Landscape Changes in Protected Areas in Poland

Land-Use Cover Changes (LUCCs) are one of the main problems for the preservation of landscapes and natural biodiversity. Protected Areas (PAs) do not escape this threat. Poland is among the European leaders in terms of the variety of landscapes and the share of an area designated as a protected area. However, as many as 78% of the habitats have poor or bad conservation status based on EEA reports. This article analyzes the LUCCs between 2000 and 2018 in various types of the Polish legal forms of nature protection areas and the European Natura 2000 network within the country. The research material was: the data of Corine Land Cover (CLC), the Central Register of Nature Protection Forms, and high-resolution layers, such as HRL and orthophotos. The results were compiled according to the CLC class and forms of protection. The matrix of transformations showed that the most frequently transformed CLC class was 312 (coniferous forest). It was transformed into class 324 (transitional woodland shrubs). The changes in PAs were usually smaller than in the surrounding buffer zones, which may indicate their effectiveness. The exception was the areas of the European Natura 2000 network. The scale of land-cover flows (LCFs) changed within particular forms of protected areas, though afforestation and deforestation predominating in all area types. National reserves and parks were the most stable in terms of land cover structures. However, human settlements increased around the protected areas, potentially increasing threats to their ecological integrity.

REGARDING THE ACTIVITY OF A NATIONAL PARK DIRECTOR IN ENSURING THE SAFETY OF TOURISTS VISITING NATIONAL PARK AREAS

Purpose. The aim of the article is to analyse a national park director's legal position, roles, tasks and legal forms of operations in ensuring the safety of tourists visiting a national park. The objective of this analysis is also to determine whether the legal position, competencies and legal forms of activity at the disposal of the national park director are sufficient to ensure the safety of tourists visiting the national park. Method. The theoretical nature of this article determines the choice of research methods and their application. A dogmatic method (analytical and dogmatic) involving legal exegesis using linguistic and non-linguistic rules of legal interpretation is the predominant method applied in the article. Findings. The national park director’s legal status (including his/her position in the system of administering entities) is not clearly defined by the legislator and therefore, raises doubts. The legislature has not explicitly included this entity into the local authorities of consolidated and non-consolidated government administration. The legislator defines a national park director as a national park authority and a nature protection authority, directly indicating that this authority performs the tasks of a regional director aimed at nature protection within the national park area. The director of a national park may be classified as an administering entity, or on account of his/her tasks and powers, a public administration authority in a functional sense. However, it is misleading to treat national park directors as public administration authorities sensu stricto, i.e. the authorities who are part of the state machinery (authorities acting directly on behalf of the state or local self-governments), whose basic and, in principle, sole purpose is to perform public administration tasks (e.g. minister, province administrator, commune head). However, some authors consider national park directors to be public administration bodies sensu stricto [Makuch 2020, p. 527]. It has been confirmed in research that there is great diversity concerning tasks, powers and legal forms of operations at the disposal of a national park director, which can be used to ensure the safety of tourists visiting national parks. These are legal and factual activities of regulatory and non-regulatory nature. The tasks and competencies of national park directors include, first of all, protecting national park resources (environmental protection), which is the essence of their existence, and also providing access to national parks so as to ensure the safety of people who visit them. Research and conclusions limitations. The author focuses on analysis of the national legal framework. The origin of institutions and comparative legal analyses have been omitted. Practical implications. In the research, the current legal status is shown, and this can be considered the basis for further legislative work. Originality. To date, research on the national park directors' tasks, roles and legal forms of operation in ensuring the safety of tourists visiting national parks has been very scarce. Most of such issues are raised while discussing wider problems related to nature protection as well as tourism, and are not subject to in-depth examination [Wolski 2010, pp. 75-83]. In this context, it is worth noting that not only the national park directors' tasks and legal forms of activity require detailed analysis and evaluation, but their status in the state system and position in the system of administering entities as well. The current findings in this field are not sufficiently comprehensive and require further clarification. Type of paper. The article presents some theoretical concepts. It is a general overview article.

LEGAL FORMS OF REALIZATION OF NATIONAL INTERESTS: THEORETICAL ASPECT

Тhe object is a complex of public relations arising in the sphere of realization of national interests through an appropriate legal mechanism. The subject of the research are: legal norms and scientific approaches, legal categories of the theory of national interests, official documents (strategies, concepts, contracts, programs, projects, etc.) and law enforcement, including judicial, practice.

Key problems of the development of the scientific and technological sphere of Russia

There is no alternative to Russian science in the innovative development of the Russian economy. Without discussing the obvious role of science in the development of defense technologies to protect the country’s borders, under the conditions of sanctions, which inevitably hamper the development of the Russian economy, the reform of science is necessary. The main direction seems to be the creation of a full-fledged applied branch of science with a variety of organizational and legal forms. On this path, the role of education is high. A cardinal mistake in the reform of education was made with the adoption of the Western model of combining education and science. It should be taken into account that fundamental science and education represent different spheres of intellectual activity. But applied science and education are closely linked, if only for the reason that students’ interests in attractive specialties are dictated by the real prospects of the future profession used in Russian industry. The personnel policy of the Government is closely connected with the innovative development of Russia. The bureaucratic power vertical created in the country is not conducive to the entry of professionals in this or that field of knowledge into the circle of top managers. Therefore, the executive energy of managers responsible for scientific innovations is aimed exclusively at achieving the goals of formal competition with other powers, contributing little to the real scientific and technological progress in our country.

Działania organów administracji gospodarczej Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej – wybrane zagadnienia

The article presents the basic assumptions of the economic administration system in the Polish People’s Republic, including the functioning of national councils in a centralized economy. The legal forms of action used by economic administration bodies and their impact on the economy are characterized. Attention is also paid to state-owned enterprises, which in the communist state constituted a kind of foundation for the economic system. In addition, there is a reference to economic planning, which contributed to the long-term poor economic condition of the state.

Legal regulation of pawnshops in pre-revolutionary and Soviet civil legislation

The article examines the process of the origin and development of pawnshop activity in the Russian state in the pre-revolutionary and Soviet periods. Special attention is paid to improving the conditions for granting loans to the population secured by property. The authors investigated the normative legal acts regulating the activities of pawnshops. It is noted that the creation of pawnshops was due to the need to rid the population of usurious oppression and the search for new sources of replenishment of the state treasury. The analysis of the sources of legal regulation shows that in the pre-revolutionary period there was a gradual transfer of the work of pawnshops from the public sphere to the private – the organisational and legal forms of pawnshops were improved, the system of control over their activities changed. The chronological framework of the study also includes the Soviet stage of the formation of pawnshop activity, which is poorly studied. After the temporary cessation of pawnshops, the process of its revival began within the framework of a new economic policy in order to improve consumer services for the population. The authors reveal the contribution of pawnshops to the preservation of citizens' property during the Axis-Soviet War. The analysis of the history of pawnshop activity allowed us to conclude about the social role of pawnshops and their importance for maintaining the financial situation of the population, which indicates the need for the development of pawnshop activity at the present stage.

Ukrainian Central Council as Revolutionary Parliament of Ukraine

The revolution of 1917-1921 is a bright page in the centuries-old history of the Ukrainian state. The special place in it belongs to Ukrainian Central Council (CCU), under the leadership of which Ukraine went through the difficult path of building its own state from autonomy to the proclamation of Ukrainian National Republic and its full state independence and sovereignty. Therewith, the CCU attempted to introduce democratic institutions and parliamentary forms of government. The relevance of the study is explained by the fact that this experience left a noticeable mark on the legal consciousness of Ukrainians and the attempt to build a parliamentary model has a considerable impact on the solution of modern problems of state creation. The purpose of the study is to analyse the organisation of Ukrainian Central Council as a parliamentary institution in the conditions of the revolution. A retrospective study of the CCU experience reflects the political interests of different groups of society, is useful for understanding modern problems of parliamentarism, the interaction of civil society and the state. The methodological basis for studying the structure, composition of the CCU, its legal forms of activity is based on philosophical, general scientific, and historical-legal methods of scientific knowledge. These methods allowed determining the main task of the CCU – the revival of Ukraine. It is concluded that state revival, as a constituent task which could be carried out only by a representative body that would be established on democratic principles, its composition would express the will of the people, and, if it had sufficient organisational and legal resources to fulfil this task (a stable structure, organisational and legal forms of activity, an effective auxiliary apparatus, the corresponding status of the deputies, the optimal work schedule)