Representatives of the Polish punk-rock scene were careful observers of political, social and economic unrest in the world since the late 1970s and in the 1980s. A large part of the texts, written at that time, aptly commented on the tragic events in the world. Unfortunately, some of them haven't lost their validity, like the song by KSU entitled 'Liban' ['Lebanon'], or by the band 'Brak' ['The Lack'] entitled 'Na Bliskim Wschodzie wszystko w porządku' ['In the Middle East Everything's All Right']. After 1989, more songs, referring to various old or new threats in the world, were written. Songs, produced within the punk scene, describe the problems of political, economic and social nature, which remain unresolved. Authors, such as Maciej Augustyn, Krzysztof Grabowski, Kazik Staszewski not only point to the genesis of security problems in the world, but sometimes predict the consequences of such events in a broader perspective. Surprisingly, anticipations of some authors who are not political scientists or sociologists, come true more frequently than scientific analyses made by security experts. Suffice it to say that almost at the same time when Fukuyma guaranteed that happiness of humanity would be manifested in liberal democracy, Staszewski and Grabowski warned people of imminent wars, crises, a new division of the world and exploitation. ; Representatives of the Polish punk-rock scene were careful observers of political, social and economic unrest in the world since the late 1970s and in the 1980s. A large part of the texts, written at that time, aptly commented on the tragic events in the world. Unfortunately, some of them haven't lost their validity, like the song by KSU entitled 'Liban' ['Lebanon'], or by the band 'Brak' ['The Lack'] entitled 'Na Bliskim Wschodzie wszystko w porządku' ['In the Middle East Everything's All Right']. After 1989, more songs, referring to various old or new threats in the world, were written. Songs, produced within the punk scene, describe the problems of political, economic and social nature, which remain unresolved. Authors, such as Maciej Augustyn, Krzysztof Grabowski, Kazik Staszewski not only point to the genesis of security problems in the world, but sometimes predict the consequences of such events in a broader perspective. Surprisingly, anticipations of some authors who are not political scientists or sociologists, come true more frequently than scientific analyses made by security experts. Suffice it to say that almost at the same time when Fukuyma guaranteed that happiness of humanity would be manifested in liberal democracy, Staszewski and Grabowski warned people of imminent wars, crises, a new division of the world and exploitation.
The study of political activity among the elderly has prompted some American researchers to take up research on "political gerontology" in the late 1970s. One of the effects of the increasing political activity of seniors, but also the growing number of 65+ voters was the emergence a new type of party that uniquely identified with senior citizens and in the wider sense ‒ the elderly, focusing both on demands typical for this electorate. The first party of its kind in Europe was the Italian Pensioners' Party, founded in October 1987. The Balkan pensioners' parties in the majority of cases were among the typical post-communist "demanding parties", expressing the frustration of people, who lost social prestige and financial stability during the economic transformation. Some of them noted significant success by entering into the ruling coalitions (Serbia, Slovenia). Their successes generated the creation of new pensioners' parties in Kosovo and Macedonia. The programs of Balkan pensioners' parties are directed to the entire society, expressing sensitivity to the interests of excluding groups but it is hard to find visible references to elderly problems understood as a social and demographic challenge. The political activity of the Balkan "grey parties" does not seem as a form of elders' emancipation but only as a defense of the pensions and social privileges inherited from the communist times. ; The study of political activity among the elderly has prompted some American researchers to take up research on "political gerontology" in the late 1970s. One of the effects of the increasing political activity of seniors, but also the growing number of 65+ voters was the emergence a new type of party that uniquely identified with senior citizens and in the wider sense ‒ the elderly, focusing both on demands typical for this electorate. The first party of its kind in Europe was the Italian Pensioners' Party, founded in October 1987. The Balkan pensioners' parties in the majority of cases were among the typical post-communist "demanding parties", expressing the frustration of people, who lost social prestige and financial stability during the economic transformation. Some of them noted significant success by entering into the ruling coalitions (Serbia, Slovenia). Their successes generated the creation of new pensioners' parties in Kosovo and Macedonia. The programs of Balkan pensioners' parties are directed to the entire society, expressing sensitivity to the interests of excluding groups but it is hard to find visible references to elderly problems understood as a social and demographic challenge. The political activity of the Balkan "grey parties" does not seem as a form of elders' emancipation but only as a defense of the pensions and social privileges inherited from the communist times.
*This is an English version of an original article: Yavuz Yildirim, "Los Efectos Del Movimiento Del Parque Gezi En La Renovacion Del Debate Sobre La Democratizacion En Turquia" in: Un Retrato De La Turquia Contemporanea (eds. Federico Donelli, Alessia Chiriatti, Manuel Férez), Mexico: Universidad Anahuac Mexico, 2016, pp. 299-310.The text presents the history of attempts at democratization of the political system in Turkey, where despite the nominal presence of democratic institutions, changes traditionally have come from the top. Following a brief presentation of the unsuccessful civil movements from the 1970s onwards, it focuses on the 2010s transition in approaches to building democratic culture, and in particular on the Gezi Park resistance, where a relatively minor local issue sparked a country-wide citizens' protest against the conservative democracy of the ruling AK Party. The event is shown as an entirely new type of protest, a spontaneous civil movement with horizontal structure, inspired by the Occupy movements, and an expression of the new generation's approach to politics. It also gave rise to a movement which contributed to rethinking the Turkish democratization process by breaking with the established thinking with a bottom-to-top approach.
*This is an English version of an original article: Yavuz Yildirim, "Los Efectos Del Movimiento Del Parque Gezi En La Renovacion Del Debate Sobre La Democratizacion En Turquia" in: Un Retrato De La Turquia Contemporanea (eds. Federico Donelli, Alessia Chiriatti, Manuel Férez), Mexico: Universidad Anahuac Mexico, 2016, pp. 299-310.The text presents the history of attempts at democratization of the political system in Turkey, where despite the nominal presence of democratic institutions, changes traditionally have come from the top. Following a brief presentation of the unsuccessful civil movements from the 1970s onwards, it focuses on the 2010s transition in approaches to building democratic culture, and in particular on the Gezi Park resistance, where a relatively minor local issue sparked a country-wide citizens' protest against the conservative democracy of the ruling AK Party. The event is shown as an entirely new type of protest, a spontaneous civil movement with horizontal structure, inspired by the Occupy movements, and an expression of the new generation's approach to politics. It also gave rise to a movement which contributed to rethinking the Turkish democratization process by breaking with the established thinking with a bottom-to-top approach.
Today Europeanization is a notion that is frequently used; however, there is a clear shortage of, or even fragmentariness of scientific knowledge, within this scope. The research into the Europeanization processes were initiated by political scientists in the 1970s, although the notion itself only gained popularity in the 1990s alongside the realization of the commom European market. From that moment, Europeanization is a research problem that has attracted interest in numerous fields and scientific disciplines. David Floyd [2001, p. 109] emphasizes the fact that the majority of market changes which have occurred since the beginning of the twenty-first century took place as a result of Europeanization processes which are explicite, defined as the phenomenon of the regionalization processes. As Neil Fligstein [2009, p. 107] highlights, the "majority of the research concerning the European integration focuses only on political and legal processes (…) which is the reason for which researchers overlook the fact how deep the European economy has been reorganized". There are few works of the kind cited above, nor have there been many recent papers seeking to undertake broad and deep research into the Europeanization processes in both economic (including macro- and microeconomic fields) and noneconomic dimensions.
The film is one of few examples of political documentaries produced in Poland after 1989. It is not limited to merely outlining the political argument over General Jaruzelski's decision to impose martial law. Although it concerns events in Polish history, it is not a historical documentary, as it brings forth present-day political conflicts that have arisen around historical events. Trying to reconstruct this current political argument, Zmarz-Koczanowicz reaches for a method developed in the 1970s by the so-called "Kraków School" led by Krzysztof Kieślowski. ^e "talking heads" method was meant to help documentary filmmakers in the Polish People's Republic reach what the person in the street actually thought and avoid the distortions of propaganda. For Kieślowski, however, the overriding aim was conciliation and an attempt to understand both sides of the political barricade - the authorities and the vox popu- li. His attitude, according to the terminology suggested by Chantal Mouffe, was a post-political one striving for an agreement through a rational dialogue. Zmarz-Koczanowicz's aim, however, is different: she is intent on showing a clash of different hegemonies that do not strive for consensus. Their agonistic argument, played out in the political register, rather than a moral one, is a guarantee, according to this Belgian philosopher of politics, that democracy will continue to exist.
Support of African geological surveys by their European partners in the context of the Polish initiatives.A b s t r a c t. African countries in the 1960s began to recover their independence. These facts coincided with the good results in raw materials findings of the Polish geologists and geophysicists. Therefore, in the 1960s and 1970s, geologists of the Polish Geological Institute and other companies indicated their presence in the research works in several countries of the African continent. Nowadays, the EuroGeoSurveys (EGS) members with the support from the Organization of African Geological Surveys (OAGS) prepared a strategy for sustainable strengthening of African countries' geological administrations. The strategy focuses on natural resources governance, enforcing sustainable mineral resources exploitation as well as preventing and mitigating natural disasters by establishing long-term strategic cooperation relationships in these areas. EGS, on behalf of the European Commission's DG Development and Cooperation (DEVCO) and with the support and additional supervision of DG ENTR, was requested to cooperate with the OAGS to develop, over a period of about twelve months, a feasibility study focusing on one key priority of the EU-Africa Strategy Action Plan 2011–13, which is to "foster further co-operation between African and European geological surveys". As the result of this cooperation the identification of the Africa's challenges in geological knowledge and skills has been done, that emerged by analysis of targeted information derived from questionnaires distributed via OAGS to their members.
The informal structures of the European Union employed in the struggle against international terrorism can be divided into those emerging inside the European Community, and those involving the states outside the EC, or third parties. The emergence of informal structures to fight terrorism resulted from the observation that the then EC did not cooperate to fight terrorism. In the 1960s and 1970s the increasing problem of terrorism stimulated efforts to look for ways to deal with it. It would have been a good solution to begin cooperation in the field of internal security on a Community scale, yet this approach stirred too many controversies and fears. Additionally, a general disinterest in political cooperation at that time made some states begin building informal structures aimed at the exchange of information on terrorist threats. It is worth emphasizing that the structures discussed in this paper (i.e. groups and clubs) are to a certain extent an element of European intelligence, as they involve intelligence agencies, structures operating within EU countries and outside, and the cooperation or synergy of intelligence provided by various mechanisms and activities. The cooperation within the framework of such structures goes beyond the EU and Europe, thus becoming more effective in fighting international, modern, globalized, non-territorial terrorism of a network character. Therefore, although the European Union has been conducting its own policy against terrorism involving all its member states, these informal structures with third parties will continue to play an important part in anti-terrorist cooperation between states that are at particular risk of terrorist activity.
The informal structures of the European Union employed in the struggle against international terrorism can be divided into those emerging inside the European Community, and those involving the states outside the EC, or third parties. The emergence of informal structures to fight terrorism resulted from the observation that the then EC did not cooperate to fight terrorism. In the 1960s and 1970s the increasing problem of terrorism stimulated efforts to look for ways to deal with it. It would have been a good solution to begin cooperation in the field of internal security on a Community scale, yet this approach stirred too many controversies and fears. Additionally, a general disinterest in political cooperation at that time made some states begin building informal structures aimed at the exchange of information on terrorist threats. It is worth emphasizing that the structures discussed in this paper (i.e. groups and clubs) are to a certain extent an element of European intelligence, as they involve intelligence agencies, structures operating within EU countries and outside, and the cooperation or synergy of intelligence provided by various mechanisms and activities. The cooperation within the framework of such structures goes beyond the EU and Europe, thus becoming more effective in fighting international, modern, globalized, non-territorial terrorism of a network character. Therefore, although the European Union has been conducting its own policy against terrorism involving all its member states, these informal structures with third parties will continue to play an important part in anti-terrorist cooperation between states that are at particular risk of terrorist activity.
The article analyzes the successive stages of Poland's commercial and contractual relations with the EEC (European Economic Community) countries since the establishment of this organization. Poland's relations with the EEC in the 1960s and 1970s were strongly influenced by political factors. Economic conditions played a less important role. There were strong restrictions in the East-West trade, including strategic export restrictions, credit restrictions, and EEC quantitative restrictions on imports from socialist countries. Polish contacts with the EEC, known as the official-technical ones, began in 1964. In the trade of the Community, Poland played a historically insignificant role and had no significant importance for the EEC. The share of Poland in the global imports of the Community countries in 1988 was only 0.23%. After the signing of a trade agreement between Poland and the European Community in 1989, the Polish government made efforts to establish maximum cooperation with the EEC. ; Artykuł analizuje kolejne etapy stosunków handlowych i umownych Polski z krajami EWG od momentu powstania tej organizacji. Stosunki Polski z EWG w latach 60. i 70. XX w. pozostawały pod dużym wpływem czynników politycznych. Mniejsza rola przypadała uwarunkowaniom ekonomicznym. W handlu Wschód–Zachód występowały silne ograniczenia, m.in. strategiczne ograniczenia eksportowe, ograniczenia kredytowe oraz stosowane przez kraje EWG ograniczenia ilościowe importu z krajów socjalistycznych. Polskie kontakty z EWG, zwane w odróżnieniu od oficjalnych – technicznymi, rozpoczęły się w 1964 r. W handlu Wspólnoty Polska odgrywała historycznie niewielką rolę i nie miała dla EWG istotnego znaczenia. Udział Polski w globalnym imporcie państw Wspólnoty w 1988 r. wynosił tylko 0,23%. Po podpisaniu w 1989 r. umowy handlowej między Polską a Wspólnotą Europejską rząd polski podjął starania o nawiązanie maksymalnie szerokiej współpracy z EWG.
The article analyzes the successive stages of Poland's commercial and contractual relations with the EEC (European Economic Community) countries since the establishment of this organization. Poland's relations with the EEC in the 1960s and 1970s were strongly influenced by political factors. Economic conditions played a less important role. There were strong restrictions in the East-West trade, including strategic export restrictions, credit restrictions, and EEC quantitative restrictions on imports from socialist countries. Polish contacts with the EEC, known as the official-technical ones, began in 1964. In the trade of the Community, Poland played a historically insignificant role and had no significant importance for the EEC. The share of Poland in the global imports of the Community countries in 1988 was only 0.23%. After the signing of a trade agreement between Poland and the European Community in 1989, the Polish government made efforts to establish maximum cooperation with the EEC. ; Artykuł analizuje kolejne etapy stosunków handlowych i umownych Polski z krajami EWG od momentu powstania tej organizacji. Stosunki Polski z EWG w latach 60. i 70. XX w. pozostawały pod dużym wpływem czynników politycznych. Mniejsza rola przypadała uwarunkowaniom ekonomicznym. W handlu Wschód–Zachód występowały silne ograniczenia, m.in. strategiczne ograniczenia eksportowe, ograniczenia kredytowe oraz stosowane przez kraje EWG ograniczenia ilościowe importu z krajów socjalistycznych. Polskie kontakty z EWG, zwane w odróżnieniu od oficjalnych – technicznymi, rozpoczęły się w 1964 r. W handlu Wspólnoty Polska odgrywała historycznie niewielką rolę i nie miała dla EWG istotnego znaczenia. Udział Polski w globalnym imporcie państw Wspólnoty w 1988 r. wynosił tylko 0,23%. Po podpisaniu w 1989 r. umowy handlowej między Polską a Wspólnotą Europejską rząd polski podjął starania o nawiązanie maksymalnie szerokiej współpracy z EWG.
Latin America has played at all times a significant part in the foreign policy of the United States. Its geographical proximity, colonial descent, as well as common interests of all American countries toward the policy of the European colonial powers - these are historically primordial factors that have determined their relations. In course of time, as USA investments in Latin America grew, and the system of the political-military relations consolidated, also with respect to the USA global policy, the countries of Latin America got interrelated in a peculiar way with their northern neighbour. At present their mutual relations are noticeable at the arena of culture and propaganda. The present work perceives the cultural policy and foreign propaganda pursued by the United States as a broad complex of phenomena involving both the passage of wealth, values, and standars of culture, and the political purposeful persvasive actions, affecting the views, attitudes, and conduct of the pe.ople, as an instrument applied to put into effect the strategical aims of the. USA foreign polioy. At the same time it represents a stable integrator of the western hemisphere. The two decades (1960s and 1970s) of cultural policy and foreign propaganda discussed in the present work are' a period that allows to trace the characteristic manifestations, and to regard the trends appearing as the regularities of this sphere of social activity. The conception of tjie culture and propaganda influence, elaborated in the beginning of the 1960s has been modified in accordance with new occurrences taking place in Latin America, and with their perception by the particular administrations. The political function of this influencing, its aims,¡contents and implementing methods have not undergone any change. The work is composed of three fundamental sections - chapters. The first one "The determinants, and the programmatic directions of the USA culture-propaganda influence in Latin America" attempts to present the foreign policy programmes, and their stageB to define the place and role of the culture-propaganda influence in the USA strategies adopted to Latin America. Chapter two "The organization of the administration machinery" illustrates the extremely complex, multisectorial, and hierarchical system of the state and non-state organizations programming, coordinating, and implementing the actions under discussion. The third chapter "The forms, and techniques of the culture-propaganda influencing" describes the big business activity in Latin America in the field of mass-communication, its dominance at the information market, and its impact on the mass culture and education. Moreover the author discusses the state institutions activity in the field of radio, TV and film propaganda, face-to-face communication, bi-national centres and military schooling stations, as well as public utilities operation. Latin America constitutes too differentiated area to adopt preferential techniques to the entire region. Nevertheless the preference is noticeable. This refers to the radio-TV propaganda, face-to-face communication, bi-national centres operation, and arises from the influencies directing mainly onto middle classes predestinated to adopt foreign standards and values.
In 2015 we celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first free local elections to self-governing bodies. Those elections activated local citizens initiatives and greatly contributed to the transformation in our social awareness, leading to real change in Poland's political regime. The underlying rationale of free local elections, however, was the package of laws adopted on 8 March 1990 which created real self-government, enabled the elections to commune and municipality councils of 27 May 1990 and introduced a new dynamic to the process of the decentralisation of the state.Changes are always the result of dreams and our ability to realise them. It is possible to make them if there exist organisational structures and institutions which allow such changes to be made. The need for political transformation had long been felt and deliberated on by those involved in spatial development or and for whom the state monopoly status quo was unacceptable. To quote the late and much missed Professor Jerzy Regulski, the implementation of self-governance was departure from the monopoly of central government, which in turn meant an actual change in the political regime. The reform of 1990 broke up five monopolies of an authoritarian state which had existed in Poland since the end of the World War II: the political monopoly of one party, of centralised power, of uniform state ownership, of public finances and the state budget, and of the uniform public administration of the state.However, it must always be remembered that the possibility of realising dreams of a change in the nature of the state was shaped in the first triumphant stage of the Solidarity period in 1989, and later became a stable basis for the future in the resolution of the First National Congress of Solidarity Delegates and in the 'Samorządna Rzeczpospolita' (A Self-governing Republic) document. The success of the real change of 1990 was rooted in the long term determination and persistence of those whose personal experiences were involved in the quest for rationality in land management. Both Professor Jerzy Regulski and Professor Michał Kulesza drew their inspiration to change the political regime from the need to ensure that society worked in a way that would allow the local needs and initiatives be articulated, and inhabitants having the ability to take concrete decisions about the surrounding environment. In this way, the existing possibility of active involvement in local initiatives, incapable of being realised in the former political system, would become a reality and the citizens would be able to make collective decisions about their local area. This would also give a chance to oppose formally the investment logic resulting from the central planning of those times.The analytic work aimed at the transformation of the political regime that Professor Regulski started in the 1970s during his employment at the University of Lodz were subsequently continued at the Economic Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences and led to the formation of a group of individuals for whom self-governance became a core value of the new regime and a way of looking at the modern state. The change that took place in 1990 was the beginning of the building of a de-centralised, modern state, the status of which was subsequently confirmed when Poland adopted the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the European Charter of Local Self-Government. Self-government is never an institution whose constitution is ever finished. This was shown during the reform carried out by Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek's government, which continued the break-up of the monopoly of power and implemented subsidiarity principles at the regional level enabling them to exercise powers locally, in newly created districts (powiat), as well as in the later legislative changes pertaining to the regulations governing the election of mayors (wójt or burmistrz) or the work of the Komisja Wspólna Rządu i Samorządu (Joint Committee of the Government and Self-Government). Today, after 25 years of our experience with self-government, we are much more aware of the changes needed in the self-governing system. They include the strengthening of actual independence of self-government achieved through the ensured free choice of the manner in which self-government bodies will carry out their tasks, guaranteed revenues and the possibility given to commune and municipality authorities of exercising real influence on their size, improved cooperation between communes and municipalities (gmina) and districts (powiat), and, fore and foremost, by ensuring all citizens a chance of co-decision on matters which directly affect them. Changes in the regime of self-governance are a consequence of its assessment by external, independent experts but are also motivated by the natural dynamics of the changes resulting from the very essence of self-governance and its institutions, communes and municipalities (gmina), districts (powiat) and regions (voivodships).In 2010 associations of self-governing units realised the need for change and amendments to the law on self-governance. Thus, they formulated a number of proposals which were included in a document called 'Requests to the President of the Republic of Poland to commence work on the white book of territorial self-government in the year of the 20th anniversary.' This document initiated work on a draft law which in 2013 became the subject of a legislative initiative put forward by President Bronisław Komorowski. The purpose of the new law on the collaboration of self-governing bodies in local and regional development is to strengthen the role of the citizen as well as the community in the work of self-government in Poland. The effort that Professors Jerzy Regulski and Michał Kulesza in their capacity as Advisors to President Komorowski put into the legislative work remains invaluable. It is believed that the involvement of individual citizens constitutes the strength of self-government and is a guarantee of its role at the service and in the interest of communities, individual inhabitants and businesses. Hence the need for enhanced collaboration and the partnership of different bodies of self-government and the increased involvement of citizens. There is draft law that contains regulations supporting these activities.Under the draft law, a local referendum is seen as an important tool to ensure the participation of citizens in decision-making processes, including those concerning local development plans. Local referenda should constitute a mechanism used to solve local issues of material importance to residents. Their result should be binding regardless of the turnout.Self-governance helps to create and strengthen the natural inclination of individuals to act together in areas where because of their social, business or cultural ties, a local community spirit develops. In today's world of global challenges and competition, we are looking for a space for the individual which provides a feeling of security. Another important value of self-governance is the possibility of creating affiliations with a community as well as individual entrepreneurship, social activity and a regard for the collective memory of the symbols of a place. The ability to participate in community life is inseparable from the functioning of democracy at a local level, with the consultation process, election of public officers, or participation in referenda.Self-governance is a special value which gives each of us a chance to exercise a real influence on local matters. It therefore occupies a very special place where politics has a personal dimension. The variety of self-governance means at the same time a variety of development policies since there are different communities, with different emotions, different experiences or ability to participate in democratic management. This variety is a special asset in the process of the stabilisation of the state as a whole. The diversity of opinions and experiences, appointments to public office of citizens not affiliated to or necessarily recommended by any party creates the solid foundations of a democratic state. This feeling of freedom within self-governing communities must be continued and promoted.The authors of many of the texts published in this issue of Ruch Prawniczy, Ekonomiczny i Socjologiczny devoted to self-governance are, at the same time, authors of the transformation of Polish law and Poland's administration in the last 25 years. Contributions submitted by, among others, Prof. dr hab. Irena Lipowicz, Prof. Jerzy Stępień, Prof. dr hab. Jerzy Buzek, Prof. dr hab. Leon Kieres or Prof. dr hab. Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz are the best proof of the capital importance that self-governance plays in a democratic state. I thank Professor Teresa Rabska and the editorial staff of Ruch Prawniczy, Ekonomiczny i Socjologiczny for their active involvement in questions of self-government from the very beginning. This issue is entirely devoted to a range of legal, economic and sociological aspects of new challenges facing self-government and its regime. Once again I thank them for such active involvement and participation in the jubilee celebrations of Self-Government and this special issue of the journal.We need self-governance not only to feel that we can influence decisions being made about local issues but also to be continually able to renew our confidence in institutions at a local level, and through their collaboration at the national level.
