The Birth and Development of the Polish Integration Policy

The article describes the origin and current state of Polish integration policy as a part of the state migration policy. The authors provide a list of state bodies and nongovernmental organizations involved in the inclusion of immigrants into Polish society, evaluate their activities, and also declare the need to create a coherent state policy for the integration of foreigners.

Perspectives for German-Polish Relations in the EU-27

In recent years the seemingly firm historical ties between Warsaw and Berlin have become increasingly strained. This results from a growing political asymmetry between the two countries. Germany moved into a semi-hegemonial position under the conditions of the triple crisis of banking, economy and sovereign debt in the eurozone. Consequently, German chancellor Angela Merkel was in a strong enough position to implement ordoliberal reforms of the eurozone’s governance architecture, which were promoted as an approach without alternatives. Merkel maintained her uncompromising stance during the migration crisis in the summer of 2015, when she demanded implementation of compulsory migrant distribution quotas across the EU. Poland and the Visegrád countries had initially strongly supported German leadership in resolving the eurozone crisis. The alienation from Germany’s European agenda however became significant under the conditions of the migration crisis. Here the firm opposition of Poland and the rest of the Visegrád Group towards Germany’s preferences shows a strategic mismatch between the EU’s liberal core, which is spearheaded by Germany, and the concept of the “illiberal” state, which Poland has embraced under the PiS government. The willingness to resolve these differences will be crucial in determining the future shape of Polish-German relations.

The EU Integration Process and its Role in the Albanian Sociopolitical Transformation

Nearly thirty years after the fall of communism in Albania, European integration has been the main driving force for change and the real catalyst for reform. Today, a vast majority of Albanians continue to be convinced that the only way to develop, modernize and guarantee security is a full integration into the European family. The problem is not simply the duration of such an intermediate phase between obtaining candidate status and a full membership of the European Union. In fact, Albanians themselves are increasingly aware that the road to full membership of the European Union will be long, and that it will require a series of major and profound changes in the country, especially in the areas of the rule of law and functioning of institutions, along with implementing various standards that a society must meet in order to achieve this goal. The aim of this paper is to analyze Albanian use and abuse of the EU integration process in internal political discourse, reforms and transformation. A number of documents, publications and public speeches are examined in order to evaluate the impact of integration in this small, developing, post-communist country.

Scenariusze rozwoju współpracy pomiędzy bankami i przedsiębiorstwami typu fintech w oparciu o rodzaj oferowanych usług

Przedstawiony artykuł wpisuje się w tematykę innowacji technologicznych w branży finansowej. Celem tekstu jest wskazanie możliwych scenariuszy rozwoju współpracy pomiędzy bankami i przed- siębiorstwami typu fintech biorąc pod uwagę rodzaj oferowanych usług. Pierwsza część publikacji definiuje podstawowe zagadnienia związane z branżą fintech. Część druga prezentuje przegląd literatury odnoszącej się do zagadnień usług oferowanych przez banki i przedsiębiorstwa typu fintech. Natomiast w ostatniej mającej charakter empiryczny porównane zostały usługi oferowane przez firmy typu fintech i banki. Uwzględniono w niej również rozwiązania prawne zastosowane na obszarze Unii Europejskiej i Stanów Zjednoczonych. Przeprowadzona analiza pozwoliła formu- łować wnioski dotyczące możliwych scenariuszy rozwoju i współpracy pomiędzy bankami i przed- siębiorstwami innowacyjnych technologii finansowych na podstawie usług oferowanych przez nie. Fintech to z jednej strony nowe podmioty na rynku finansowym, mogące odebrać część rynku bankom i tym samym zachwiać równowagę systemu finansowego. Z drugiej jednak, fintech mogą okazać się swego rodzaju motorem napędowym dla banków, które przez rosnącą konkurencję będą zmuszone doskonalić swoje produkty, a tym samym rozpocząć współpracę z przedsiębiorstwami fintech.

Social Democratic Party’s Electoral Strategies Amid Social Class (Re)alignment and (Re)mobilisation

Social Democratic parties have long been steady pioneers of European democracy, but over the past decade they have suffered a humiliating collapse. It is commonly asserted that European countries have entered a classless society. Subsequently, mainstream left parties adopted broad electoral strategies to appeal widely to the median voter, exemplified by the Blair-Schröder Third Way. Electoral backlash following the British and German social democratic party’s 1990s neoliberal shift, their approach to globalization as well as their handling of the financial crisis and refugee crisis have eroded their popularity. Subsequent frustration with the political establishment is exemplified by the cultural backlash thesis. However, a countermovement signified by postmaterialism and social liberalism calls for transformative social and political change. The two convictions clash on binary issues, exacerbating a righteous divide between sociocultural liberals and conservatives, recently popularized as the “anywheres” and the “somewheres”. This paper puts forth the necessity for social democratic parties to re-engage with the cleavage politics of today. This is particularly important as today’s cleavages are largely ideologically driven. Questions of electoral strategy, ideological positioning and mobilisation tactics are contested intra-party. Attention is paid to Corbyn’s Labour, whose move towards traditionalism at first earned electoral support, only to be discredited in 2019. In comparison, the German SPD embraced centrism in 2017 and were penalized for it. They must now respond and offer a strategic alternative following competition from the Greens and Die Linke.

The COVID-19 pandemic in the Middle East and North Africa. Old demons in a new bottle

The paper presents the strategies of Middle East and North African countries in coping with COVID-19 pandemic in the first months of spring/summer 2020. It offers a categorisation of strategies basing on the available assets the countries have and political situation. According to this categorisation there are countries in which the pandemic is one more burden to bear that makes the current political or economic situation even worse (countries torn by war or serious internal social conflicts); countries that cope with the pandemic as good as it gets – taking their institutional capacities (Egypt and Morocco); the too rich to fail category of GCC countries, and two possible success stories (by that time Jordan and Tunisia).

The Future of EU-Russian Relations: a Common European Home?

The Cold War was a confrontation dominated by dogmatic ideology; the rise of Gorbachev and his attempts to inject new thinking into the Soviet Union were critical in ending that standoff. Generally, Gorbachev was successful in the field of foreign policy and many of his ideas and actions created lasting legacies which have shaped the world today. However, one idea which failed to gain much traction was his proposal regarding a Common European Home. The aim of this paper is to examine how this opportunity was missed or why hasn’t it been taken advantage of, before moving on to analyse whether shared aims, freedoms, values and responsibilities exist between Russia and the EU today. Opinion polling shows that Russian values and opinions are complex, but often similar to other post-communist countries that have successfully become European Union member states. The issue of NATO expansion stands out as more problematic than a lack of shared values between the EU and Russian citizens.

Bringing Ukraine Back on Track

Ukraine’s history has been a turbulent one, and currently the country is in a crisis. The purpose of the article is to discuss how Ukraine can move away from the current East-West competition that poses a risk of dividing the country into two. What does it take to move a united Ukraine forward? How can Ukraine progress economically, politically and improve its security profile? The methodology used in the article is the case study method and it often compares Ukraine’s performance with Poland, a country of a similar size in terms of population, land mass, and located in geographic proximity. The article argues that more inclusive and sustainable growth in Ukraine will require increased productivity of the economy, more benefits from international trade and investment supported by closer integration into the global economy, as well as a well-governed domestic economy with stronger institutions to withstand pressures from vested interests. The US, EU and NATO must make more efforts to help Ukraine resolve the current conflict with Russia, which in turn needs to stop the military engagement in Ukraine to let it recover and benefit from integration and cooperation with the West. NATO membership and full EU membership should not be considered for now, but Ukraine should be an independent and neutral buffer state between the East and the West, with full access to the EU common market. Ukraine needs increased financial support, especially from the EU, US, IMF and the World Bank for its reconstruction.

Immigration and Integration: Examining Fethullah Gulen’s Philosophy of Integration

Forced migration is a huge asset, but also a challenge within Europe. The key to overcoming it is love, tolerance, dialogue, humility, self-devotion, as well as creating common and safe spaces for meeting and working together in socially beneficial tasks. In order to prevent and solve problems arising from taking in refugees of different faiths and cultures, believers of all religions need to accept these tasks as a top priority. Although the role of religion in lives of immigrants has been a subject of interest by scholars, not much focus had been put on the importance of social activism of faith-based community organisations in favour of immigrants. This paper focuses on social networks as playing an important role in the integration process, and examines Turkish Islamic Scholar Fethullah Gulen’s view of integration within current EU policy regarding Muslim immigrants.

Territorial and Sectoral Distribution of the ODA Gross Disbursements Channelled Using Civil Society Organizations: Czechia Compared with Other Central European Countries

Civil society organizations represent important actors in delivery of development assistance. International community recognizes them not only as actors on their own, but also as the contractors of the official governmental programmes and projects. Their involvement in development policies of donor countries has been especially emphasized since the 1990s, and it is generally regarded as valuable in fulfilment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Governments of the Central European Countries also cooperate with civil society organizations in development policies, and use them inter alia as the channels for aid delivery. However, the level in which governments use their services in delivery of the Official Development Assistance differs. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to identify and evaluate territorial and sectoral distribution of the ODA gross disbursements of Czechia channelled using civil society organizations, and to compare this distribution with the ones found in Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Through civil society organizations Czechia has allocated nearly 1⁄4 of its total volume of ODA gross disbursements related to individual programmes and projects during the period between 2014 and 2018. However, the Hungarian government cooperated with civil society organizations marginally, and their participation reached a maximum level of 6% in 2018. Civil society organizations, participating in development policies of the Central European Countries, were involved mainly in the programmes and projects concerning social infrastructure and services, which complies with their traditional and most common roles.