The following editorial offers a reflection on the situation of Central and Eastern Europe with a special focus on the European Union's Eastern Neighbourhood and Russia. In the past few years, we have witnessed the divisive impact of neoliberalism, economic recession, Britain's departure from the EU, the refugee and migrant crisis which further shattered societies along cultural lines, the aggressive expansionism of Russia exploiting the weakness of the West, and more recently, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic with an unprecedented impact on societies, global health and economy. The editorial reflects on how Central and Eastern Europe scores among the imaginative geographies and how these imaginative geographies translate into geopolitics concerning hard and soft power application in the Eastern European Neighbourhood.
Transitions, democratization and recent democratic backsliding in CEE provide a rich context for examining the meaning and shifting of civic activism and how people participate and organize in civil society today. This article offers a fresh and comparative analysis based on empirical data on the question of what motivates formal and informal activism, and the potentially transformative role of civil society that has recently faced such challenges as democratic backsliding, shrinking public space and polarization. It looks specifically at the responses of Polish and Hungarian activists and advocacy CSOs to these new challenges. Their strategies bring an important lesson on how civil society actors can adapt, continue their mission, or even turn challenges into opportunities. These new trends indicate that civic space in CEE is shifting which is further influenced by the reactions to new forms of social, economic and political crises. It is argued that this shift and the new trends in civic activism require not only fresh empirical data, but also a revision of normative and methodological approaches that have so far been used in civil society and social movement research.
This article concerns the effectiveness of price regulations (the application of the rate cap) in the shadow banking area. The author analyses the situation in Poland and the examples from the selected markets (where this type of regulations was implemented). Taking into account that the main role of the regulator is to ensure the highest possible level of consumer protection in the financial market, by eliminating the negative impact of asymmetries and usury - the effectiveness of proposed solutions stays crucial for all market players. Until 2015 lending activity and market practices related to microloans (payday loans) offered by Non-Banking Financial Institutions in Poland were not regulated. After Amber Gold's bankruptcy a lot of actions were taken to regulate the consumer finance market including a plan to limit the maximum cost of a consumer loan. All the proposed measures were similar to those implemented in other countries. Examples of regulations from other countries show that too restrictive regulations may have increased financial exclusion, but too liberal/imprecise ones might make them ineffective. Regardless the identified risks, the Polish government decided to apply hard/ restrictive market regulations.
The aim of the article is to analyse the possibility of establishing a regional gas transmission and trade center in Poland, the so-called gas hub. The gas hub is described in many strategic documents adopted by the Polish authorities in recent years. For its creation, several key elements must be met. First of all, a strong, competitive, and diversified (energy sector, heating sector, industry, individual customers) natural gas market should be established in Poland. The natural gas distribution and transmission network should be able to balance supply and demand. Domestic production of natural gas should be supplemented by stable and diversified supplies. The domestic gas markets in the region should be integrated and the connection between the systems (interconnectors) should enable the gas transmission in both directions (import/export). The purpose of this article is to verify the possibility of establishing a regional natural gas transmission and trade center in Poland and to define the potential for cooperation with selected countries of our region. Keywords: natural gas, gas hub, gas infrastructure, regional cooperation Streszczenie: Celem artykułu jest analiza możliwości utworzenia w Polsce regionalnego centrum przesyłu i handlu gazem ziemnym, tak zwanego hubu gazowego. Aby koncepcja, która opisana jest w szeregu strategicznych dokumentów przyjmowanych przez polskie władze w ostatnich latach, mogła zostać zrealizowana, musi wystąpić kilka kluczowych elementów. Przede wszystkim powinien powstać w Polsce silny, konkurencyjny, zróżnicowany (energetyka zawodowa, sektor ciepłownictwa, przemysł, klienci indywidualni) rynek handlu gazem ziemnym. Sieć dystrybucji i przesyłu surowca powinna móc równoważyć popyt z podażą surowca. Krajowe wydobycie gazu ziemnego powinno być uzupełnione przez stabilne i zdywersyfikowane dostawy. Krajowe rynki gazu w regionie powinny być zintegrowane, a połączenia między systemami (interkonektory) powinny umożliwić przesył surowca w obie strony (import/export).
The assessment of the implementation of the environmental policy in China is usually made in the context of the application of environmental law. The author proposes a different approach, assuming that the policy outcomes depend not only on such or other prerogatives at individual levels of management but on the mutual interaction of individual actors. The article indicates to what extent the central authority is able to define policy goals along with an adequate system of supervision of implementation, what is the perception of local authorities, and in what conditions local authorities are willing to accept the objectives of the ecological policy. It has been identified in which conditions sub-national authorities may distort centrally planned activities related to environmental protection.
The Treaty of Trianon (hereinafter Trianon), the enormous losses of territory and co-ethnics, and the shaking of Hungary's status as a dominant power in the Carpathian Basin imputed a tragic understanding of contemporary Hungarian history on the Hungarian society, invoking the idea of a trauma lasting even today. Trianon's understanding became a divisive issue for political parties after 1989, highlighting the ever-deeper divisions between right and left-liberals, since 2010. Its "overcoming" is a flagship project of the government's politics of identity, with modest success so far. Thus, the 100th anniversary was a crucial moment as a test case for a self-professed nationalist, traditionalist, conservative political force for manifesting a comprehensive politics of memory. In the light of the newly built monument at the heart of Budapest, with the Hungarian names of all localities on the territory of pre-1918 Hungary inscribed on its wall, a cautious shifting back to territorial revisionism was expected. In this article, I will argue that even with such tendencies being, obviously, present, the official commemorations were crafted with a surprising message, that attempts to turn the canonical understanding of Trianon upside down and reframe it into a common catastrophe of Central Europe. Doing so places the consequences in the context of the decolonization of history, the present decline of empires, and the emergence of nation-states while combining it with important tropes of the traditional, anti-liberal and revisionist Trianon discourse. Nevertheless, the result is a transparently political message that is not only driven by easily visible actual political goals (V4 and Central European), but one that detaches the politics of memory from historical references and legacies and creates a set of shallow symbols for utter instrumentalization, to recombine at will, in a vulgarised sense of post-modernism.
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.
The author analyses the design and imposition of the bank levy that came into effect on the 1st of February 2016 both from the economic and legal perspective. The author portrays its origin as well as the main solutions. The risks connected with their implementation involving the capacity to collect the tax are outlined. The author also presents the development of the design of taxation of the banking sector in Poland in the past dozen or more years. The author conducts a comparative analysis of the various tax designs that prove effective in many E.U. Member States. This allows to show the similarities and tell the differences between the various state-specific designs and the ones adopted in Poland. The paper is also concerned with the consequences that the bank levy might bring about in Poland. The author postulates that the analysis of its design flaws makes it possible to evade taxation. The author puts forward alternative concepts, which would make the provisions of the law more precise. The bank levy applicable in Poland has also been subject to an in-depth analysis in the context of tax avoidance.
In recent years the euro area has been characterised by a very low rate of economic growth (in some years there was even a real reduction in the volume of production). This has launched a debate among economists about the instruments to be applied in public policy to bolster the economy. In this article the author analysed the possible effects of fiscal and monetary policy on economic growth when economic stagnation in the euro area is accompanied by a high level of public debt as a percentage of GDP and a very low level of the interest rates set by the central bank as well as market interest rates. On the basis of economic theory the author considers whether expansionary fiscal policy will contribute to the growth of real output, or merely enlarge the public debt and increase the risk of sovereign debt default and currency crisis. The author also introduced the concept of quantitative easing as an instrument of expansionary monetary policy.
The ideology of the free market, at the beginning of the transformation was used in a propagandistic manner that was similar to the one used in the communist period of the Polish history. The Author presents a convincing polemic debate with the neoliberal dogmas and myths. The Book also includes the lessons learnt from the Icelandic banking crisis that are relevant for any constitutional reformer. Finally, it offers a suggestive prospect to increase the efficacy of the Polish State.
In: Rocznik Instytutu Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej; The Impact of the Russian Federation upon the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Band 18, Heft 3, S. 195-223
The Conference on "Recovering Forgotten History" is one of the oldest attempts undertaken in the III Republic to defend Poland's (and East- Central Europe's) image abroad, especially in the US. From 2006, the Conference has organized its seminars, originally bi-annually and now annually, to provide a forum for discussions between the authors of English-language history textbooks and monographs, and Polish historians who review those publications. Arguments are scholarly, grounded in evidence of primary sources and historiography, therefore, they are convincing in combatting Western prejudices and clichés about Poland and East-Central Europe. Additionally, the Conference provides opportunities for sightseeing of Poland's historical places. As a result, the work of the Conference leads not only to the removal of countless mistakes and misinterpretations in the reviewed books but also to a change of guests' attitudes toward this part of Europe. For the most part, they are academic teachers, who can also influence students through their classes. The Conference achieves all of this while having very modest means at its disposal.
In: Rocznik Instytutu Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej; The Impact of the Russian Federation upon the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Band 18, Heft 3, S. 9-26
This article identifies the political challenges for Central Europe resulting from the Russian Federation conducting competition below the threshold of war. The main research methods, both inductive and deductive, were analysis and a survey of the existing literature. There is still aggression in international rivalry, and its level is deliberately regulated so as not to cross the threshold of open armed conflict as defined by international law. The contemporary rivalry of the Russian Federation takes on an unlimited scope and goes beyond the physical sphere: the main emphasis in its application is on non-military and non-lethal forms of influence that can be easily combined with kinetic ones. The exploitation of the space between the binary borders of war and peace was practically verified both under the Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union. It has been confirmed that a great deal of importance in Russia is now attached to unconventional activities and that their application offers great opportunities to achieve strategic objectives without the need to resort to direct military confrontation.
The authors analyze the essence of the problem of financialization of economy in the national and global perspectives, at the same time pointing out that this process also refers to the sphere of politics. The example of the 2007+ financial and banking crisis indicates the negative features of this process in reference to economy but also to the financial security of the states and their citizens. In the sphere of politics financialization in the external aspect is reflected in transferring public funds to private economic entities, mainly financial corporations, by virtue of political decisions. In the internal aspects financialization means an increasing role of financial instruments and resources in establishing public authorities, including parliaments and presidential offices. This tendency is considered by the authors to be an immanent feature of contemporary capitalism and a threat to democracy.
