Suchergebnisse

The following discussion took place in September 2018 at the Warsaw School of Economics. It focused on both senior politics, experts, and analysts. The discussion was moderated and planned by Andrzej Klimczuk, associated with the Warsaw School of Economics, and invited to the discussion: Barbara Szatur-Jaworska, social politician and gerontologist from the University of Warsaw, Paweł Kubicki, economist, Warsaw School of Economics, Marek Niezabitowski, sociologist from the Silesian University of Technology, Ryszard Majer, social politician , Agnieszka Cieśla, architect and urban planner, Warsaw University of Technology, Marzena Rudnicka, founder and president of the National Institute of Senior Management (biographical notes at the end of the debate). Panelists during the discussion analyzed the following issues: I. Beginnings of the senior policy, its definition, strategic documents of the state, II. The role of local governments in animating activities within the framework of senior policy and non-governmental organizations, III. Creation and role of the law on seniors, IV. Diversification of the environment of seniors, V. Activities in other countries within the framework of the senior policy, VI. Changes in social awareness, the evolution of attitudes towards older people, old age, ageing, VII. The market for products and services for seniors, VIII. Seniors' activity, formal and informal, activity infrastructure, IX. Housing for older people and ageing population X. The role of the state and self-government in the senior policy, dialogue with the authorities, public-private partnership, XI. Challenges and directions of development of the senior policy, XII. The deficit of care services, XIII. Senior and pension policy, XIV. Convergence and divergence in the senior policy.

The article discusses the Norwegian response to the neoliberal movement of privatising public education. Neoliberal trends in public services, including education, mainly manifest themselves in the affirmation of the economic efficiency in public services provision, increased participation of private and non-governmental organisations and the creation of quasi-markets. In Norway likewise in other Scandinavian countries the reform of public sector has not been strongly influenced by neoliberal ideology and the New Public Management. On the other hand, it was the political decentralisation and empowerment of local communities that shaped the organisation and management of the school system. The primary aim of the Norwegian education is to ensure equality and inclusion for all students, regardless of their gender, abilities, family background, nationality and health condition. !e article presents the historical path of public and non-public schooling in Norway illustrated by the statistical data concerning kindergartens, schools and pupils respectively. The central and local government still provides the vast majority of public education services and the non-public sector remains limited. Nevertheless in the last 10 years the rise in the number of private schools has been noticed, especially in bigger cities and more affluent dwellings. In its final part the article presents the recent developments in the privatisation policy conducted by the conservative government in Norway. It deliberates postulates relating to modification of administrative procedures leading to the establishment of private schools, widening the school choice for parents as well as diversification of the teachers' professional status. It also sketches examples of the utilisation of private-public partnerships in construction and operationof public schools.

The aim of this article is, based on the situation in Poland (according to the borders of 1945), Czechoslovakia (according to the borders of 1938), Austria-Hungary (within the borders from 1867 to 1918 and their immediate successors), i.e. the 19th century parts of Prussia (later Germany), Russia and Austria, to indicate (using selected examples) the method, circumstances, factors of planning the railway network and similarly the circumstances of their implementation. Therefore, an indirect aim will be also to present the differences and similarities between these countries in order to ultimately show the areas of the relationship between railways and modernity. The 'hopes' accompanying these plans and the 'emotions' absolutely present during implementation are also subject to analysis. All applicants for further railway investments expressed hopes of a 'miraculous' impact of the railways on economic and social life (in that order). However, this impact also varied depending on the time when the investment was made. Certainly, the existence of this phenomenon (and the associated danger of overinvestment) was recognised as early as the seventh and eighth decades of the 19th century, and it was pointed out in the analyses of the projects submitted that they would not provide a return of the sums invested. Nevertheless, such projects were not always abandoned. There was no similar consideration in many cases in interwar Poland. After 1918, Czechoslovakia basically pursued only politically-driven projects (as it had faced earlier overinvestment and invested in modern motorisation) – including those aimed at integrating the two parts of the country. Polish decision-makers (and communities), on the other hand, were still at this time largely pinning their hopes on the beneficial impact of the railways on economic development.

The crisis on the border between Belarus and three EU countries, i.e. Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, which has been ongoing since the spring of 2021, was an unprecedented attempt in Europe to destabilize the situation inside the Community. Poland faced a challenge it had not faced before. The challenge was faced not only by state authorities and services dedicated to the protection of the Union's external border, but above all by the residents of the border areas. The influx of illegal migrants inspired by the Belarusian authorities and, as a result, the introduction of the state of emergency affected their lives to the greatest extent, disrupting its rhythm, while the migrants appearing in the farms introduced a hitherto unknown fear of strangers. In this context, the issue of perception and evaluation of the migration crisis and the actions taken by the government from the point of view of local authorities: mayors and village heads of border areas bordering Belarus seems to be extremely interesting cognitively. An empirical survey carried out on a purposive, exhaustive sample of village heads and mayors of municipalities in the border area was devoted to this problem. It should be noted here that the project had the character of a case study. It was diagnostic (exploratory) in nature at this stage and needs to be deepened in the course of further research. The results obtained allow to positively confirm the formulated research hypotheses. The problem of illegal migrants was perceived by the respondents as an issue requiring decisive and immediate action by state institutions. Cooperation with Mateusz Morawiecki's government and its field bodies was positively assessed. The mayors mostly approved of the emergency measures treating them as necessary to resolve the crisis.

This paper is devoted to the analysis of the socio-political changes that occurred in Poland in 2016 as a result of the outbreak of the so-called black protests. The protests, which later became known as the All-Poland Women's Strike, were activated several times in the following years, as a result of subsequent events related to the provisions regulating the right to abortion in Poland. The empirical findings contained in this text result from the analysis of statistical data (CBOS reports), dedicated to the research of political party electorates, which was carried out in 2015, 2017 and 2021. Moreover, the article presents own research conducted in the period from April to July 2021 using the method of analysis of the content published on social media by entities established after 2016. The results of the research confirm that the outbreak and the subsequent periodic activation of protests, supported by the activities of entities promoting the right to abortion, initiated two significant changes in Poland. The first is the clear polarization of political party electorates regarding the right to abortion, and the second is the intensification of the discourse on the very right to abortion, introducing new arguments regarding termination of pregnancy to the agenda (as well as other topics related to the situation of women and broadly understood sex education). Both of the indicated outcomes resulted in the phenomenon of abortion being visible in the public discourse, especially in social media. The following analysis is part of the trend of social research devoted to the importance of socio-political protests in democratic countries and the role of social media as an immanent tool used in the activity of new social movements.

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 main objective of security policy is to prevent threats, which means to fight certain phenomena at their very source. Governments of many countries threatened by a terrorist attack are still searching for an effective way to prevent attacks on intended terrorist targets and to uncover them in time. It is now recognised that monitoring telephone and internet communications is one of the most effective ways to combat terrorism. In recent years, international security has become one of the most debated issues due to, among other things, the coronavirus pandemic and numerous terrorist attacks. An important factor in preventing these threats is how the state and its services function through the use of a variety of tools and techniques, thus creating new and unique ethical and legal problems. The force and impact of state policy measures are often excessive and disproportionate to the threats posed. In this case, civil rights and liberties are most often violated. Doubts that arise when analysing these two values also stimulate reflection on the question to what extent the state is the victim of threats and to what extent it itself is the aggressor. Contemporary threats such as terrorism or the coronavirus pandemic are a major source of public fear that has far-reaching implications for public governance. The analysis carried out in this study examines the use of digital technologies for surveillance and control of the public by governments as a means to combat contemporary threats. The article describes both cases highlighting the importance of digital technology in maintaining security and cites evidence showing the threats that electronic surveillance poses to democratic norms. In other words, digital control over society promotes security but also restricts civil rights and liberties. The article emphasizes the worrying tendency for governments to implement technology rapidly without sufficient concern for the consequences for socio-political life.

Entwicklung und Analyse der deutsch-polnischen Beziehungen seit Übernahme der Regierung durch die CDU (Okt. 1982). Als politische Intentionen der westdeutschen Regierung werden genannt die Unterminierung des deutsch-polnischen Abkommens von 1970 und die Verstärkung der deutsch-polnischen Beziehungen mit dem Ziel der Destabilisierung des sozialistischen Systems. (BIOst-Hrs)

The purpose of this article is to analyse the dynamics and variability of the conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. As noted in the introduction, the term "conflict" refers to the state of bilateral relations between the two countries since 2014, nevertheless, for the analysis of the current state of the conflict, the key date is 24 February 2022. Since the start of the invasion, described by the Russians as a "special military operation", we have seen an increase in the dynamics and intensity of the conflict at all levels. The intensification of military operations has also affected the political, economic, and social spheres. Just when it seemed that the so-called "annexation referenda" would mark a new phase in the course of the conflict, and the scenario of a "Ukrainian version" of a low-intensity conflict would become more feasible, it turned out that the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine changed not only the situation on the frontline but also dynamized the other levels on which the conflict is taking place. This forced the author to update the analysed phenomenon. The article concludes with the constatation that we are in a "period of transition", and the coming winter may once again change the situation of both sides in the ongoing war. Celem artykułu jest analiza zmienności i dynamiki konfliktu pomiędzy Federacją Rosyjską i Ukrainą. Jak zaznaczono we wstępie, termin "konflikt" odnosi się do stanu stosunków dwustronnych pomiędzy tymi państwami od 2014 roku, niemniej jednak, dla analizy obecnego stanu konfliktu, kluczową datą jest 24 luty 2022 roku. Od rozpoczęcia inwazji określanej przez Rosjan "specjalną operacją militarną" obserwujemy wzrost dynamiki i intensywności konfliktu na wszystkich poziomach. Intensyfikacja działań militarnych wpłynęła także na sferę polityczną, ekonomiczną i społeczną. W momencie kiedy wydawało się, że tzw. "referenda aneksyjne" wyznaczą nową fazę przebiegu konfliktu i bardziej realny stanie się scenariusz "ukraińskiej wersji" konfliktu niskiej intensywności, okazało się, że kontrofensywa Sił Zbrojnych Ukrainy zmieniła nie tylko sytuację na froncie, ale też zdynamizowała pozostałe poziomy, na których ten konflikt się rozgrywa. Wymusiło to na autorze zaktualizowanie analizowanego zjawiska. Artykuł kończy się konstatacją stwierdzającą, iż znajdujemy się w "okresie przejściowym", a nadchodząca zima może po raz kolejny zmienić sytuację obu stron w toczącej się wojnie.