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The Social Credit System (SCS, 社会信用体系, shèhuì xìnyòng tĭxì), is an extremely interesting, ultimately nationwide pilot project, consisting of establishing the system of social rating, which, based on data collected over decades and stored both analog and with the use of state-of-the-art technologies will create profiles of citizens and businesses in the People's Republic of China. The system focuses on four main spheres – national enterprises and economy, society, the judiciary, and public administration. It is in them that a higher level of social trust and security will be ensured, law regulations better observed, corruption eliminated, and proper transparency guaranteed. In analyzing the issue of the Western world's attitude to the mechanism of digital surveillance and control of business and social activity in China, I should seek answers to the following questions, intriguing from the cognitive and practical perspective: Which of the above interpretations seems to be closer to the truth?; can the SCS have, at least partially, a universal character in the European Union, especially in the societies with a different system of values and the countries with a different political system than the one of the PRC?

System-based research remains an important yet usually outdated and internally contradictory approach in political science and international relations. Based on concepts borrowed from physiology, cybernetics, and general system theory, the system-based approach popularised in the 1960s was cast away as outdated and ill-focused. Despite those systems, the theory was developed in natural sciences, eventually creating a paradigm more applicable to domestic and international politics. The weakest element of past systems (like the one proposed by D. Easton) was that they did not allow for a sudden and catastrophic transformation and lacked emergence. This paper aims to present a model that would allow for the system's ordinary and catastrophic transformation. The complex adaptive system features were defined using relevant literature on a paradigm of complexity. Connecting it with the propositions of D. Easton, R. Axelrod, and M. Cohen, as well as R. Jervis, such a model was constructed. The theoretical introduction is supplanted with a general case study of the early phases of the Arab Spring in Tunisia. The model mirrors the complex systems' dynamics, considering the agent-structure problem.

In the European Union, the United States and other countries of the so-called Western world, the perception of the functionalities of AI, and other instruments of Industrial Revolution 4.0 significantly differs from its perception by the PRC's authorities, which – for a few years – have been implementing solutions aimed at comprehensive scrutiny and social supervision rather than facilitating life and work. This idea has been reflected in the so-called Social Credit System since at least 2014 and has given rise to plenty of controversies and disputes, unfortunately based on emotions and imprecise interpretation of the characteristics, aims, and implementation of the project rather than knowledge. While the new, digital model of social management in China is extensively discussed in the literature, it is rarely addressed in Polish studies, which results in the scarcity of publications on this subject. This paper attempts to fill this gap by presenting the essence of the system and the progress of its implementation.

The COVID-19 pandemic occurred in Poland during the campaign before the presidential election scheduled for May 10. This non-military threat changed the election campaign's dynamics, leading to an unprecedented failure to hold elections and postponing them. Around the changes in the election procedure, many constitutionalists and political scientists voiced their inconsistency with the law and the provisions of the Constitutional Tribunal. Both the proposed provisions and the manner of their organization raised objections. The article classifies these changes as manifestations of democratic backsliding, weakening democratic institutions and leading to a decline in the quality of democracy. The research goal is to analyze the records in the selected source material and relate them to the selected theoretical category (democratic backsliding). In the course of the research, the following hypothesis is verified: in the face of the COVID-19 epidemic in Poland, attempts by the ruling elite to change the provisions related to organizing the presidential elections scheduled for May 10 are an example of democratic backsliding, which, by weakening democratic institutions, has threatened the constitutional provisions and the essence of the democratic system.

The People's Republic of China currently possesses the second biggest national economy in the world, smaller only to that of the United States. It is also a matter of time for China to become the greatest economic power, at least regarding share in aggregated global GDP and the sphere of international trade. Growing engagement of China in global economic development and its dependence on other participants of trade exchanges have made this country a more 'responsible shareholder' of the international economic system. China has a great development interest in upholding a stable world economic situation, and especially in proper economic relations with the United States and the European Union, on whose markets its healthy development largely depends. Whether China will soon become a "mature, responsible and attractive superpower" depends to a significant degree not only on its efforts but also on proper relations with major trade and investment partners around the world. It seems that mutually beneficial economic relations between the PRC and the European Union (founded on mutually beneficial and strategic cooperation and not on serious and opaque competition) constitute one of the key factors determining this scenario's validity. Unfortunately, for the time being, many problems arise in this relationship. They come from both sides requiring a proper diagnosis, as well as a scientific analysis including both assessment and prognosis. The presented scientific article tries to meet these expectations.

As an interdisciplinary field of scholarship, transitional justice is still in its pre-theoretical stage, focusing mainly on the case and comparative studies, supported by general considerations concerning justice in the times of transition. To entrench the field as a distinct area of studies, a theory of transitional justice needs to be formulated. The article explores the possibility of making a step towards such a theoretical basis with the use of the tools of analytical philosophy, methodology and legal theory. First, drawing on Leszek Nowak's procedure of idealisation, three basic models of responses to a painful past are formulated. Then, distinct transitional justice values are attributed to each of the models. Finally, with the use of Jerzy Kmita's concept of humanistic interpretation, the article seeks to conceptualize the way in which these values – among other factors, such as the need to uphold the rule of law or to preserve the stability of a democratic system – influence the choice of a model of transitional justice response. Thus, the aim of the presented models – which I described in more detail elsewhere (Krotoszyński 2017) – is to provide a sound theoretical basis for some of the fundamental claims formulated in the field of transitional justice.

The current EU migration and asylum policy crisis has been perceived to constitute one of the most serious challenges for European security. The attitude of fear and reluctance towards admission of cultural others (including: refugees, asylum seekers and the immigrants) has been particularly visible in the V4 countries. The aim of this paper is therefore to examine the grounds of such a position with reference to general European tendencies as well as specific features of attitudes of Poland and Slovakia as the representatives of V4 countries in the light of their particular economic and social situation. Due to volume limitations the author will focus mainly on the two presented States. The decision regarding choice of Poland arises from the fact that as the only V4 State it has voted in favour of the mandatory quota of relocation of 120.000 refugees. Instead Slovakia constitutes the most vivid example pro-European parties changing rhetoric for more national which is quite transparent for the V4 countries. The whole analysis has been conducted in the specific context of relocation of the symbolic division of Europe an replacement of ideological Iron Curtain with cultural Velvet Curtain which leads to the phenomenon of culturalisation.

After 2008, European governments undertook austerity measures to come out of the global financial crisis. The policies were imposed to reduce the states' debts and deficits, increase their economic competitiveness, and restore business confidence. Inevitably, the results of their implementation were socially noticeable and triggered the occurrence of new social movements which became a powerful player on a political scene. In some states, the stakeholders of anti-austerity movements used physical political violence while in the other they settled for mental. The article introduces findings of the comparative study on the relationships between patterns of culture of political violence and intrastate, regional, and colonial explaining factors. By applying statistical analysis, it tests empirically Negussay Ayele's explanatory model of militant culture of political violence for a theory-verification purpose. As a result, it makes a contribution to the structure of explanation encompassing the particular configurations of indicators.

This paper aims to explain that the stable situation of Belarus is important for Western Europe and why any fluctuations may present a challenge for European integrity and stability. Belarus, since the beginning of its independence in 1991 seems to show a great willingness to cooperate closely with Russia, claiming Western Europe and NATO as a potential enemy. In reality, the Belarusian position is much more complicated and ambiguous. Despite it's close military cooperation with Russia, different tensions between Minsk and Moscow regularly happen and Belarusian authorities are still looking for new foreign partners and new energy suppliers (what was clearly visible in the last months of 2016 and the first period of 2017). Russia, old Belarusian partner, may actually even pose a threat for Belarus, so the country's authorities have a hard challenge to maintain its stability. Western countries may be open for a new chapter of cooperation with Minsk but any rapid changes in Belarusian foreign preferences may result in unpredictable results and Moscow reaction that – in turn – would be very challenging for the whole European stability and security.

'The EU towards international criminal tribunals. Genesis, Concept and Practice of Cooperation' is a study that focuses on the important research question of the broad and multi-aspectual problem of criminal tribunals on the international arena. This has been tackled in many Polish and foreign publications, however, to date no work has studied the EU cooperation with the three international criminal tribunals – two ad hoc ones and a permanent one. Therefore, it is necessary to recognise the ambitious and pioneering task and venture that the chosen research field is highly appropriate not only if one casts an eye at the monograph title, but foremost the case put forward in the introductory part.

The issue of modern terrorism is a significant subject of academic research. For decades the representatives of many branches of science, ranging from psychology and sociology, through history, law and political science to criminology, in particular, have been trying to find basic answers to a number of fundamental questions concerning the nature, manifestations, evolution of terrorism, and combating it. A definite majority of studies that have been around are fragmentary, selective or descriptive, and they do not make a significant contribution to the state of knowledge. There are very few studies that discuss the matter in question in a comprehensive, in-depth and original manner. This cognitive gap has clearly been to some extent filled by the latest publication by Professor Sebastian Wojciechowski, entitled The Hybridity of Terrorism. While the title may seem somewhat general, it actually points to a crucial feature (or a set of features) of the phenomenon it analyzes. In the simplest terms, dealing with terrorism we come across a cluster of elements, and relations between them, that sometimes are independent from one another, sometimes coexist side by side, and most frequently complement each other, constituting terrorism and influencing its evolution.

Terrorist attacks in various parts of the world evidence's what a complex and dangerous problem we are facing, even though a great number of states and organizations have committed themselves to combating it, deploying a variety of resources and mechanisms for this purpose. Ne vertheless, there is no fully efficient method or system to counter terrorism. It is no use hoping that it will emerge soon (or ever), either. Therefore, combating terrorism resembles the struggle of the 'global community' with a globally operating enemy.