Na autorytarnym kursie

An Authoritarian Course: The Restriction of Civil Rights in Russia after 2012 This article regards the issue of Russian civil rights legislation, which has become very repressive after 2012. It focuses on legal restriction of all political and social activities that are beyond the control of the authorities, in particular the freedom of public meetings. Another goal of the Kremlin's repressive policy is the Internet, which has become the only space for freedom of speech in Russia. The new legislation tries to prevent this by two mechanisms: censorship and self-censorship. The consistent restriction of freedom of speech in Russia proves the growing anxiety of the ruling group, which fears that in the conditions of the deteriorating economic situation, it may lose control over public mood. The analysis of the legislation against civil rights in Russia shows that in recent years the scope of these rights has been constantly reduced. This leads to the conclusion that the main goal of the discussed changes in the law is the complete elimination of independent civic activity perceived as one of the main threats to the authorities.

Stopień doktora praw w okresie dwudziestolecia międzywojennego w Polsce – regulacje prawne oraz postulaty Wydziałów Prawa

Doctor of Law Degree in the Interwar Period in Poland – Legal Regulations and Postulates of the Faculties of Law Several periods can be distinguished in the creation of legal regulations regarding the doctoral degree, including the doctor of laws. The first one, until 1924, was of a transitional nature, the years 1924-1933 were used to develop general, procedural guidelines, and the period after 1933 was to adapt the existing regulations to the new Act on Academic Schools. It should be noted that all legal acts relating to the doctoral degree were consulted with law faculties, and their opinions had a direct impact on the introduced changes.

Postapokaliptyczna wizja Rosji (na przykładzie współczesnej antyutopii rosyjskiej)

Post-apocalyptic Vision of Russia (Based on Modern Russian Distopia) The following article focuses on the new genre of antiutopia which appeared after the collapse of the USSR. Not only do we consider the antiutopia as the literary genre but as the attitude toward reality and the style of thinking as well. Modern antiutopia (like Kysh by Tatyana Tolstoy) does not warn us against communism together with its concentration camps, tortures and utopian ideas… It shows what can happen with people when they will lose their culture, especially literature and language. The human beings change into creatures with special ugly effects, their mentality is badly disturbed and they behave as newborn children. The citizens of Russian country presented in Kysh, are afraid of everything and everybody only because they do not know their history, the knowledge about themselves. Books are strictly forbidden, thinking and reading seem to be the worst illness. Paradoxically special brigade of firemen was created in order to burn down books and to kill their holders. It turned out that people may regain their identity only by overcoming their fear.

Hijos de las nubes i 45 lat marzeń: uchodźcy Saharawi na terytorium Algierii

Hijos de las nubes and 45 Years of Dreams: Saharawi Refugees in Algeria Over the years, the issue of the protracted exile of the Saharawi people in Algeria as a consequence of the so far unresolved conflict over the Western Sahara has become a highly politicized problem. The protracted standstill and the lack of clear prospects for a referendum that would ultimately end the conflict make it questionable that the Sahrawi refugee situation will change quickly. The article attempts to analyse the status of the Sahrawi people, taking into account the uniqueness of the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria and their importance for the still unsolved problem of Western Sahara. It is based largely on qualitative data collected from fieldwork in Algeria (including Sahrawi refugee camps), Mauritania and Morocco, and the Rabat-controlled territory of Western Sahara, as well as interviews and conversations with representatives of Spanish NGOs involved in helping Sahrawi refugees, Sahrawi living or temporarily staying in Spain and researchers working at Spanish universities.

The meanings of scientific progress in the history of International Relations – selected cases

This article aims at reconstructing and interpreting the meanings of scientific progress present in selected important works within the discipline of International Relations (IR). This research objective stems from the gap in the literature concerning scientific progress in IR, as it is mostly concerned with the evaluation of the progressiveness of particular approaches, paradigms within the discipline. The reconstruction of meanings given by particular IR scholars to scientific progress is conducted only as far as its instrumental for the critique of their approaches and making room for the approaches of the critics. My objective is different – using a method inspired by the history of ideas and the research technique of qualitative content analysis, I will attempt to answer the following research questions: Q1 – How is the category of scientific progress of IR understood by particular scholars? Q2 – What are the contexts of its usage? Q3 – How can we interpret the rationale behind the employment of particular meanings in particular contexts? Q4 – How, on the basis of all cases, can we depict the flow of ideas of scientific progress through the history of IR? The cases selected span the development of IR from World War II to the early 2000s: Edward Carr’s The Twenty Years’ Crisis; Morton Kaplan’s texts from the early phase of the second great debate; John Vasquez’s The Power of Power Politics; and Miriam and Colin Elman’s Progress in International Relations Theory. On the basis of these cases I will argue that the notion of scientific progress in IR is an essentially contested concept within the discipline. Despite certain similarities in the meaning of the term among the cases – a cumulative notion of scientific progress – all of them are used in a way that is intended to legitimize the approach of a particular author as ‘properly scientific’. Another conclusion drawn is that although differing in kind, all of the cases consider important historical events that do not shape the meanings of progress themselves, but instead create a window of opportunity for particular meanings, as their context.

Rozmowa a kształcenie we współczesnym uniwersytecie

Conversation and Teaching at the Contemporary University This paper examines the contemporary condition of teaching at universities. It argues that university is endangered by losing its identity. The difference between school and university is introduced as a representative example of the problem. The main argument refers to the Gadamerian concept of conversation and it suggests that high quality education is dialogical in its tenor. Unfortunately, tertiary educational quite often differs in practice from what we understand in current European pedagogy as an educational experience. In the first part of this paper, the question on the pedagogical potential of conversation is raised. The second and third parts provide a description of university as a place where education as a dialogical experience still prevails, particularly in lecturing as a form of teaching.

The Constitutionalization of International Law After Liberalism

Many political changes that have taken place across the world in the last decade have been connected with the spill-over of a new narrative in the public dimension. Among other things, this narrative has emphasized returning control over the public space to the people once again, revitalization of the democratic community, restraint on an expansion of judicial power over representational politics, and in many instances, a specific national approach to the questions of governance. These trends have gained the name “illiberal democracy”, a description which Viktor Orban introduced into the language of political practice a few years later. Indeed, in many countries worldwide, from the United States of America (USA) during the presidency of Donald Trump, Central and Eastern Europe, to Turkey and Venezuela, it has been possible to observe changes which had the principal leitmotif to negate liberal democracy as the only possibility of organizing public space within the state. These trends are continuing, and there are no signs of them disappearing in the near future. The new dispensation in the USA under President Biden also does not guarantee an immediate return to the liberal internationalism of the 1990s. Political changes directed toward the constitutional space of the State have inspired researchers to consider the issues of new constitutionalism, new forms of democracy, and the rule of law beyond liberalism. This article is an attempt to transfer these considerations to the international level. The text aims to consider whether withdrawal from the liberal doctrine could also be observed on an international level and what these facts could mean for the intellectual project of constitutionalization of international law. Building upon reflections on constitutionalism and constitutionalization of international law, this text presents what has up until now been the mainstream understanding of international law as a liberal construct. This showcases the illiberal turn observed among certain countries as exemplified by the anti-liberal and realist language of their constitutional representatives. In this respect, this analysis is a modest contribution to the so far nascent field of sociology of international law. However, the main endeavor of this article is to unchain the notions of international liberalism and constitutionalization of international law as being popularly understood as two sides of the same coin. Consequently, the idea of political constitutionalism of international law is introduced. Seeing things from this perspective, this text focuses on the material rather than formal aspects of international law's constitutionalization. Within the stream of so called thick constitutionalism, there are a few elements listed with which the discussion about international law may continue to engage, if this law is to be considered as legitimate not only formally, but also substantially.

The Role of Reunified Germany in Poland’s Accession to NATO and the European Union

The study is devoted to Poland’s accession to NATO and the European Union (EU) and describes Germany’s stance on Poland’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations after 1989, which, despite various assessments, was not explicit and enthusiastic. However, it evolved gradually and was determined by a difficult internal situation after the reunification of Germany and its new geopolitics and geoeconomics. For Germany that reunified on 3 October 1990, an issue of greater importance than Polish accession to NATO and the EU was the presence of Soviet troops on the territory of the former GDR and normalization of relations with neighbors, particularly with France, Poland, the Soviet Union, and the United States. Both France and the United Kingdom, as well as the Soviet Union, and to a lesser extent, the United States initially were afraid of a reunified Germany and opposed Polish membership in Euro-Atlantic structures. At the time, hopes and fears were rife about the future of Europe. A common question was being asked in Paris, London, Moscow, Washington, and Warsaw – would reunified Germany remain a European state, or would Europe become German? Should Germany stay in NATO or leave after the reunification? There were questions also about Moscow’s policy towards reunified Germany and its position on Poland’s accession to Euro-Atlantic structures. Unfortunately, for a long time, it was negative. Today, thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany, we can see that the black scenarios that were outlined in 1989-1990 did not actually come true. Despite the fears, those events opened the way for Poland to “return to Europe” and to gain membership in Euro-Atlantic structures, i.e., NATO and the European Union (EU). The path was not at all simple and it was not easy for Poland to make it through. In the study the author analyses subjective and objective difficulties related to Poland's accession to NATO and the EU and describes the evolution and role of Germany in this process.

Ukraińskie instytucje oświatowe w Białym Borze – studium przypadku

Ukrainian Education Institutions in Biały Bór – Case Study The article discusses the policy of the Polish government towards minority schools using the example of Ukrainian primary school and secondary school of general education in Biały Bor with special focus on the school year 2020/2021. Schools, including all the minority schools in Poland, were put in a difficult situation because, according to the recent decisions, mother tongue education for the children of emigrants from Ukraine would not be financed by the Polish State. However, under the Polish Constitution, Poland shall ensure access to education for foreigners on equal terms with Polish nationals. Final decisions have not been made yet, but the issue of the incorrectly calculated subsidy repayment does not put the Polish State in a favourable light.

Agendy partii politycznych i telewizyjnych serwisów informacyjnych w mediach społecznościowych w kampanii wyborczej do parlamentu w 2019 r.

Social Media Agendas of Political Parties Versus Social Media Agendas of TV News Services in the Parliamentary Election Campaign in 2019 The presented article concerns the convergence of symbolic political agendas of selected political entities (coalitions) (PiS-ZP, PO-KO) and agendas of selected broadcasters (Wiadomości TVP, Fakty TVN), in social media, in the parliamentary campaign in 2019. Theses concerning the overlapping of the media and political agendas of PiS-ZP and TVP and PO-KO and TVN in the thematic aspect were formulated, as well as the thesis about the affective orientation of media agendas towards specific political entities: TVN towards PiS-ZP and TVN towards PO-KO. The theoretical framework of the research was the agenda-setting theory, the concept of mediatization of politics and the evolution of the roles of political and media actors. The work also presents empirical research on the agendas of the above-mentioned entities on Twitter. The hypotheses were verified on the basis of quantitative and qualitative analysis.