Suchergebnisse

The presented paper deals with the basic issues, dilemmas and social and cultural contradictions in the Polish transformation process against the background of Central and Eastern Europe, the processes of the establishment and development of new states and nations as well as the new markets. The author views these problems through the light of the emergence of a broad class of subcontractors in a turbulent environment and the new modes of production, which are a result of changes in the structure of human labour introduced by post-Fordism (in its final stage, lean management) and postmodernity. The author also analyzes the social change as a consequence of social relations resulting from exchanging the life chances of the actors for the class-conditioned market opportunities in the existing social and political situation (conjoncture) and at the present stage of transformation at the moment when the emergent markets get shaped and mature. The study makes use of the hermeneutic method, which is finding out the essence of the present phase of transformation through the light of new concepts against the background of the historical-comparative analysis. The present article is not aimed at ordering reality but it is an inspiration for studies and for approaching transformation in accordance with a new conceptual apparatus of social sciences, sociology, management and political economy.

The contradictions and conflicts were, are and will be widespread. There are in all human communities, even in the world of politics, economy and finance. A potential source of conflicts are contradictions. When a conflict of interest is disclosed, a conflict situation arises. In addition to the conflict that brings positive effects there are also destructive conflicts that contribute to the disorganization states, regional communities, institutions and firms. The contradictions of financial interests and destructive conflicts in the sphere of finance are at the heart of research undertaken in this article. The key research problem is therefore the answer to the question of how to minimize the negative consequences of destructive conflicts in the sphere of finance. The main objective is to develop a theoretical and methodological framework for the theory of conflicts in the financial sphere, and to formulate an original concept of good integrated governance, based mainly on assumptions of ordoliberalism. ; Sprzeczności i konflikty były, są i będą zjawiskiem powszechnym i wszechobecnym. Występują we wszystkich ludzkich wspólnotach, również w świecie polityki, gospodarki i finansów. Potencjalnym źródłem konfliktów są sprzeczności. Kiedy sprzeczność interesów zostaje ujawniona, powstaje sytuacja konfliktowa. Oprócz konfliktów interesów, które przynoszą skutki pozytywne, występują też konflikty destruktywne, które przyczyniają się do dezorganizacji państw, społeczności regionalnych, instytucji i przedsiębiorstw. Sprzeczności interesów finansowych i konflikty destruktywne w sferze finansów znajdują się w centrum rozważań w niniejszym artykule. Kluczowym problemem badawczym jest odpowiedź na pytanie o sposoby minimalizowania negatywnych konsekwencji konfliktów destruktywnych w sferze finansów. Celem głównym jest opracowanie podstaw/ram teoretyczno-metodycznych do teorii konfliktów w sferze finansów wraz ze sformułowaniem oryginalnej koncepcji good integrated governance, opartej głównie na założeniach ordoliberalizmu.

The article presents various manifestations of concentration of power characteristic of tendencies existing within the capitalist system. The interdependencies and contradictions of related processes are presented in the directly economic and political dimensions. In relation to the problem, the adequacy of understanding the developmental tendencies of capitalism in Marx's approach and some of the later thinkers rooted in various ideological traditions referring to Marxism is examined.

The Three Seas Initiative (TSI) constitutes a project involving the
cooperation of twelve European countries. Poland and Croatia, the founders of the TSI, are especially active in this respect. Even though Hungary seems the closest political ally of Poland, the country rarely participates in TSI actions. In addition, when pursuing its politics, Hungary remains in contradiction to the principles of the TSI- chiefly regarding energy policies. The paper aims to offer answers to questions concerning the significance of the TSI in Hungary's foreign affairs policies and the country's perception of such a form of cooperation in Europe.

The goal of the study is to analyze the non‑Western interpretations of sustainable development concept and the role of international organizations and international public goods in their potential realization. Numerous political and economic contradictions generated by the experiences of colonization and decolonization of the region make Western and regional understanding of the concept substantially different. While from the global perspective it is perceived as an imperative, locally it may be interpreted as a veiled form of neocolonialism. The differences result in wide range of problems, from minor misunderstandings to open resentment. The goal of the article is to prove that regional international organizations and international public goods have the potential to become a key to develop mutually acceptable form of sustainable development concept and practice.

The article discusses the image of Poland, the Poles, and Russia-Poland relations, presented by the Russian mass media in recent years. To analyze this image, the authors reviewed a number of publications that appeared in Russian publications in 2014–2018. At the same time, it was necessary to recall the historical causes of the Russian-Polish contradictions, from the early Middle Ages to the 20th century. The authors assess the relevance of the historical heritage for the modern politics of the two countries and make an attempt to determine the influence of the image of Poland created in the Russian media on the everyday consciousness of the Russian students. For this, a survey of first-year students of the St. Petersburg State Technological Institute was conducted. The survey results and comments are provided in this article.

National consolidation of society: theoretical and methodological problems of research. In the article there are considered theoretical and methodological problems of question of national consolidation of modern society. National consolidation is an ethnopolitics, the process that is sent to strengthening ethno national groups that form nation, by the gradual removal of barriers and forming of general values, institutes (political, economic, social, spiritual). It is marked that nations for that peculiar low level of national identity and national consolidation easily become deformed and collapse under act of self-contradictions and by external pressure. The decline of a level of national identity and the reduction of the process of national consolidation, that we can observe in many European states, predefined the globalization processes, height of unintegration moods of separate ethnic minorities, problems of migration

The relationship between science and religion, particularly their assumed conflict, has traditionally been discussed in terms of their factual or logical contradictions. The article proposes to change this perspective and to consider them both as sources of images in order to show their powerful interaction in the sphere of the imaginary. It also emphasizes that the historical and cultural context of their interaction is highly important. Based on the 66 in-depth interviews with the (post)Soviet generations of Ukrainian and Lithuanian scientists, the article reconstructs their imaginary of the Divine. Most of them have not retained their Christian belief. Instead, they created an alternative, science-related imaginary that integrated science and religion rather than put the two in conflict. The research provides evidence that the Soviet culture aimed at eradicating religion has in fact planted a seed of a religious sensibility and imaginary that was hidden under the guise of science and that has been persisting through generations.

The category of the system of government in Poland requires reference to 'the governance style' of the right, and to the tendency that has appeared in international politics in recent years to call it populist nationalism. The objective of this paper is to show that in the case of Poland after 2015, the thesis of the retreat of democracy has no factual grounds, and it can be countered through the use of evidence. The system of government in Poland after the Law and Justice party came to power cannot be described as a contradiction to democracy. Citizens are not being manipulated and deceived. They are aware of the content of decisions made by the executive branch. The opposition is able to act freely, and it is supported by independent private media. There are many veto points in the political system. The government can count on public support that is stronger than that of the governments from the period before 2015.

The article presents the analysis of the relation between two concepts, namely cosmopolitan democracy and agonistic multipolar order, whose author is Chantal Mouffe, in the context of the dispute about the preferred shape of global democracy. Both approaches are presented in the literature as opposing. The main thesis of the present article is the possibility of connecting them, but according to dialectical principles. The point is not about a smooth consensus but about the fact that the contradictions between those views can be treated as a condition of their interweaving. To this aim, I use two theoretical concepts: of antagonistic cosmopolitanism by Tamara Caraus and of antagonistic global constitutionalism by Christof Royer. On this basis I claim that Mouffe's rejection of cosmopolitanism is not thoroughly coherent with her own assumptions. I acknowledge her argumentation that cosmopolitan democracy might lead to pluralism without antagonism but at the same time I suggest that Mouffe's postulate of the multipolar order can lead to pluralist antagonism without agonism. It is only the establishment of cosmopolitan institutions and rules that will allow for really agonistic and radically pluralized global politics, thanks to which it will be possible to solve the contemporary world problems effectively. For these reasons agonistic cosmopolitanism can be regarded as the most optimal variant of global democracy.

This dissertation tries to prove that the so-called philosopher on the throne can be a better ruler not only than dictators but also than contemporary liberal democratic politician. Since the sixth century BC, when the human undertook a systematic and critical contemplation upon surrounding reality, she/he has begun to dream about political rulers to be guided in their doings by the imperative of reason. In principal, the higher level of spiritual culture characterized the rulers, the more likely their subjects were to live to a great age in relative peace. That is why for centuries it has been dreamed of a political system that is something like a kind of a sophocracy. The most complete picture of such a sovereign, which fulfilled dreams about a sage in the crown, was outlined by Plato in his State. In his point of view, as long as the lovers of wisdom will not have royal power in the states, or the rulers will not begin to love wisdom honestly, there is no help for states and for the human race. Nevertheless, over the centuries, authority was enforced mainly by physical strenght and not by reason. It was not until the twentieth century that democracy brought freedom and equality of rights, thanks to which political power became more rational. Unfortunately, also contemporary liberal democracy is not free from fundamental contradictions that can bring about its collapse. The main contradiction is the increasingly smaller influence of citizens – who in the theory of democracy are the only legal sovereign – on political decision-making. This is accompanied by the enhancing influence of entities with no democratic legitimacy, e.g. global corporations that do not care about the common (public) good, but only about their own. These entities use the growing intellectual and ethical weakness of democratic politicians whose purpose is their own particular interest and not the happiness (good) of their citizens. This may indicate a slow system disintegration. For this reason liberal democracy needs politicians who are wise enough to realize this threat. Of all the people in the history of the world who led political communities, to the Platonic ideal in the highest degree (among others, like T. G. Masaryk and Á. Göncz) got closer the man who, paradoxically, never wanted to be a ruler. Václav Havel's thought is a critique of both Soviet post-totalitarianism and Western democracy. In his opinion both systems, though to a different degree, alienate a human trying to reduce her/him to the role of a machine's cog. Havel proposes that each citizen take individual and global responsibility for herself/himself and the whole world, because only in this way she/he can consciously exert real influence over political decisions. What is more, this is the only way to build a politics that aims – if possible – the happiness of every person. Havel realizes that in today's world this attitude is extremely impractical and very difficult to apply in everyday life. Nevertheless, he knows no better possibility.

The influence of the US on the forms and course of the integration processes in Western Europe was very strong, especially in the first post-war years. It was the influence of an external force which, being free of the internal contradictions stemming from Western Europe's interests, had at its disposal real capabilities to impose integration concepts beneficial to itself. Such integration was in line with both the economic and military interests of the United States during this period. The main reasons prompting Western European countries in the first post-war years to accept the solutions suggested by the United States were: the said countries' difficult economic situation, fear of the communist parties' coming to power, and the reluctant (hostile) attitude towards the USSR and the communist bloc. The combination of these causes served to temporarily neutralize the centrifugal tendencies and muted the divergence of interests between the individual countries of Western Europe. Such motives of integration also influenced the character of the emerging Western European political, military and economic organizations. The economic development of Western European countries, whose sources, in addition to the Marshall Plan, should be seen also in other factors, later led to a shift of integration initiatives from the American side to the European one. From a formal point of view, the effects of US policy in the period up to 1950 entailed: the establishment of NATO, the creation of the OEEC and the signing of the agreement on the EUP.

The influence of the US on the forms and course of the integration processes in Western Europe was very strong, especially in the first post-war years. It was the influence of an external force which, being free of the internal contradictions stemming from Western Europe's interests, had at its disposal real capabilities to impose integration concepts beneficial to itself. Such integration was in line with both the economic and military interests of the United States during this period. The main reasons prompting Western European countries in the first post-war years to accept the solutions suggested by the United States were: the said countries' difficult economic situation, fear of the communist parties' coming to power, and the reluctant (hostile) attitude towards the USSR and the communist bloc. The combination of these causes served to temporarily neutralize the centrifugal tendencies and muted the divergence of interests between the individual countries of Western Europe. Such motives of integration also influenced the character of the emerging Western European political, military and economic organizations. The economic development of Western European countries, whose sources, in addition to the Marshall Plan, should be seen also in other factors, later led to a shift of integration initiatives from the American side to the European one. From a formal point of view, the effects of US policy in the period up to 1950 entailed: the establishment of NATO, the creation of the OEEC and the signing of the agreement on the EUP.

The influence of the US on the forms and course of the integration processes in Western Europe was very strong, especially in the first post-war years. It was the influence of an external force which, being free of the internal contradictions stemming from Western Europe's interests, had at its disposal real capabilities to impose integration concepts beneficial to itself. Such integration was in line with both the economic and military interests of the United States during this period. The main reasons prompting Western European countries in the first post-war years to accept the solutions suggested by the United States were: the said countries' difficult economic situation, fear of the communist parties' coming to power, and the reluctant (hostile) attitude towards the USSR and the communist bloc. The combination of these causes served to temporarily neutralize the centrifugal tendencies and muted the divergence of interests between the individual countries of Western Europe. Such motives of integration also influenced the character of the emerging Western European political, military and economic organizations. The economic development of Western European countries, whose sources, in addition to the Marshall Plan, should be seen also in other factors, later led to a shift of integration initiatives from the American side to the European one. From a formal point of view, the effects of US policy in the period up to 1950 entailed: the establishment of NATO, the creation of the OEEC and the signing of the agreement on the EUP.

The influence of the US on the forms and course of the integration processes in Western Europe was very strong, especially in the first post-war years. It was the influence of an external force which, being free of the internal contradictions stemming from Western Europe's interests, had at its disposal real capabilities to impose integration concepts beneficial to itself. Such integration was in line with both the economic and military interests of the United States during this period. The main reasons prompting Western European countries in the first post-war years to accept the solutions suggested by the United States were: the said countries' difficult economic situation, fear of the communist parties' coming to power, and the reluctant (hostile) attitude towards the USSR and the communist bloc. The combination of these causes served to temporarily neutralize the centrifugal tendencies and muted the divergence of interests between the individual countries of Western Europe. Such motives of integration also influenced the character of the emerging Western European political, military and economic organizations. The economic development of Western European countries, whose sources, in addition to the Marshall Plan, should be seen also in other factors, later led to a shift of integration initiatives from the American side to the European one. From a formal point of view, the effects of US policy in the period up to 1950 entailed: the establishment of NATO, the creation of the OEEC and the signing of the agreement on the EUP.