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Report on the 4th Seminar on Public Policy: Polish Historical, Educational and Scientific Policy. Organizer: Collegium of Economics and Social Sciences, Warsaw School of Economics, May 29, 2015.

The following debate took place on September 24, 2019 at the Warsaw School of Economics. Its subject was the issues of upbringing / moral education in schools. On the other hand, the aim was to outline a diagnosis of the situation in this respect, i.e. how schools cope with the implementation of educational functions and moral formation of students. At the beginning, the educational functions of schools were distinguished from the didactic functions (transmission of knowledge from teachers to students), leaving the latter to be discussed on another occasion. The issue of ways of creating a better balance in schools between the two functions they perform: education and transfer of knowledge (didactics) was also discussed.

The article is an attempt to trace the changes taking place in vocational education in Poland, paying special attention to the possibilities of local and regional activities supporting vocational education. The conclusions presented in the text result from the author's expert experience related to the implementation of projects to support vocational education. The presented model of support for vocational education is currently carried out by the Bialystok Human Resources Training Foundation in the city of Białystok and Białystok Poviat as the Competence Centre of the Białystok Functional Area. The experience in the implementation of the project and its effectiveness is so universal that the project will be implemented throughout the Podlasie Voivodeship. It can also be a model for local government units running vocational schools.

The main goal of the article is to present to Polish readers the most important information about one of the newer theories of the public policy process - Narrative Policy Framework (NPF). The NPF assumes that public policy narratives play a fundamental role in the public policy process. These are strategically constructed stories about the causes and solutions to public policy problems. Actors use narratives to achieve their goals, for example, implementing policies closest to their preferences. On the example of the government's "Good start" ("Dobry start" in Polish) program, the article presents practical applications of the NPF at the micro, meso, and macro levels.

The aim of the article is to determine the functions of spatial policy instruments and to determine the aspects in which a spatial policy instrument could be used. Analyses pertain to especially local plans of spatial management. The most important function is the protection of spatial order. Besides, spatial policy instruments could have other functions, connected with the environment, social policy or antique protection.

This paper attempts to present a review of higher education reform processes in Poland in 1990-2015 and 2016-2018 (when a draft of the so‑called Act 2.0 was prepared) and an assessment of the domestic "art of reforms". As the author has adopted the perspective of the public policy science, she focuses on issues of public policy making, i.e. the development and strategic programming policy, drafting legislation, and accompanying public consultations. Furthermore, the paper discusses three past and one current attempt to reform higher education in the context of the political economy of reforms that are globally perceived as a benchmark. The long, nearly 30‑year period covered by the paper's analyses allowed the author to draw conclusions with regard to the evolution of higher education policy, highlighting the problem of its quality (standards) as a public policy.

The Conference on "Recovering Forgotten History" is one of the oldest attempts undertaken in the III Republic to defend Poland's (and East- Central Europe's) image abroad, especially in the US. From 2006, the Conference has organized its seminars, originally bi-annually and now annually, to provide a forum for discussions between the authors of English-language history textbooks and monographs, and Polish historians who review those publications. Arguments are scholarly, grounded in evidence of primary sources and historiography, therefore, they are convincing in combatting Western prejudices and clichés about Poland and East-Central Europe. Additionally, the Conference provides opportunities for sightseeing of Poland's historical places. As a result, the work of the Conference leads not only to the removal of countless mistakes and misinterpretations in the reviewed books but also to a change of guests' attitudes toward this part of Europe. For the most part, they are academic teachers, who can also influence students through their classes. The Conference achieves all of this while having very modest means at its disposal.

Owing to current events in Belarus (political and social, including the economic crisis and the ongoing activities that are having a negative impact on the functioning of opposition movements), the country is becoming an arena of competition for influence. In the context of the subject of this analysis, rivalry, especially in terms of the influence of other states on Belarusian society, is of key importance. Science diplomacy may be a tool of competition for influence. The fact that science diplomacy can be both a tool with which to cooperate with other countries in the region and a tool of competition for influence is of key importance in analysing this problem. The scientific potential of the Belarusian community is also of interest to other countries, including Ukraine, Lithuania, and Germany. The effective and efficient implementation of science diplomacy activities towards Belarus is undoubtedly in line with the well-understood Polish national interest. The aim of the article was to conduct a political and legal analysis of the process by which Poland is using science diplomacy as a tool for influencing the scientific community of Belarus. Another research goal was to analyse the activities undertaken by two other countries in the region – Ukraine and Lithuania – with respect to science diplomacy. The article also aimed to analyse the formal and legal conditions related to the normative solutions used in the countries under analysis, enabling the undertaking and implementation of education by Belarusian citizens. The educational and scientific programmes offered to students and scientists from Belarus in Poland were also subject to legal analyses. The whole analysis is supplemented and concluded by an attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of the activities carried out so far.

Civil society is an indispensable component of a functional democratic state. The development of civil society is dependent on a number of factors, including the work of the education system. Education is the crucial space for shaping civic attitudes and acquiring competences necessary for a society that is aware of its rights and active in the public sphere. A significant majority of educational institutions is administratively supervised by local government units. The purpose of this paper is to indicate how local authorities can play a role in the shaping of civil society by performing tasks (both obligatory and additional, non-compulsory ones) related to education.

The aim of this article is to present an overview of theoretical approaches to public policy. The author focuses on its two phases - design and implementation, not including evaluation. The article is an attempt to answer the following research questions: How do researchers define public policy? What are its phases? What are the characteristics of these phases? How is its implementation defined? And what do top-down, bottom-up, and hybrid approaches mean? What is considered to be an implementation success and what factors influence it? Which direction should future research on public policy processes take? In order to answer the above-mentioned questions, the author has reviewed the subject literature, mainly in English, dealing with the issues of designing and implementing public policies. The article is a synthesis of public policy theories.

The author analyses the factors that weaken the influence of the principles of meritocracy on the institutions and public policy. He indicates that a meritocratic approach to governance in the programming of public actions has become a resource for obtaining legitimacy of power in Poland to a limited extent. The advantages of meritocracy (the "efficiency" and "justice") have not been exploited on a significant scale. As a result, there is a significant illegitimacy of the democratic system, as well as the weakening of the society identification with the state. This phenomenon is characterized by low prestige of politicians and a poor voter turnout. The author draws attention to the fact that meritocratic management mechanisms of public institutions in Poland are significantly reduced due to numerous factors - the appropriation of the state by political parties, institutional nomadism of the elite, the rules of political capitalism, a soft state and the institutionalization of non-responsibility or activities of various interest groups and backstage actors of politics.

The aim of the article is to deepen the discussion on the conceptualisation of migration policy as a specific public policy. The author analyzes the definitions of this policy formulated by Polish researchers and points out that their characteristic features are: the concentration on activities of state institutions and the reference to the functional and technical level of policy appropriate for public policy. At the same time, she observes that particular areas of public activity, including immigration, emigration and often also integration policies, are included in the scope of migration policy. The author proposes her own definition of migration policy as the totality of instruments, political actions and decisions designed and/or undertaken by the state authorities in relation to migration processes and their participants. She argues that migration policy should be distinguished from migration management, the term which was coined in order to name the (ostensibly) depoliticized, global migration control system.

Ensuring internal security is one of the core objectives of European integration in the context of the establishment of an area of freedom, security and justice of the European Union (E.U.). The aim of the internal security policy of the E.U. is to support Member States with regard to the maintenance of law and order and the safeguarding of internal security. In the last 20 years in the area of internal security of the E.U. many important initiatives, political agendas and legal instruments at the E.U. level have arisen. This article aims to show the development of the internal security policy of the E.U., its most important guidelines and the challenges in the coming years.

The subject of this study is the evolution of British public policy between 1900 and 2010 with to the special focus on budgetary, monetary and social policy, as well as policy towards the public sector. This period was characterized by a steady, yet non-linear rise in economic and social activity of the state. Sudden increases were caused by one of three categories of events: wars, economic crises and changes at the highest levels of government. As a result, the history of British public policy in between 1900 and 2010 is divided into the following stages: 1) 1900-1931 - decline of the liberal era; 2) 1931-1951 - steady increase in the state's economic activity; 3) 1951-1979 - systemic stabilization at a high level of state involvement in economic and social issues; 4) 1997-2007 - attempt to return to economic liberalism; 5) 2007-2010 - a period of volatility and the search for new public policy principles.

Multi-level governance is now an established field of public policy research. In this context there is a need to introduce two new concepts: substantiation of public policy goals and multi- level coordination of public policy goals. In the study based on this assumption a qualitative approach is used. Usefulness of these two concepts was proved by participatory action policy research on one specific goal substantiated and coordinated within Europe 2020 Strategy in the policy area of poverty. In the course of the research (2012-2015) the author was a representative of the network of social NGOs in the governmental body responsible for implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy in Poland. The main action research tool was an attempt to modify the goal of poverty reduction decided by the government in 2011. In that process rich data was generated, analyzed, interpreted and used for subsequent actions. The effect of the research is a deep insight and understanding of multi-level governance process in a specific policy area and a proposal for two new concepts. Emerging new research areas were proposed and discussed.