The essence of democracy is the rule of the sovereign, that is the nation, today understood as all of the state's citizens. At present, the most common type of governance is representative democracy, exercised by representatives elected from the citizens themselves. Therefore, for the proper functioning of liberal democracy it is difficult to find a more important issue than the procedure for the election of those who govern us. The article presents two alternative electoral systems: an alternative voting system (AV) and the system of Single Transferable Vote (STV). ; The essence of democracy is the rule of the sovereign, that is the nation, today understood as all of the state's citizens. At present, the most common type of governance is representative democracy, exercised by representatives elected from the citizens themselves. Therefore, for the proper functioning of liberal democracy it is difficult to find a more important issue than the procedure for the election of those who govern us. The article presents two alternative electoral systems: an alternative voting system (AV) and the system of Single Transferable Vote (STV).
The number of states with the monarchy system is decreasing today. Currently, there are about 50 of them in the world, including the 16 Commonwealth Realms. Canada and Australia are the countries with the longest Commonwealth Realm status and belong to the Commonwealth of Nations, an international organization associating 53 member states. Currently, Queen Elizabeth II is the sovereign of both countries and she will probably be succeeded by her eldest son, Prince Charles. Due to the fact that the monarch lives in the UK on a daily basis, her duties are performed by the governor general. The purpose of this article is a comparative analysis of Canada and Australia, aiming at presenting the moods prevailing in these countries in the context of a possible change of the state system from a monarchy to a republic. ; Kanada i Australia są państwami wspólnotowymi Wielkiej Brytanii, a co za tym idzie, łączy je osoba monarchy, która sprawuje władzę w państwie. W artykule ukazane zostały opinie panujące wśród społeczeństwa Kanady i Australii na temat monarchii, rodziny królewskiej oraz zmiany głowy rządzącej. Przedstawiono konkretne argumenty republikanów z obydwóch państw, jak również sympatie obywateli do poszczególnych członków brytyjskiej rodziny królewskiej. W obydwóch państwach występuje spory ruch antymonarchistyczny, który może się pogłębić po śmierci królowej Elżbiety II i objęciu tronu przez księcia Karola.
Global Warming and the Kyoto Protocol are issues that raise many controversies. This matter is especially visible in the countries which formed the JUSCANNZ, later renamed the Umbrella Group, which is an alliance in the climate negotiations process that consists of non-European Union developed states that – above all – oppose new greenhouse gases emissions reductions commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol itself and the aforementioned commitments were and still are the sources of conflicts on the international and country levels. On the country level these conflicts are highly noticeable in four Umbrella Group countries: United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada and they occurred on various levels in regard to the Kyoto Protocol: negotiation (case of the United States), ratification (cases of the United States and Australia), implementation (cases of the Australia and New Zealand) and a level that can be called a "withdrawal" level (case of Canada). All these conflicts were caused by differences in main political parties' positions towards the Kyoto Protocol and/or by differences in the look on that matter presented by the legislative branch and the executive branch. In this article the abovementioned issues will be examined. ; Artykuł nie zawiera abstraktu w języku polskim
European Union is principal example of the so-called fourth current of institutionalization of international relations. What makes it special in the context of other state-like communities is the level of integration and what follows the level of institutionalization of intra-communal relations. There are two levels of institutionalization of intentional relations in integration organizations. On the first level international relations are institutionalized within the community of states. The second level concentrates on institutionalization of relations between the community and other subjects of international relations. The European Union is an example of organization that is advanced on both levels of institutionalization. This paper analyzes institutionalization of international relations between EU and developed states (Australia and New Zealand) and Mercosur – another integrational organization. Recommencement of negotiation between EU and Mercosur on a treaty of association, as well as commencement of negotiations between EU and Australia on the conditions of a Framework Agreement, have taken place at the moment when it was certain that world economy has to cope with the effects of a serious recession. Those actions, although they may seem irrational, are thoroughly rational as they increase the chances of reaching a compromise. Crisis helps to concentrate on the core problems and states (or organizations of states) are more willing in that distinctions to reach an agreement, provided that the balance tilts in their favor (even if the results of negotiations are very diff erent from what was assumed at the beginning).
Located in the South Pacific, for many years New Zealand has been an important part of a great power concert taking place within the region. The post- 1945 process which had given independence and the right to self-government to various states and territories formerly administered by the great powers, allowed them to shape their external relations with other states autonomously, and thus rendered the position of formal dominance previously held by the great powers obsolete. This included also New Zealand whose international position at that time was highly conditioned by trusteeship responsibilities performed pursuant to a UN mandate. Combining David A. Baldwin's contextual approach to power analysis with Ray S. Cline's resource-based power model, the author examines the presentday distribution of military and socio-economic potential within the South Pacific region and depicts the unilateral exercise of local preponderance by the Wellington government conducted in the last 10 years. He reaches a conclusion that, stemming either from individual actions conducive to an efficient exploitation of the social potential, or a close cooperative relationship with Australia, which gives rise to an asymmetrical great-power military tandem, in which the Wellington side plays a complementary role, New Zealand currently holds a position of a regional military and social power, whereas its capabilities predestine it obtain a similar status also with respect to economic matters.
Located in the South Pacific, for many years New Zealand has been an important part of a great power concert taking place within the region. The post- 1945 process which had given independence and the right to self-government to various states and territories formerly administered by the great powers, allowed them to shape their external relations with other states autonomously, and thus rendered the position of formal dominance previously held by the great powers obsolete. This included also New Zealand whose international position at that time was highly conditioned by trusteeship responsibilities performed pursuant to a UN mandate. Combining David A. Baldwin's contextual approach to power analysis with Ray S. Cline's resource-based power model, the author examines the presentday distribution of military and socio-economic potential within the South Pacific region and depicts the unilateral exercise of local preponderance by the Wellington government conducted in the last 10 years. He reaches a conclusion that, stemming either from individual actions conducive to an efficient exploitation of the social potential, or a close cooperative relationship with Australia, which gives rise to an asymmetrical great-power military tandem, in which the Wellington side plays a complementary role, New Zealand currently holds a position of a regional military and social power, whereas its capabilities predestine it obtain a similar status also with respect to economic matters.
Located in the South Pacific, for many years New Zealand has been an important part of a great power concert taking place within the region. The post- 1945 process which had given independence and the right to self-government to various states and territories formerly administered by the great powers, allowed them to shape their external relations with other states autonomously, and thus rendered the position of formal dominance previously held by the great powers obsolete. This included also New Zealand whose international position at that time was highly conditioned by trusteeship responsibilities performed pursuant to a UN mandate. Combining David A. Baldwin's contextual approach to power analysis with Ray S. Cline's resource-based power model, the author examines the presentday distribution of military and socio-economic potential within the South Pacific region and depicts the unilateral exercise of local preponderance by the Wellington government conducted in the last 10 years. He reaches a conclusion that, stemming either from individual actions conducive to an efficient exploitation of the social potential, or a close cooperative relationship with Australia, which gives rise to an asymmetrical great-power military tandem, in which the Wellington side plays a complementary role, New Zealand currently holds a position of a regional military and social power, whereas its capabilities predestine it obtain a similar status also with respect to economic matters.
24th Conference of the Geological Society of Africa – Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, January 6–14, 2013: international aid vs. "scientific neocolonialism".A b s t r a c t. 24th Colloquium of Geological Society of Africa covered a wide range of fields in geology, from basic research and mineral resources geology to hydrogeology and geotourism. Presentations delivered at the colloquium confirmed vast scale of mineral wealth of Africa, showing at the same time that any substantial further progress in identifying new resources is hampered by the lack of good geological maps at appropriate scales. Some major problems in exploitation of mineral resources in Africa are related to artisanal and small scale mining (ASM). On one hand, ASM provides an income that is sufficient to cover basic needs for tens of millions of Africans, and on the other hand – its environmental impact may be very harmful, especially in the case of mining and processing of gold-bearing ores. Geological research in Africa is usually supported scientifically and financially by EU countries, USA, Canada, Australia as well as China. This is due to the lack of local specialists and sufficiently equipped laboratories practically everywhere except for RSA. Also two papers presented by the Author and his team gave results of research carried out in Angola and Zambia mainly thanks to assistance projects financed by the Polish Aid Programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland.
Przedmiotem niniejszego opracowania jest przedstawienie obecnie obowiązującego stanu prawnego w Polsce dotyczącego rozszerzenia uprawnień pielęgniarek i położnych o możliwość wypisywania recept. Zgodnie z nowymi przepisami pielęgniarki i położne będą mogły wystawiać recepty od 1 stycznia 2016 roku na podstawie uchwalonego projektu ustawy, wniesionego przez rząd. Ponadto przedstawiono krótką charakterystykę doświadczeń innych krajów. Funkcjonowanie systemu wypisywania recept przez pielęgniarki zostało omówione na przykładzie 10 państw: Irlandii, Wielkiej Brytanii, Holandii, Szwecji, Stanów Zjednoczonych, Botswany, Australii, Nowej Zelandii, Kanadzie i Republiki Południowej Afryki. Pozytywne doświadczenia innych państw w przedmiotowej kwestii mogą służyć jako przykład utworzenia i doskonalenia rozwiązań w Polsce. ; The aim of this paper is to demonstrate a current legal status in Poland in reference to expanding the scope of practice of nurses and midwives to writing prescriptions. According to the new regulations, nurses and midwives will be able to write prescriptions from 1 January 2016 on the basis of a bill motioned by the government. Additionally, there was included a brief characteristic of experience of other countries in that matter. The functioning of the system of writing prescriptions by nurses has been discussed based on example of 10 countries: Ireland, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden, The United States, Botswana, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Republic of South Africa. Positive experience of other countries in this subject may serve as an example for creating and developing such solutions in Poland.
One of the six listed priorities of the Australian aid to other countries is "gender equality and empowering women and girls" [Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade 2014a:25]. If we take into account this and in the same time the general aims stated in the title of the government paper, such as reducing poverty and promoting prosperity, we can clearly see that increasing women's role in the economy, including making them more active as entrepreneurs, is an important issue for the Australian authorities. According to some commentators, the current government in Canberra seems to be even more preoccupied with the advancement of women abroad than inside Australia [Harris Rimmer, Sawer 2016]. (…) Firstly, the paper presents in brief both major theoretical concepts, which are used in this argument. Then it shows main documents and other elements of the institutional framework, which provide the foundations of the Australian policy in this field. This is followed by a description of some projects on the ground, which serve as examples of the execution of aims and priorities stated in the documents. In the final part of the paper, the assembled research material is analysed in the light of the above-mentioned theoretical concepts. The author also tries to formulate an assessment of the Australian foreign policy in this area. (fragment of the text) ; Jako jeden zsześciu priorytetów australijskiej pomocy dla innych państw wymienia się "równość płci oraz upodmiotowienie kobiet idziewcząt" [Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade 2014a:25]. Jeśli zestawić to zwyrażonymi już wtytule rządowej publikacji celami ogólnymi – zmniejszaniem biedy ipromocją dobrobytu, to widać wyraźnie, iż kwestią istotną dla australijskich władz jest zwiększanie zaangażowania kobiet wgospodarkę, wtym przez prowadzenie działalności gospodarczej na własny rachunek. Wocenie części obserwatorów obecny rząd wCanberze wydaje się kłaść nawet większy nacisk na poprawę losu kobiet poza granicami kraju niż wsamej Australii [Harris Rimmer, Sawer 2016]. (…) ...
Creating independent agencies, offices or anti-corruption commissions becomes a common practice used by the states aiming to a comprehensive fight against corruption. This kind of institutional arrangements introduced in many countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and America, also in Poland created an anti-corruption agency called the Central Anticorruption Bureau. The need for creation of anti-corruption agencies also highlighted at international level. A number of international documents on preventing and combating corruption contain a requirement to create the appropriate agency or unit whose main purpose is to prevent and combat corruption. The paper reviews the institutional solutions adopted in different countries, with special emphasis on the leading anti-corruption agencies in the world (in Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia) and those countries, where according to the Corruption Perceptron Index, which estimates the level of corruption in the country, have not reached the highest results, to demonstrate that such institutions per se do not eliminate corruption. Many other factors play more important role, like, three-dimensional strategy: detection, prevention and public education. ; Tworzenie niezależnych agencji, biur lub komisji antykorupcyjnych staje się częstą praktyką stosowaną przez państwa zmierzającą do kompleksowej walki z korupcją. Tego rodzaju rozwiązania instytucjonalne wprowadziło wiele państw w Europie, Afryce, Azji i Ameryce, również w Polsce utworzono antykorupcyjną agencję pod nazwą Centralne Biuro Antykorupcyjne. Na potrzebę tworzenia agencji antykorupcyjnych zwrócono również uwagę na płaszczyźnie międzynarodowej. Szereg konwencji dotyczących zapobiegania i zwalczania korupcji zobowiązuje strony do tworzenia odpowiedniego organu lub organów, których głównym celem będzie zapobieganie i zwalczanie korupcji. W opracowaniu dokonano przeglądu rozwiązań instytucjonalnych przyjmowanych w różnych państwach, zwracając szczególną uwagę na wiodące w świecie agencje antykorupcyjne (w Hong Kongu, Singapurze i Australii) oraz na te państwa, które wg indeksu percepcji korupcji szacującego ogólny poziom korupcji w państwie nie osiągnęły najwyższych wyników, by wykazać, że instytucje takie per se nie likwidują korupcji. Istotną rolę bowiem odgrywa wiele innych czynników, w szczególności trójwymiarowa strategia: wykrywania, zapobiegania i edukacji społecznej.
Extensive research on native speakers' attitudes towards foreign accents and their users carried out in immigrant-receiving countries such as, for example, Great Britain, the United States and Australia (e.g. Kalin and Rayko 1978; Lippi-Green 1997; Munro et al. 2006), has allowed specialists to formulate several cross-cultural generalizations concerning the perception and evaluation of accented speech. For instance, according to Lindemann (2002, 2010), the listeners' attitude towards foreign speakers, shaped by cultural stereotypes and prejudices, plays a crucial role in comprehending accented speech. It is also often claimed (e.g. Said 2006; Lev-Ari and Keysar 2010) that a heavy foreign accent has a negative impact on the listeners' assessment of speakers' personality traits, such as credibility, intelligence and competence. Moreover, this negative accent-based social evaluation, as shown by Lippi-Green (1997), might even lead to various kinds of foreign speakers' discrimination. Contemporary Poland, where Polish-speaking foreigners are still a relative rarity, constitutes an interesting and yet unexplored ground for testing the universality of claims concerning the relationship between the listeners' cultural prejudices and their evaluations of foreign speakers' accents, as well as personality traits. In this paper we report on an empirical study in which 40 Polish university students assessed 11 samples of foreign-accented Polish, both in terms of accent features and personal characteristics ascribed to the speakers, in order to find out whether these judgements are affected by Polish listeners' attitudes towards the speakers' cultural background and knowledge of their nationality. The results of the study indicate that, on the whole, the speakers' nationality does not significantly affect the participants' evaluation of foreign speakers' accent features (i.e. comprehensibility, foreign-accentedness and acceptability). Such relationship can, however, be found in the attribution of personal characteristics to foreign speakers, which, to some extent, is influenced by the information concerning their nationality and listeners' cultural prejudices.
Kościuszko Mound, built in 1820-1823 by the Polish Nation as a symbolic grave and monument to Tadeusz Kościuszko, is the second significant sub-dominant feature in the cultural landscape of Cracow, next to Wawel Castle. In the mid-19th century, a citadel fort with neo-style features was built around the Mound, considered a masterpiece of architecturae militaris. In 1936, the Mound was entered into the register of monuments and in 2017, by decree of the President of the Republic of Poland, together with its surroundings, it was declared a Monument of History. As an earthen structure, the Mound is subject to constant processes of destruction caused by the forces of nature. The Committee of the Kosciuszko Mound established in 1820 is responsible for its permanent conservation. The Committee also takes care of the surroundings of the Monument by restoring components of the fort. The great success of the conservation and adaptation works is the transformation of the southern curtain (i.e. the earth rampart fortified with a wall, with a ramp for rolling out cannons) into a multi-cubature, two-storey conference and exhibition centre. The Committee also led to thinning the canopy of the self-seeding forest around the Mound and in the foreground of the fort, in order to expose this historic complex. In other parts of the fort, subordinate to the Committee, Kościuszko exhibitions are held, and ultimately the Kościuszko Museum is to be established here. Among the projects aimed at promoting the Kosciuszko Mound with its surroundings as an object of historical, architectural and landscape values - material and immaterial – there are numerous publications in Polish and foreign languages, lectures given in Poland, but also in the United States, France, Switzerland and Australia. The best evidence of the well-established place of Kosciuszko Mound in the Polish space and geography of the Globe and in the consciousness of Poles and many foreigners is the huge and steadily growing visitor turnout. ; Kopiec Kościuszki zbudowany w l.1820-1823 przez Naród Polski jako symboliczna mogiła za pomnik dla Tadeusza Kościuszki jest drugą obok Wawelu znacząca subdominantą w krajobrazie kulturowym Krakowa. W poł. XIX w. wokół Kopca zbudowano fort cytadelowy o cechach neostylowych, uznany za arcydzieło architecturae militaris. W r. 1936 Kopiec został wpisany do rejestru zabytków a w 2017 r. rozporządzeniem Prezydenta RP wraz z otoczeniem został uznany za pomnik historii. Jako budowla ziemna Kopiec podlega nieustannym procesom destrukcji, powodowanym siłami natury. Stałą pieczę konserwatorską nad nim sprawuje Komitet Kopca Kościuszki ustanowiony w 1820 r. Komitet też troszczy się o otoczenie Pomnika restaurując podległe mu części fortu. Sukcesem konserwatorsko-adaptacyjnym jest przekształcenie kurtyny południowej (czyli wału ziemnego umocnionego murem, z pochylnią do wytaczania dział) w wielokubaturowe, dwukondygnacyjne centrum konferencyjno-wystawowe. Wpływa też Komitet na prześwietlenie samosiewnego lasu, wokół Kopca i na przedpolu fortu, w celu odsłonięcia tego zabytkowego zespołu. W pozostałych, podległych Komitetowi częściach fortu organizowane są wystawy kościuszkowskie a docelowo ma tu powstać muzeum Kościuszki. Pośród przedsięwzięć mających promować Kopiec Kościuszki z otoczeniem, jako obiekt o wartościach historycznych, architektonicznych i krajobrazowych – materialnych i niematerialnych są liczne publikacje polsko i obcojęzyczne, wykłady głoszone w Polsce, ale też w Stanach Zjednoczonych, Francji, Szwajcarii i Australii. Najlepszym świadectwem ugruntowanego miejsca Mogiły Kościuszki w polskiej przestrzeni i w geografii Globu oraz w świadomości Polaków i wielu cudzoziemców jest ogromna i systematycznie wzrastająca frekwencja.
