Search results

The article deals with the problem of Russia's aspirations to revise the geopolitical system created in Soviet times using Crimea as an example. It shows the activities of both local political circles and the central authorities of the Russian SFSR, and later the Russian Federation, aimed at revising the existing borders and integrating the Crimean peninsula into Russia. The article covers the years from the collapse of the Soviet Union to the 1997 agreement between Russia and Ukraine.

For past decades the two major consumers of Ukrainian products have been the CIS countries and the EU, both making up to 55% of the foreign trade turnover. An enactment of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area in 2016 has significantly boosted the trade between Ukraine and the EU Member States and, from other hand, has indirectly contributed to the reduction of trade with key CIS partners. In result, basically, has occurred a reorientation of Ukrainian trade from Eastern partners to Western. The analysis of the foreign trade of Ukraine for the period 2010–2019 has proved the thesis that Ukraine has gained first of all quantitatively in trade integration with the EU and lost first of all qualitatively in diminished trade with the CIS.

Abstrakt

Semantic change, conceived as the rise of new meanings for existing words, can be studied while it happens. We present here some cases of Italian words whose recent non-canonical and in principle incorrect meanings are gaining such a high frequency also in diastratically and diaphasically high contexts, that it is no longer possible to consider them as bare errors. We will describe them by using examples from written language corpora, adding information on their frequency and proposing the causes, in the language system and in discourse contexts, that may have triggered the changes.

Między błędem a nowym zastosowaniem – najnowsze ścieżki włoskich słów

Zmianę semantyczną, rozumianą jako powstanie nowych znaczeń istniejących słów, można badać w czasie gdy się wydarza. W niniejszym artykule przedstawiono przykłady włoskich słów, dla których nowe znaczenia niekanoniczne – i w zasadzie błędne – pojawiają się także w kontekstach użycia, z punktu widzenia diastratycznego i diafatycznego, stosunkowo wysokiego tak często, że nie jest już możliwe uznanie ich za zwykłe błędy. Słowa te opisane zostaną na podstawie przykładów zaczerpniętych z korpusów, wraz z informacjami na temat częstotliwości ich występowania oraz propozycjami przyczyn, obecnych w systemie językowym a także w kontekstach użycia, które mogły spowodować zmiany.

The fact that Poland and Ukraine share a border, the convergence of the political goals of the peoples of both countries, and the constant efforts towards the development of democracy and decentralisation of public life determine the need to intensify cooperation in various areas of the functioning of society and the economy. An important sphere of cooperation is the public sector, in particular at the level of local government. The local government cooperation of both countries was already visible at the beginning of the social and political transformations after 1990. The development of this cooperation, with varying results, took place in the 1990s and, to an even greater extent, after Poland's accession to the European Union. In the last three decades, local and regional communities in Ukraine have become an important partner for Polish local governments, both at the local and regional levels. The local government cooperation that has been implemented is based on the diversification and multidimensionality of forms and models. Some result from legal regulations, while others are based on mutual experiences, previous contacts, and sympathies of public authorities. The aim of the study is to analyse and present the conditions and forms of Polish-Ukrainian local government cooperation. The aim is also to show the barriers to cooperation and to define proposed solutions to improve partner contacts of territorial units. The local government cooperation of the two countries is undoubtedly hindered by the fact that Ukraine is not a member of the EU, and often by mutual misunderstanding and non-acceptance of historical experiences. On the other hand, common goals at different levels of social, public, and economic life are a significant factor motivating parties to increase cooperation and achieve a synergistic effect thanks to it.

The article presents the influence of globalisation on identity and the question of individualisation. Globalisation implies multiple processes that are not uniform, as they occur at different times and in different places. Globalisation impacts the youth, families and cultural systems. The processes of globalisation may contribute to the loss of cultural identity. The diverse nature of globalisation has given rise to new identities. Identity is defined as a process of internal and external adjustment. Concurrently, the challenges posed by globalisation are presented, for instance: identity and freedom of individualisation versus community and belonging. The author explores some of the new challenges and trends, presenting them from selected theoretical perspectives.

Values are such multiform phenomenon that they can be considered in numerous aspects, depending on the point of view and methods of research. They can be considered from the philosopher, psychologist, ethnographer, culture anthropologist, sociologist or economist point of view. However, in the frames of the elaboration, the topic is seen from the pedagogical and psychological aspect of what we call a value. A value can be considered as a phenomenon of choosing an aim, assuming an attitude towards the aim, selection of alternative aspirations in a certain psychological situation, selection of needs, means of action. Assuming a family as a fundamental unit of society we can conclude that values work similarly in a family. Spouses understand each other better when they both assent the same basic values. Common values is the factor of constancy and development of marriage in the periods of crisis. Spouses, thanks to creation a common hierarchy of values, build between them a deep bond, asserting the most important values as the common ones, recognize their differences in the less important ones, as well as they respect each other's variety of the lowest values in their values hierarchy, being aware of their enriching effect on the marital community. All over the world we can deal with values presented by somebody or something. While choosing a certain value a man attributes it to somebody or something and based on it choses between competitive objects. While attributing a value a man uses an evaluation to establish a valence of the object. In other words, we value if we prize certain things more than others. Values can refer to understanding one good for a unit or society, which is worth implementing.

The article aims to analyse the impact of historical memory on foreign and security policy using the example of the Serbia – Kosovo relations in the period of 2014-2019. Historical memory is a burden, challenge and opportunity for foreign and security policy, and has a considerable impact on bilateral relations between countries which used to be in conflict. Historical memory generates numerous research questions – who is the architect of memory? what are the actors? what are the mechanisms, tools and instruments of its creation? how is it used to maintain power and what are its effects? – to name but a few. In the example analysed, leaders use historical memory to create separate identities and gain power, whereas NGOs do it to commemorate victims. Historical memory is present in celebrating important dates, historical places, monuments and events, and creating national heroes. It also draws attention to the stereotypes in school textbooks and to transitional justice. The most important space for historical memory in the analysis is Kosovo and the role of an international organisation – the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Historical memory has an important function in the process of regional reconciliation, which is an essential condition for cooperation and security in the Western Balkans.

China's soft-power practice in its international activity boils down to four areas: culture, education, diplomacy, and economy. The most important element of China's soft-power policy seems to be the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Announced in 2013, the BRI is a complex, long-term and large-scale strategic political and economic project by the Chinese government with an infrastructure character. In this way, China is seeking to invest its capital surpluses in resurrecting the ancient Silk Road to create railroad and maritime networks with its most important trading partner – the European Union. In these circumstances, in September 2015, the presidents of Central and Eastern EU member states announced the establishment of the separate Three Seas Initiative (TSI), a political and economic project bringing together 12 EU states, including 11 'new' members and Austria. These entities constitute an informal bloc of states between the Adriatic, Baltic and Black seas, though without a permanent secretariat but with rotating leadership. In addition to the lack of a formal structure, the TSI region, located mainly in the EU's eastern part, is characterized by a weaker infrastructure network than Western Europe, lower GDP (except Austria), and high dependence on gas supplies from Russia (except Croatia). To overcome these disparities, the TSI has developed a catalogue of 48 investment priorities in three economic areas: energy, transport, and digitalisation. China's soft-power policy towards the 'new' EU members may be decided by the American patronage of the TSI and the fact that one of the flagship projects is the North-South Gas Corridor, which will enable the sale of American LNG in Central Europe, which has been dependent on gas supplies from Russia, China's partner in the BRI. In the context of the US-China trade war, White House planners recognise Central Europe as both a peripheral and key area for their policy and seek to strengthen the Three Seas project, which may lead to limiting areas of cooperation under the '17+1' format, involving CEE countries and China. On the other hand, the development of better energy, transport and digital connections in the EU's east clearly intersects with China's idea of building a New Eurasian Land Bridge under the BRI to connect the most economically developed edges of Eurasia. The new US strategy towards the countries of the CEE seems to boil down to involvement in specific energy-related projects. Instead of blocking or diminishing BRI-related infrastructure projects in China, they seem in fact to complement the Chinese activity in the CEE. Increased investment by American enterprises in the region may allow the administration in Washington to maintain control of Chinese infrastructure investments, and the US involvement may even lead to the participation of American companies in projects originally started by Beijing.

The main research objective of the presented study is to analyse, in accordance with selected theoretical and methodological assumptions, the main challenges of international energy security. This will be possible thanks to a comprehensive analysis in the explanatory and predictive dimension. Analyses of energy security issues take into account long-term development trends as well as unpredictable events related to the functioning of infrastructure and energy technology. Thus, unexpected, sudden phenomena resulting from the dynamics of the international environment gain in importance. The energy security policy has been narrowly defined so far, and thus the issue of thinking in terms of various development opportunities in the raw materials industry is often overlooked. The dilemma related to "non-linear" thinking often ignores a variety of solutions that, taken together, can cause a radical turn in the energy market and its evolution. The methodological framework of the conducted research included research methods appropriate to the science of international relations. The factor method was useful in identifying the determinants of energy security redefinition in the contemporary world. The prognostic analysis turned out to be helpful in the part of the thesis on the prospects for the development of energy security.

Today, there is no doubt that the large-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops in February 2022 represents just another phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War that has lasted for nine years. There are many aspects to this confrontation. The consequences of the war will affect the future of the world order. It will include such aspects as security, formation of new political blocs, force interaction of political regimes, the choice of state-building models by the countries, the art of war, the role of civil society, and strengthening of the informational component in the confrontation between states and their alliances. Russia-Iran has already emerged as one such aggressive alliance. In the article, the authors explain the phenomenon of the infodemic and one of its structural elements, the "vaccinodemic". The COVID-19 pandemic became a vivid example of the global clash of actors in international relations that implement conflicting ideologies – democratic or authoritarian rule in the social and political life of their states – and realize such aspects in foreign policy. The authors assert that the current situation in Ukraine, namely, the open military Russian invasion and the further aggravation of the security crisis, primarily in the European region, are only the next phase of an ideological confrontation that could be observed during the response to the COVID-19 pandemic by humanity. Now, this confrontation continues in a more aggressive, conventional format. Manifestations of the infodemic and its unique form, the "vaccinodemic", captured the essence of the global confrontation, which will determine international processes for decades. Namely, Russia's fight between democracy and authoritarianism has acquired neo-totalitarian characteristics. This fight will determine, in addition to other social phenomena, the structure and content of the global information space. It is noted that authoritarian regimes have shown some success in addressing the pandemic, which may aggravate the rivalry between democracy and authoritarianism, as the former will have to prove its effectiveness and long-term advantages.