Romania 44/53 , Slovenia 24/60, Slovakia 25/51, Croatia 37/51

Southern Europe: Greece 48/46, , Spain 34/44 , Italy 33/49 , Cyprus 35/44

General dispute settlement patterns (%)

Better: PL 1974 (n=972)* PL 2012 PL 2014 (n=1060)**

A.1.Full satisfaction of one party’s claims

12 21 10

A.2.mutual agreement

79 71 85

B.1. Strictly according to law

28 43 39

B.2.Compromise 60 54 54

C.1.By a court 32 51 52

C.2. by mediators 52 38 38

One of the working conclusions• Mediation, typically viewed as an alternative for the courts, is revealed to be more

of an alternative to private agreements. It may mean that in post-communist countries, where alternative methods of dispute resolution are less well known, the awareness of them is lower, leading to lower acceptance. The results are surprising particularly because other studies have demonstrated that post-communist countries have very low levels of general social trust. Yet private agreements are found most preferable. These two facts appear contradictory, but they might suggest that trust towards mediators (a profession which is relatively unknown) is even lower. Another explanation might be that some memories continue to survive of institutionalized mediation of the communist times, such as for instance Social Concilliation Committees (Społeczne Komisje Pojednawcze, cf Kurczewski&Frieske 1977). In 1974 68% of nation-wide sample in Poland considered mutual agreement , 23% SCCs, 17% the Court and 11% the advice of friends etc. as the best way towards the most just settlement.

• Rejected as ’relics of past’ by professional lawyers such neighborly services are nevertheless supported by ca 60% of Polish public opinion in our 2014 survey.

• Moreover, the declared preferrence for court doesn’t correlate with its declared use in disputes (B=.183, st.error = .206). We are either in a forest of symbols or of technical constraints.

Further Developments in Study of Dispute Settlement Patterns in Central-Eastern Europe

• link http://spory.com.pl/• j.kurczewski@uw.edu.pl