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The book is an attempt to systematize the understanding of processes, which have been occurring in the past decades in four Central European states – Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary. The monograph has been divided into four chapters, encompassing selected issues related to the functioning of political systems of Visegrad Group states from the onset of political, economical and social transformations, which transpired after 1989. Chapter one examines theoretical, historical, and methodological problems related to circumstances of transformation processes in the selected Central European states and their further evolution. It also indicates at common and distinctive characteristics of Central European states, taking into account political-scientific and historical perspectives. The second chapter is devoted to the issue of the functioning of government entities within governmental systems of selected states. The political analysis has been divided into periods of functioning as socialist and democratic states. The next chapter indicates the changes that occurred on political scenes of the designated states in the period from before the democratic transformation until the present day. The analysis is conducted through the prism of maturing of political parties and their influence on public affairs. The fourth chapter analyzes the issues of foreign policy of Central European states, describing the creation of the Visegrad Triangle (and later – the Visegrad Group) as a forum of political and economical cooperation of three (and later – four) states in the context of integration with NATO and European Communities (and later – European Union). This publication exhibits Central Europe in terms of political science, regime, and history. The comparative property of the book, resulting from such perspective, can constitute a source for a general European analysis, as well as a more detailed case study of each of the four states described herein.

The systemic diversity of the regions and local units can be subsumed to three possible forms of political systems: 1) self‑government, 2) territorial autonomy and 3) the federal state. Based upon that criterion, modern democratic states can be divided into: 1) unitary states with self‑government, 2) unitary states with territorial autonomy and self‑government, 3) federal states with self‑government, 4) federal states with territorial autonomy and self‑government. That division clearly points to the fact, that unitary and federal states can successfully exhibit the same types of political systems on the regional and local levels: territorial autonomy and self‑government. In consequence, both federal and unitary states, under this particular respect, do not exhibit differences. The systems present in the unit‑parts of a federation (regardless of their designation: republics, states, lands, cantons or provinces) in themselves are not a separate category and form of the political system, but form together with others, the three subcentral legal‑political systems present in democratic states. However, the understanding of federalism as concept referring to something more than the legal‑political system of a given state (or even the political system sensu stricto) might seems unconvincing, but still in the consideration of federalism one needs to step away from the analysis of existing federal states (however, comparative constitutional law and constitutional practice must have fundamental impact) and create the prognoses of systemic solutions in a group of highly decentralized unitary states. Besides that, the research of the political theory of federalism and federation presents itself as not without merit to the undertaken task.

In the group of Central Asian countries, the Republic of Kazakhstan appears to be scientifically best communicated with Europe. Thus it has raised an increasingly strong interest – also on the part of comparative law researchers. The subject matter of this article is an attempt to reform territorial administration and to establish territorial self-government in Kazakhstan. The reforms have not been implemented without any resistance or mistakes, it is important, however, that the need to change and modernize local government structures is discerned. The debate over the constitutional reform of the local political system favours the construction of social awareness of the fact that a clear distinction between the territorial government administration and territorial self-government as well as the latter's independence, determines the construction of civil society and democratization of social life. ; Artykuł nie zawiera abstraktu w języku polskim

Slovenia is one of the European Union Member States which disproportionately restricted political rights during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the new government of Prime Minister Janez Janša came to power in March 2020, the anti-government and anti-lockdown protests have been taking place across the country. The pandemic-related restrictions have been introduced by government's ordinances. They have greatly limited political rights of citizens, in particular the right to public assembly and association. Citizens' dissatisfaction with the government's policies and inadequate handling of the epidemic, resulting in undue restrictions on liberty and other fundamental rights, led to the filing of petitions to the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court, resolving the dispute between citizens and the government, ruled that government regulations implementing restrictions on fundamental rights, particularly the rights to public assembly and association, were unconstitutional in several cases. ; Elżbieta Kużelewska - e.kuzelewska@uwb.edu.pl ; Małgorzata Podolak - Malgorzata.Podolak@umcs.lublin.pl ; Elżbieta Kużelewska – University Professor at the Department of Constitutional Law and Political Systems, Faculty of Law, University of Bialystok, Poland, where since October 2019 she holds a position of Vice-Dean for Science. She is a Chair of the Centre for Direct Democracy Studies (CDDS) at the Faculty of Law, University of Bialystok. She is Co-Editor-in-Chief of European Integration and Democracy Series, published by Intersentia: Cambridge-Antwerp-Chicago. ; Małgorzata Podolak – University Professor at the Department of Political Systems and Human Rights, Faculty of Political Science and Journalism, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Poland. Author of papers on direct democracy, environmental policy and political systems of European states. ; Elżbieta Kużelewska: University of Białystok, Poland ; Małgorzata Podolak: Maria Curie-Skłodowska Univiersity, Poland ; Bardutzky S., Limits in Times of Crisis: on Limitations ...

The topic of this article is methodological pluralism in political science, as a result of widening the scope of political science research. The objective is to reflect on qualitative research and to critically analyze its purpose and rules in political science. This article conceptualized the idea of qualitative political science.

The aim of the article is to analyze the draft amendment to the constitution of Ukraine from December 2019, in the context of completion of the local government reform. The basic research question is: do Ukrainian political leaders have a real will to decentralize the public authority, or is it forced by external factors, mainly by the Minsk agreements? Sources include official documents and press releases, which were subject to institutional and legal analysis. The comparative approach was applied, referring to Polish experience. It was established, that a draft amendment to the constitution from December 2019, consists of two documents: dated on 13 and 27 December. Both drafts were proposed by the Office of the President of Ukraine in a nontransparent way. It caused protests of local government and expert communities, together with Western partners. Eventually, on 16 January 2020, president Volodymyr Zelensky gave in to pressure and withdrew the proposal. The fate of the prolonged local government reform proves that Ukrainian political agenda is created largely not by internal environment, but by external actors.

Historical policy versus the politics of remembrance is undoubtedly a policy, or a peculiar way to 'conduct policy,' where the optimally true knowledge of history as well as falsified and mythicized information about the past are a means to maintain, win and participate in power. By this token, historical policy is about the instrumentalization of the knowledge of history and mythicized accounts or opinions of the past for the sake of the implementation of a political agenda.So far, the concept of 'historical policy' has not yet become a clear academic category, which makes it difficult to agree what it actually encompasses. Still, the concept of 'historical policy' stands a chance of becoming an objective category in political science. Some professional historians may lean towards a certain skepticism, especially if they accept the traditional paradigm of studying the history of society.Misunderstandings regarding the issue of 'historical policy' sometimes result in a tendency to reject the possibility of this concept being applied by academics from the humanities and social fields of science. Recently, the issue of 'historical policy' has become of interest to political scientists, whose area of study involves the multiplicity of 'detailed policies.''Historical policy' is also discussed by many journalists who do not always present deepened reflections and concrete attitudes, as they rather tend to express their subjective views. It turns out that some Polish historians, political scientists and journalists are embroiled in the current political dispute in Poland. They frequently assume the role of lobbyists or opponents of one option of historical policy or another. The issue of historical policy requires analysis and explanation in an objective and multidisciplinary manner. It is a positive phenomenon that more and more publications with academic aspirations are emerging on this subject in Poland. One should recommend the cooperation between political scientists and historians in order to review and reliably explain planned and executed historical policy in a comparative manner. ; Historical policy versus the politics of remembrance is undoubtedly a policy, or a peculiar way to 'conduct policy,' where the optimally true knowledge of history as well as falsified and mythicized information about the past are a means to maintain, win and participate in power. By this token, historical policy is about the instrumentalization of the knowledge of history and mythicized accounts or opinions of the past for the sake of the implementation of a political agenda.So far, the concept of 'historical policy' has not yet become a clear academic category, which makes it difficult to agree what it actually encompasses. Still, the concept of 'historical policy' stands a chance of becoming an objective category in political science. Some professional historians may lean towards a certain skepticism, especially if they accept the traditional paradigm of studying the history of society.Misunderstandings regarding the issue of 'historical policy' sometimes result in a tendency to reject the possibility of this concept being applied by academics from the humanities and social fields of science. Recently, the issue of 'historical policy' has become of interest to political scientists, whose area of study involves the multiplicity of 'detailed policies.''Historical policy' is also discussed by many journalists who do not always present deepened reflections and concrete attitudes, as they rather tend to express their subjective views. It turns out that some Polish historians, political scientists and journalists are embroiled in the current political dispute in Poland. They frequently assume the role of lobbyists or opponents of one option of historical policy or another. The issue of historical policy requires analysis and explanation in an objective and multidisciplinary manner. It is a positive phenomenon that more and more publications with academic aspirations are emerging on this subject in Poland. One should recommend the cooperation between political scientists and historians in order to review and reliably explain planned and executed historical policy in a comparative manner.

The paper contains the author's attempt to review the history of Polish political science from World War II to the present day, its condition and characteristics. The progress political science has made in Poland has been crowned by its achieving the status of a rightful science, recognized by the representatives of numerous renowned fields of study. However, the factors that have contributed to the present status quo have also been administrative, even political. Yet these have neither determined the place of political science nor are they decisive in terms of its status in academia now. The stage of demonstrating its scientific status is already behind political science which, firstly, has demonstrated a clearly defined range of research issues, secondly, has undertaken significant research and arrived at valuable conclusions, and thirdly, has attracted competent, increasingly more versatile and thoroughly educated professionals. At present, political science is facing the challenges reminiscent of those faced by the remaining social sciences. In these terms, political science has not reached the limits of its transformation or capacity.

The paper contains the author's attempt to review the history of Polish political science from World War II to the present day, its condition and characteristics. The progress political science has made in Poland has been crowned by its achieving the status of a rightful science, recognized by the representatives of numerous renowned fields of study. However, the factors that have contributed to the present status quo have also been administrative, even political. Yet these have neither determined the place of political science nor are they decisive in terms of its status in academia now. The stage of demonstrating its scientific status is already behind political science which, firstly, has demonstrated a clearly defined range of research issues, secondly, has undertaken significant research and arrived at valuable conclusions, and thirdly, has attracted competent, increasingly more versatile and thoroughly educated professionals. At present, political science is facing the challenges reminiscent of those faced by the remaining social sciences. In these terms, political science has not reached the limits of its transformation or capacity.

The article concerns the analysis of the impact of the discipline of political science and administration on the functioning of society and the economy in the perspective of third criterion of the evaluation of scientific disciplines. 75 impact descriptions for the years 2017–2021, submitted by 34 universities, were analysed. The author's intention is: to discuss the results of the evaluation, to systematise the areas of influence of political science centres, to determine the scope and significance of the declared impact, to discuss the role of research units in creating the impact. In order to achieve the set goals, secondary data from the RAD-on system and the Ministry of Education and Science (MEiN) were used, as well as primary data, including information from representatives of the discipline and participant observation while preparing of evaluation at the home university and performing an expert work.

I join those who claim that the category of political culture in science is confusing and useless, and that its isolation for research purposes is pointless2. I omit the history of the notion of political culture, I do not deal with its definitions, I do not refer to the classification, I do not consider what should be adapted to political culture from one or another understood culture in a general sense. My focus is on showing that what is called "political culture" is essentially nothing other than politics, policy, polity or the selected elements that contribute it.

This article deals with issues in the field of enslavement and agency. Slavery is understood as an area of political science research located at the intersection of issues of political agency and theories of power. In the first part, slavery is treated as a form of enslavement, and other forms of enslavement are presented using a modified, four-part scheme proposed by Szymon Wróbel. The second part describes some fields of transgression, emancipation and agency.