Konstytucyjne ujęcie narodu polskiego

The notion of the nation has an interdisciplinary character. It is a subject of research, of such disciplines like ethnology, history, sociology, social psychology, anthropology, political science and others. That notion is also a legal term. Polish Constitution uses the notion of the nation in various meanings. On the one hand, the Constitution emphasises ethnic-cultural dimension of the Polish nation pointing out common history, descent, cultural tradition and language. On the other hand, the Constitution describes the nation in political category as the whole of Polish citizens, showing the nation as a subject of supreme power in the state and ways of its exercising. Therefore, reconstructing the notion of the nation on basis of constitutional regulations, one should take into account not only literal read but also the place, the context and the function of norms concerning the nation, which put emphasis on ethnic or political dimension of this notion.