The article is about the contemporary agenda of the policy for senior citizens in Poland, concerning especially the long-term care issue. In the first part, there are key concepts of the article defined, such as "agenda in the public policy", "policy for senior citizens and long-term care issue". In the second part, there are several policy documents and programmes for the aged examined, which provides the overview of the current elderly and long-term policy and its agenda. The analysis includes the governmental documents and programmes, as well as the activity (concerning long-term care for the elderly) of some other central institutions such as the Ombudsman and Supreme Audit Office and Office of Competition and Consumer Protection. The article ends with the conclusions.
One of the indicators of the condition of the democratic state is its attitude towards national minorities. Not only the institutional dimension of these relations is important, but also the functioning of the public sphere. Public sphere provides space to negotiate and deliberate over issues that are important to the community. Media, which are an essential part of public sphere act as a facilitator and influence social attitudes towards discussed issues. Following paper presents results of an original research on framing German minority in regional press in Poland. Context of the research is the political conflict over the the enlargement of Opole City. The majority of Germans - the most numerous national minority in Poland - live in the Opole region. The enlargement of the city of Opole changes administrative structure in the region by incorporating to the city parts of the neighboring communities often governed by German minority. The incorporation process induced strong protests of the residents of these communities and fears of the German minority itself that these changes would adversely affect its position. The study covers press articles that appeared in regional dailies published in the Opole region. Quantitative and qualitative analysis tools were used, includuing framing analysis. ; Jednym z wskaźników kondycji państwa demokratycznego jest jego stosunek do mniejszości narodowych. Istotny jest wymiar formalny tych relacji, a także funkcjonowanie sfery publicznej. Kluczowa będzie zatem zdolność do efektywnego negocjowania i deliberacji nad kwestiami ważnymi społecznie i budzącymi duże emocje. Naturalną przestrzeń dla takiej debaty stwarzają media. Będąc również uczestnikiem debaty, media pozycjonują strony i wpływają na postawy społeczne wobec dyskutowanych kwestii. Celem badań, których wyniki są prezentowane w niniejszym artykule była analiza medialnego pozycjonowania mniejszości niemieckiej (MN) w ramach sporu o przesunięcie granic Opola. Na Opolszczyźnie zamieszkuje większość polskich Niemców – najliczniejszej mniejszości narodowej w Polsce. Powiększenie miasta Opola o część terenów należących do sąsiednich gmin, w których znaczącą część społeczności stanowiła MN, wzbudziło silne protesty mieszkańców tych gmin i obawy samej MN, że zmiany te niekorzystnie wpłyną na jej pozycję. W badaniach uwzględniono artykuły prasowe, które ukazały się w regionalnych dziennikach wydawanych na Opolszczyźnie. Stosowano narzędzia analizy ilościowej i jakościowej, wykorzystując m.in. metodę ram interpretacyjnych (framing).
The validity of the current global development agenda, known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ends on December 31, 2015. International community has worked on the new development agenda since 2010. The new development agenda will replace the MDGs from 1 January 2016. The European Union is a very active participant in the work on the shape of the new development agenda. EU activity in this area is coming clearly both from the organization's ambition, wanting to play the role of a "global player" and the importance of global development policy objectives for the EU's development cooperation. Not coincidentally, the European Union announced the 2015 European Year of Development (EYD). The article presents the position of the most important institutions of the EU towards a new agenda for development (Post 2015 agenda). ; Ważność aktualnej, globalnej agendy rozwojowej, znanej pod nazwą Milenijne Cele Rozwojowe (MDGs), kończy się 31 grudnia 2015 r. Od 2010 r. trwają prace analityczne, programowe i polityczne nad nową agendą rozwojową, która zastąpi MDGs począwszy od 1 stycznia 2016 r. Unia Europejska jest bardzo aktywnym uczestnikiem prac nad kształtem kolejnej agendy rozwojowej. Aktywność UE w tym obszarze wynika zarówno z ambicji tej organizacji, chcącej odgrywać rolę "globalnego gracza", jak i znaczenia założeń globalnej polityki rozwojowej dla unijnej współpracy rozwojowej. Nieprzypadkowo Unia Europejska ogłosiła rok 2015 Europejskim Rokiem na rzecz Rozwoju – European Year for Development (EYD). Artykuł przedstawia stanowisko najważniejszych instytucji UE wobec nowej agendy rozwojowej (Post 2015).
Ważność aktualnej, globalnej agendy rozwojowej, znanej pod nazwą Milenijne Cele Rozwojowe (MDGs), kończy się 31 grudnia 2015 r. Od 2010 r. trwają prace analityczne, programowe i polityczne nad nową agendą rozwojową, która zastąpi MDGs począwszy od 1 stycznia 2016 r. Unia Europejska jest bardzo aktywnym uczestnikiem prac nad kształtem kolejnej agendy rozwojowej. Aktywność UE w tym obszarze wynika zarówno z ambicji tej organizacji, chcącej od¬grywać rolę "globalnego gracza", jak i znaczenia założeń globalnej polityki rozwojowej dla unijnej współpracy rozwojowej. Nieprzypadkowo Unia Europejska ogłosiła rok 2015 Europejskim Rokiem na rzecz Rozwoju - European Year for Development (EYD). Artykuł przedstawia stanowisko najważniejszych instytucji UE wobec nowej agendy rozwojowej ; The validity of the current global development agenda, known as the Millennium Develop¬ment Goals (MDGs) ends on December 31,2015. International community has worked on the new development agenda since 2010. The new development agenda will replace the MDGs from 1 Jan¬uary 2016. The European Union is a very active participant in the work on the shape of the new de¬velopment agenda. EU activity in this area is coming clearly both from the organization's ambition, wanting to play the role of a "global player" and the importance of global development policy objectives for the EU's development cooperation. Not coincidentally, the European Union announced the 2015 European Year of Development (EYD). The article presents the position of the most important institutions of the EU towards a new agenda for development (Post 2015 agenda).
The aim of the article is to present the specific nature of research on the issues of national relations in a totalitarian state based on the example of the lands of Central and Eastern Europe under the Soviet occupation from 1939-1941. In order to achieve this, the literature on the subject (in English and Polish) was reviewed as well as the most important methodological problems encountered by researchers. The research program was also outlined, along with a proposal for their conceptualization in the form of signalling the main aspects of the above-mentioned issues, including the specificity of the Soviet occupation of 1939-1941, social and ethnic relations in this area, and the Soviet nationalities policy. Several research methods and postulates were proposed, as well as perspectives and theoretical approaches that could facilitate the study of this complex and controversial subject, e.g., the interdisciplinary nature of research, methods of bottom-up formation of political attitudes of the population (the so-called "bottom-up" method), application of theories of the totalitarian state, and different theories of ethnicity. As a result, an interdisciplinary program of comparative studies of ethnic relations in Central and Eastern Europe under Soviet rule (1939-1941) was outlined, taking into account the transnational character of historical processes and the need to conduct micro historic analyses and case studies that would allow capturing of the diversity of ethnic relations and verify the effectiveness of the policy of the central Soviet authorities. The article argues that it seems obvious that the specificity of the analysed problematics can be properly grasped only by consideration it in the historical and theoretical context, adopting a comparative and transnational approach, from a micro-historical as well as everyday-life perspective that highlights the most important social factors which facilitated changes in interethnic relations.
W artykule podjęto próbę ukazania agendy dwóch dzienników ogólnopolskich "Gazety Wyborczej" i "Rzeczpospolitej", związanej z nagłośnieniem kampanii wyborczej poprzedzającej wybory do Parlamentu Europejskiego w 2014 roku. Przedmiotem badań empirycznych uczyniono zarówno obecność na łamach wspomnianej prasy problematyki dotyczącej poszczególnych ugrupowań politycznych, jak i sposób jej prezentacji opinii publicznej. Jednym z rezultatów przeprowadzonej analizy jest pozytywnie zweryfikowana hipoteza wskazująca na wysoki stopień współzależności rankingu tematów agendy medialnej i publicznej w badanym okresie (współczynnik Pearsona wyniósł 0,93). ; The article presents the results of research on the media agenda of two national dailies "Gazeta Wyborcza" and "Rzeczpospolita", related to popularizing the election campaign preceding the 2014 elections to the European Parliament. The subject of empirical research concerned both the presence of the issues concerning individual political groups, and their presentation to the public on the pages of each daily respectively. One of the results of the analysis is the confirmation of the hypothesis that there was a high degree of interdependence between the ranking of subjects presented by the media and the public agenda in the studied period (Pearson's coefficient amounted to 0.93)
The Presidency is without doubt an important arrangement in the governance of the European Union . Every six months a different Member State takes over the chair of the Council of the European Union and performs several noteworthy functions. This article examines the extent to which Member States exercise influence on the timing and content of decision outcomes when they hold the presidency. The extent of the Council presidency's political influence is the subject of disagreement among both practitioners and researchers. Presidents' potential to use their position to advance their own interests is severely constrained by the brevity of the presidential term, only six months, and the limited extent to which they can select which issues should be on or off the agenda. Furthermore, presidents are said to abide by the normative principle that they should be 'neutral brokers' and refrain from using this position to further their own interests. Violation of this norm could result in criticism and retaliatory measures from other Member States. Owing to its formal position, the Presidency possesses a set of informational and procedural resources that can be used for national gain, and typically exploit the position as broker to favour the outcomes they desire. This article considers potential impact of the Presidency's influence on decision outcomes by using the agenda-shaping powers and the brokerage powers in bargaining between member states and interinstitutional negotiations. The main thesis is that a member state benefits from holding the Presidency. The competencies of the Presidency allow a Member State to exercise an extraordinary amount of influence, during its term in office, effecting positive changes on state power. It makes available for states a wide range of the brokerage and agenda-shaping instruments to influence outcomes in European Union policy-making.
The Presidency is without doubt an important arrangement in the governance of the European Union . Every six months a different Member State takes over the chair of the Council of the European Union and performs several noteworthy functions. This article examines the extent to which Member States exercise influence on the timing and content of decision outcomes when they hold the presidency. The extent of the Council presidency's political influence is the subject of disagreement among both practitioners and researchers. Presidents' potential to use their position to advance their own interests is severely constrained by the brevity of the presidential term, only six months, and the limited extent to which they can select which issues should be on or off the agenda. Furthermore, presidents are said to abide by the normative principle that they should be 'neutral brokers' and refrain from using this position to further their own interests. Violation of this norm could result in criticism and retaliatory measures from other Member States. Owing to its formal position, the Presidency possesses a set of informational and procedural resources that can be used for national gain, and typically exploit the position as broker to favour the outcomes they desire. This article considers potential impact of the Presidency's influence on decision outcomes by using the agenda-shaping powers and the brokerage powers in bargaining between member states and interinstitutional negotiations. The main thesis is that a member state benefits from holding the Presidency. The competencies of the Presidency allow a Member State to exercise an extraordinary amount of influence, during its term in office, effecting positive changes on state power. It makes available for states a wide range of the brokerage and agenda-shaping instruments to influence outcomes in European Union policy-making.
The article investigates the interrelationship between Lithuanian civil service reform initiatives and administrative Europeanisation processes by identifying the role and approaches of Lithuanian parliamentary elites in the process of the implementation of reforms during the period of membership in the EU. The research was based on the qualitative content analysis of primary sources, the records of the Lithuanian Government activities, and the qualitative analysis of the secondary sources including research literature and other documents and records, semi-structured qualitative interview. Research gives an opportunity to estimate the level of institutionalisation of pro-European values amongst parliamentary elites and their contributions to the implementation of administrative Europeanisation. According to the research findings, administrative Europeanisation agenda is not a priority for Lithuanian parliamentary elites per se, however, pro-European attitudes are fixed.
The article investigates the interrelationship between Lithuanian civil service reform initiatives and administrative Europeanisation processes by identifying the role and approaches of Lithuanian parliamentary elites in the process of the implementation of reforms during the period of membership in the EU. The research was based on the qualitative content analysis of primary sources, the records of the Lithuanian Government activities, and the qualitative analysis of the secondary sources including research literature and other documents and records, semi-structured qualitative interview. Research gives an opportunity to estimate the level of institutionalisation of pro-European values amongst parliamentary elites and their contributions to the implementation of administrative Europeanisation. According to the research findings, administrative Europeanisation agenda is not a priority for Lithuanian parliamentary elites per se, however, pro-European attitudes are fixed.
The purpose of this article is to discuss the trajectory of Belarusian-Lithuanian relations with a particular focus on the period after the 2020 Belarusian presidential election, which resulted in a change in international relations in the region. This was the moment that redefined the Lithuanian-Belarusian relations, which until 2020 were satisfactory for both sides (especially in the economic aspect). However, Lithuania began to pursue a reactive policy of promoting the democratisation of Belarus and provided multi-level support to Belarusian opposition forces. The current problems in bilateral relations (e.g., the future of Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant located in Astravyets) have been put on the agenda for discussion at the EU level, while the instruments of a hybrid conflict in the form of an influx of immigrants into Lithuania, controlled by the Belarusian regime, have become a key issue for the future prospects of relations between Belarus and Lithuania.
This text attempts to answer the main research question: what opportunities and challenges are facing the development cooperation implemented by Poland in the second decade of the 21st century? The following issues were considered in the analysis: the legal and institutional framework of Polish development cooperation, its geographical and thematic concentration, and financial resources allocated to these activities. A new quality in this area of Polish policy was introduced by the Act on development cooperation adopted in 2011, as well as by the articulation, through multi‑annual programs, of the preferred specialization of Polish activities in this field. However, there are still reservations regarding the cohesion of programming of Polish development cooperation with the EU and the global development agenda, the state's fulfilment of international commitments and the level of ODA financing, due to which Poland's participation in the global ODA system remains marginal.
What we are witnessing now, not only in Great Britain, is that citizens are less and less interested in participation in politics. We see a crisis of representative democracy. One of the means used to fight those negative trends is the use of Information and Communication Technology. It not only enables citizens to gain a wide access to public information but also empowers them to take part in decision making. The article was written with the aim to analyze the political agenda of successive British governments pertaining to the use of the Internet in building more effective local government communication channels in English local authorities. The analyses of documents and secondary sources were conducted. Special attention was devoted to the introduction and development of electronic petition systems on the local level, as e-petitions are one of the most popular e-democracy mechanisms in Great Britain. Their use has also been laid down in law.
The author analyses the selected mechanisms in the spatial (planning) policy as well as its outcomes. He points out at the sources of complexity within this area, patterns of order and chaos. His hypothesis claims that unsatisfactory results come from the low level of the state's governability in the area of policy formulation, implementation and evaluation. It also derives from inadequate institutional and analytical potential. As a consequence, public institutions are not able to use the regulatory instruments in an adequate way as well as to pay a proper attention to the policy analysis, including the consequences and long-term effects of spatial chaos. According to the author, cultural background seems to be important while trying to understand the state's problems in the area of spatial policy. It leads to the fact that spatial issues are rather lower on the public agenda among other public concerns (like economic or developmental goals).
