Suchergebnisse

Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie działalności Polskiego Towarzystwa Nauk Politycznych z zaznaczeniem ukierunkowania na sprawy internacjonalizacji. Od początku swojej działalności PTNP współpracowało z IPSA. W Polsce powstało wiele cennych publikacji przestawiających historię i stan obecny politologii w Polsce. Szczególnie ważnym dla polskiej politologii wydarzeniem była organizacja światowego kongresu politologii w lipcu 2016 r. Ważne miejsce zajmują także polskie czasopisma naukowe, które w ostatnich latach podlegają silnej internacjonalizacji. Przed PTNP stoi wiele wyzwań i możliwości podejmowania kolejnych działań, które sprzyjają dalszemu rozwojowi i promocji nauki w kraju i zagranicą. ; The aim of the article is to present the activities of the Polish Political Science Association, underlining the issues of internationalization. Since the beginning the organization, PPSA has been cooperating with IPSA. Many valuable publications regarding history and contemporary situation of Political Science have been published in Poland. Particularly important for Polish political science was the organization of the World Congress of Political Science in July 2016. The Polish scientific journals, that have been strongly internalized in recent years, take an important place nowadays. Polish Political Science Association has to face many challenges and take new possibilities in further activities that encourage further development and promotion. ; Publikacja sfinansowana przez Wydział Studiów Międzynarodowych i Politologicznych UŁ.

Jednym z fundamentalnych przedmiotów badań nauki o polityce pozostaje niezmiennie język polityki (w swoich licznych odmianach i formach). Analiza naukowa tego przedmiotu badań przysparza jednak politologii nadal szereg problemów, wynikających z nieprzystawalności metod językoznawstwa do funkcji i zadań współczesnej nauki o polityce. Pojawia się więc potrzeba wypracowania politologicznej metody analizy tekstu, która to metoda pozwoliłaby – za pomocą języka – odkryć i wyeksponować założenia kształtujące orientacje i postawy podmiotów politycznych, czyli treści tworzące ogólną przestrzeń polityczną. Propozycją odpowiedzi na to zapotrzebowanie jest prezentowana w artykule metoda, wyróżniająca trzy podstawowe poziomy analizy: konwencjonalną warstwę tekstu, opisową oraz presupozycjalną. Na przykładzie analizy inauguracyjnych orędzi polskich prezydentów, ukazano specyfikę poszczególnych wymiarów: determinant sytuacyjny (na pierwszym poziomie), kreację treści korzystnych wizerunkowo (na poziomie deskryptywnym), wreszcie – najistotniejszy dla politologa – mechanizm odkrywania założeń ukrytych na poziomie presupozycjalnym. ; The language of politics (in its numerous variations and forms) continues to be one of the fundamental objects of political science research. The academic analysis of this object of research, however, continues to generate considerable difficulties for political science as a result of the incompatibility of language studies methodology with the function and tasks of modern political science. Therefore, there emerges a need to develop a method of text analysis for political science that will allow us to use language to discover and present the assumptions that shape the attitudes and ideologies of political entities, or in other words – the content of general political environment. This paper responds to this need by presenting a method that distinguishes three basic levels of analysis: a conventional layer of text, a descriptive one and a presuppositional one. Analyzing the inaugural addresses given by Polish presidents the specificity of their individual dimensions is presented: the situational determinant (level one), the creation of content to boost image (on a descriptive level), and – most importantly to the political scientist – a mechanism revealing the assumptions concealed at the presuppositional level.

The separation of theory and practice of the European integration created a very dangerous situation for the European Union. The article presents this crisis from the points of view of philosophy, political science and journalism. The"European poison of thought" expressed by a lack of trust of citizens towards the EU institutions perceived as inadequate in addressing the most fundamental problems of the EU citizens, as well as scepticism towards the enlargement of the Union, aversion to financial solidarity with weaker Member States, and disappointment with legal overregulation and money wasting, are just a few out of a long list of problems that make people lose their trust in the European integration. The author also considers the greatest weaknesses of the European Union: preferring interests of those who are present and well-organised on the political arena and the fact that the real majority of EU citizens stays outside the formal democratic structures thus becoming a part of the process of exclusion and fragmentation. The state of affairs in the EU, following according to Karl Jaspers, is called a limit situation, where it possible either to withdraw or rise and exceed restrictions. The author considers hope and radicalism as two forces that power the European political activists; in order to unite them, a new faith, values and hope based on the traditional foundations are needed. This new way of thinking about the EU, the joined-up thinking, is possibly a response to the demand for a radical revival in the EU.

The separation of theory and practice of the European integration created a very dangerous situation for the European Union. The article presents this crisis from the points of view of philosophy, political science and journalism. The"European poison of thought" expressed by a lack of trust of citizens towards the EU institutions perceived as inadequate in addressing the most fundamental problems of the EU citizens, as well as scepticism towards the enlargement of the Union, aversion to financial solidarity with weaker Member States, and disappointment with legal overregulation and money wasting, are just a few out of a long list of problems that make people lose their trust in the European integration. The author also considers the greatest weaknesses of the European Union: preferring interests of those who are present and well-organised on the political arena and the fact that the real majority of EU citizens stays outside the formal democratic structures thus becoming a part of the process of exclusion and fragmentation. The state of affairs in the EU, following according to Karl Jaspers, is called a limit situation, where it possible either to withdraw or rise and exceed restrictions. The author considers hope and radicalism as two forces that power the European political activists; in order to unite them, a new faith, values and hope based on the traditional foundations are needed. This new way of thinking about the EU, the joined-up thinking, is possibly a response to the demand for a radical revival in the EU.

This article is an attempt to address a question of significance of the borderland as a research category in the Polish political science. The authors use information collected in the survey conducted among 223 polish political scientists, who were asked about the importance and explanatory potential of the borderland concept in the political analysis. Since the response rate was low it is impossible to make any generalizations concerning the whole academia of the Polish political science, thus the text is merely a synthesis of the opinions of those who have responded. According to this data, the category of borderland is an important and useful tool in the political analysis, due to its close connection with the changes of the contemporary world like globalization, deteritorialization and regionalization. The borderland category is especially significant in the reflection on the changing status of nation-states and functions of state borders. The article also outlines the basic research themes within which the concept of borderland is employed by the political scientists. The authors conclude with a few methodological and theoretical postulates on applying the category of borderland in political science. ; Artykuł jest próbą odpowiedzi na pytanie o rolę kategorii pogranicza w polskiej politologii. Opiera się na informacjach uzyskanych w ankiecie skierowanej do 223 polskich politologów, w której zapytano ich o wagę oraz eksplanacyjny potencjał kategorii pogranicza w analizie politologicznej. Niski poziom responsywności uniemożliwia dokonanie generalizacji na całe środowisko politologiczne, dlatego tekst niniejszy jest jedynie syntezą opinii politologów, którzy odpowiedzieli na naszą ankietę. Kategoria pogranicza przedstawiona jest jako ważna i przydatna w analizie politologicznej, przede wszystkim ze względu na jej integralny związek ze współcześnie zachodzącymi zmianami, takimi jak globalizacja, deterytorializacja i regionalizacja. Pogranicze jest szczególnie istotną kategorią w politologicznej refleksji nad zmianą statusu państw narodowych oraz zmieniającą się funkcją granic państwowych. W tekście wyodrębniono również podstawowe konteksty badawcze, w jakich politolodzy wykorzystują pojęcie pogranicza. W końcowej części artykułu autorzy formułują postulaty teoretyczno-metodologiczne dotyczące stosowania kategorii pogranicza w analizie politologicznej.

The author suggests that the research for new methods in the political science in the USA, Which broadly use the concept of systems analysis, realy came into prominence after the Second World War. The impetus for it involved both theoretical and practical considerations. Three of these seem to be of particular importance. First, it became necessary to attempt to explain in some objective manner the failure of "democracy", and the rise of authoritarian political institutions in Germany during the inter-war period. Second, the rise of socialist countries in Europe. Third, the creation of new states in Asia and Africa, as a result of failure of the colonial empires. The first important presentation of systems approach in political science in the USA was made by David Easton. He was primarily concerned with portraying the relationships between a system and the environment in which it was located. He directed attention to the boundary between politics and other aspects of social life, and, postulated the existence of close relationship between the system and environment. Applying systems analysis to (political science, some researchers have developed lists of political functional requisites. One such list war developed by Gabriel Almond, who divides it into four input, and three output functions. The Gabriel Almond's attitudes to the systems analysis is strongly functional oriented. Heapplied the basic Talcott Parsons thesis to the political science considerations. Other scholar, K. W. Deutsch, presents systems analysis in a cybernetic framework. Political systems, from his point of view, are the self-controling, and self-organyzing communication net. Deutsch, however, does not limit his concern to the communication of information; in addition he wants to apply communication theory to the political decision making process, to the role and relative weight of mass media, compared with past memories, stereotypes and other media, and to areas of attetjon, perception and orientation, values and evaluation, goal-seeking, and decision making. The author stresses the fact that, as a scientific method, systems analysis concept, is nolt well developed yet. However, it presents a good background for interdisciplinary research of political institution in action. On the other hand, it cannot be tracted as a universal tool for analyzing all political phenomena. ; Digitalizacja i deponowanie archiwalnych zeszytów RPEiS sfinansowane przez MNiSW w ramach realizacji umowy nr 541/P-DUN/2016

Na przestrzeni dwóch dekad funkcjonowania samorządności w Polsce nastąpiły przeobrażenia w katalogu podstawowych wartości samorządu terytorialnego. W pierwszych dziesięciu latach, gdy budowano fundamenty samorządności w Polsce, najważniejsze były podstawowe, ustrojowe wartości, tj. wolność, równość czy powszechność. W drugim natomiast ustąpiły one miejsca wartościom fundamentalnym dla rozwoju samorządu terytorialnego takim, jak: więzi lokalne, poczucie wspólnoty, kapitał społeczny, inkluzja polityczna, czy wreszcie społeczeństwo obywatelskie. Równolegle następowały zmiany w wymaganiach stawianych pracownikom samorządowym. Pojawiły się i ulegały uściśleniu, akty prawne rangi ustawowej określające wymagania wobec nich, obowiązujące ich, jako realizatorów służby publicznej, zasady. Celem artykułu jest próba skatalogowania zbioru wartości kojarzonych z samorządem terytorialnym w Polsce. Ów katalog będzie subiektywny w charakterze. Jednocześnie autor jako wartości traktuje także i zasady, które poprzez uznanie ich przez daną społeczność za cenne, zyskują przymiot wartości. ; Over the two decades of local governance in Poland, the catalogue ofthe fundamental values of local self-government has transformed. In the first decade, when the foundations of local governance in Poland were laid, the most important aspect was the basic values of the political system: liberty, equality and universality. In the second decade, they were replaced by the values that are fundamental for the development of local governance, such as local bonds, a sense of community, social capital, political inclusion and, last but not least, civic society. These changes were accompanied by different requirements being made of local government officials. There emerged increasingly detailed legal acts of statutory status that defined such requirements and the principles the officials are supposed to abide by as public servants. The paper attempts to catalogue the set of values associated with local government in Poland. This catalogue is subjective. The author also includes among those values the principles that are recognized as valuable by a given community, thus becoming values in themselves.

Na przestrzeni dwóch dekad funkcjonowania samorządności w Polsce nastąpiły przeobrażenia w katalogu podstawowych wartości samorządu terytorialnego. W pierwszych dziesięciu latach, gdy budowano fundamenty samorządności w Polsce, najważniejsze były podstawowe, ustrojowe wartości, tj. wolność, równość czy powszechność. W drugim natomiast ustąpiły one miejsca wartościom fundamentalnym dla rozwoju samorządu terytorialnego takim, jak: więzi lokalne, poczucie wspólnoty, kapitał społeczny, inkluzja polityczna, czy wreszcie społeczeństwo obywatelskie. Równolegle następowały zmiany w wymaganiach stawianych pracownikom samorządowym. Pojawiły się i ulegały uściśleniu, akty prawne rangi ustawowej określające wymagania wobec nich, obowiązujące ich, jako realizatorów służby publicznej, zasady. Celem artykułu jest próba skatalogowania zbioru wartości kojarzonych z samorządem terytorialnym w Polsce. Ów katalog będzie subiektywny w charakterze. Jednocześnie autor jako wartości traktuje także i zasady, które poprzez uznanie ich przez daną społeczność za cenne, zyskują przymiot wartości. ; Over the two decades of local governance in Poland, the catalogue of the fundamental values of local self-government has transformed. In the first decade, when the foundations of local governance in Poland were laid, the most important aspect was the basic values of the political system: liberty, equality and universality. In the second decade, they were replaced by the values that are fundamental for the development of local governance, such as local bonds, a sense of community, social capital, political inclusion and, last but not least, civic society. These changes were accompanied by different requirements being made of local government officials. There emerged increasingly detailed legal acts of statutory status that defined such requirements and the principles the officials are supposed to abide by as public servants. The paper attempts to catalogue the set of values associated with local government in Poland. This catalogue is subjective. The author also includes among those values the principles that are recognized as valuable by a given community, thus becoming values in themselves. ; 2 ; Przegląd Politologiczny

The system of protection of historical monuments in Poland, including Monuments of History, is not fully adapted to the political changes after 1989. An underestimated, important element of this system determining effective protection is professional architectural heritage management combining conservation with contemporary use of historical buildings. Interdependencies between conservation and non-conservation conditions force us to perceive the protection of monuments as a complex and interdisciplinary process – mutually correlated interactions on the historic object, in which conservation measures are the key, but not the only, activity. The organizational entirety of these activities is management. Monuments of History as the most valuable heritage should be a model of management of the national, historical resources. Fifteen years of experience of the Srebrna Góra (Silver Mountain) Fortress monument allow us to bring closer the objectives and complex conditions of related management activities as well as applications addressed to national authorities responsible for the protection of cultural heritage. ; System ochrony zabytków w Polsce, w tym pomników historii nie jest w pełni dostosowany do zmian ustrojowych po 1989 roku. Niedocenianym, istotnym elementem tego systemu determinującym skuteczną ochronę jest profesjonalne zarządzanie architektonicznym dziedzictwem łączące konserwację ze współczesnym użytkowaniem historycznych obiektów. Współzależności konserwatorskich i pozakonserwatorskich uwarunkowań wymuszają dziś postrzeganie ochrony zabytków jako złożonego i interdyscyplinarnego procesu – skorelowanych ze sobą oddziaływań na zabytkowy obiekt, w którym zabiegi konserwatorskie są kluczową, ale nie jedyną działalnością. Całością organizacyjną tych działań jest zarządzanie. Pomniki historii jako najcenniejsze dziedzictwo powinny być wzorem zarządzania dla krajowego, zabytkowego zasobu. Piętnastoletnie doświadczenia pomnika Twierdza Srebrna Góra pozwalają przybliżyć cele i złożone uwarunkowania powiązanych ze sobą działań zarządczych oraz wnioski adresowane do władz krajowych odpowiedzialnych za ochronę kulturowego dziedzictwa.

The article is an attempt at presentation how basic notions and ferms used by sociology of organization function in other sciences dealing with problems of organization as eg. praxiology, theory of organization and «management or psychology of organization. General reflections are concentrated around various ways of understanding of the notion of "organization" and around the so-called concept of system analysis of organization. The author advocates understand of organization as a set of rules of action or rules of functioning of groups or other human communities. He represents an opinion that organization cannot be identified in sociology with institution assi there are essential differences between them. The author attempts to present a relationship between organization and institution in sociolo¬ gical aspect on the grounds of (the proposed way of interpreting the notion of organization. The article includes critical remarks on the so-called system approach in sciences on organization. It is found that in most of the oases the system approach functions only as a language formation unable to contribuite any methodological qualities but a new slang. Treating the system approach as a new methodological directive assumes a p r i o r i , that any organization is a system which does not always correspond to social reality. For there are organizations not fulfilling their statute goals because they do not function as a system. The final part of reflections is an attempt at presentation of tasks of sociology in analysing organizations and explicating those mechanisms for the sake of practice which cause organizations to function as an integrated whole, as a social system. ; Digitalizacja i deponowanie archiwalnych zeszytów RPEiS sfinansowane przez MNiSW w ramach realizacji umowy nr 541/P-DUN/2016

The text presents remarks on four issues political scientists often take into consideration when reflecting on the borders of their research. The first issue concerns the call to scrutinize the course of legislative procedures, the second one – the need to recognize and note various traditions of political thought in the platforms of political parties and the statements uttered by politicians; the third – the fundamental question of whether political topics are grasped in the structure of sensual perceptions reflected in language; and, finally, the disputable postulate that the philosophy of politics, approached as an element of reflection on political science, clarifies exclusively the notions and concepts applied in the political sciences. These considerations pose problems rather than solve them, and they are completed by a warning that political science should not be developed towards common knowledge, and it should not become increasingly indeterminate and blurred. ; The text presents remarks on four issues political scientists often take into consideration when reflecting on the borders of their research. The first issue concerns the call to scrutinize the course of legislative procedures, the second one – the need to recognize and note various traditions of political thought in the platforms of political parties and the statements uttered by politicians; the third – the fundamental question of whether political topics are grasped in the structure of sensual perceptions reflected in language; and, finally, the disputable postulate that the philosophy of politics, approached as an element of reflection on political science, clarifies exclusively the notions and concepts applied in the political sciences. These considerations pose problems rather than solve them, and they are completed by a warning that political science should not be developed towards common knowledge, and it should not become increasingly indeterminate and blurred.

Dekada polskich doświadczeń członkostwa w Unii Europejskiej pokazuje, że na gruncie krajowej polityki można określić dwa zasadnicze modele integracji, które są prezentowane przez dwie największe partie polityczne. Każda z nich zarówno Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, jak i Platforma Obywatelska RP miały możliwość praktycznej realizacji głoszonych przez liderów partyjnych tez o członkostwie Polski w UE. Różnice programowe między tymi partiami zaczęły się kreować już przy okazji prowadzonej przez nie kampanii referendalnej w sprawie akcesji Polski do Unii Europejskiej. To w tamtym czasie PiS zbudował swój program wokół siły Polski w Unii Europejskiej opartej między innymi na sile głosu w Radzie Unii Europejskiej i twardej polityce wzmacniającej interesy narodowe. Z kolei Platforma Obywatelska realizację swoich priorytetów polityki europejskiej widzi nie tylko w gronie członków Rady Unii Europejskiej, ale również poprzez skuteczny lobbing polskich spraw na etapie prelegislacyjnych konsultacji Komisji Europejskiej, lobbing w Parlamencie Europejskim i szeroką współpracę na niedocenionych przez wielu, forach unijnej polityki. Celem opracowania było wskazanie najważniejszych, zdaniem autora, wydarzeń charakteryzujących członkostwo Polski w Unii Europejskiej. Autor dokonał ich systematyzacji, opisu, a także podziału na wydarzenia europejskie mające wpływ na bieg spraw krajowych i na te krajowe, które cechowały polską dyplomację europejską w ostatniej dekadzie. Autor wskazuje cechy charakterystyczne dwóch dyskursów o polskiej polityce europejskiej, które już od referendum akcesyjnego, przez kolejne lata członkostwa w UE angnżująuwagę Polek i Polaków wokół spraw unijnych. Na tej podstawie zostały nakreślone kierunki polskiej polityki europejskiej w perspektywie kolejnych lat członkostwa w UE. ; The decade of Polish membership of the European Union has shown two fundamental models of integration presented in domestic policy by the two leading political parties. Both Law and Justice (PiS) and Civic Platform (PO) have had the opportunity to implement in practice their leaders' declarations about Poland's EU membership. Political differences between the two parties emerged as early as the referendum on Poland's accession to the European Union. At that time, the PiS party constructed its political platform around the idea of a strong Poland whose position would result, among other things, from its power in the Council of the European Union and a hard-line policy strengthening Poland's international interests. The PO party, in turn, saw the implementation of its priorities in European policy as a result of operating not only in the circle of members of the Council of the European Union but also by exercising efficient lobbying activities at the pre-legislation stage of consultation in the European Commission, in the European Parliament and extensive cooperation on various, frequently underestimated, forums of EU politics. This paper aims to indicate the most important characteristics of Poland's EU membership as seen by the author. He categorises, describes and divides them into those European events that influenced domestic affairs, and those domestic events that determined Polish European diplomacy over the last decade. The author indicates the characteristic features of the two discourses about Polish European policy that have been attracting the attention of Poles to EU matters since the accession referendum. On this basis, the future directions of Polish European policy are outlined for further years of EU membership.

The intention of the author of this paper is to present a scientific analysis of the influence of culture and the cultural diplomacy of the European Union on the animation and stimulation of Europe's integration process, which is in a constant state of perturbation and lack of stability. It examines the problem-related approach to the European Union's change and development strategy, including the "Europe 2020" strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, which envisages the implementation of many new communal initiatives and practical solutions introduced by the European Union, including ones that concern both the cultural sector and the creative and audiovisual sector. The European Union, from 2020 onwards, intends to be ready to reach a high level of employment and efficiency, and a higher level of social integration. To enable this, the European Union must ensure attractive framework conditions for innovation and creativity. In that respect, the cultural sector and the creative and audiovisual sector are the source of groundbreaking ideas which may develop into products and services that could contribute to economic growth and job creation, thereby fighting the crisis and social problems. The economic and social crisis in Europe has also been influencing the world of culture. A series of problematic issues associated with the fragmentation of culture and its inventions are identified, including globalisation and digitalisation, underinvestment, inadequate protection of intellectual property and copyright, and insufficient international cultural cooperation. ; The intention of the author of this paper is to present a scientific analysis of the influence of culture and the cultural diplomacy of the European Union on the animation and stimulation of Europe's integration process, which is in a constant state of perturbation and lack of stability. It examines the problem-related approach to the European Union's change and development strategy, including the "Europe 2020" strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, which envisages the implementation of many new communal initiatives and practical solutions introduced by the European Union, including ones that concern both the cultural sector and the creative and audiovisual sector. The European Union, from 2020 onwards, intends to be ready to reach a high level of employment and efficiency, and a higher level of social integration. To enable this, the European Union must ensure attractive framework conditions for innovation and creativity. In that respect, the cultural sector and the creative and audiovisual sector are the source of groundbreaking ideas which may develop into products and services that could contribute to economic growth and job creation, thereby fighting the crisis and social problems. The economic and social crisis in Europe has also been influencing the world of culture. A series of problematic issues associated with the fragmentation of culture and its inventions are identified, including globalisation and digitalisation, underinvestment, inadequate protection of intellectual property and copyright, and insufficient international cultural cooperation.

Zamierzeniem autorki niniejszego artykułu jest naukowa analiza wpływu kultury i dyplomacji kulturalnej Unii Europejskiej na pobudzanie i stymulowanie procesu integracji Europy, który pozostaje dziś w nieustannym zaburzeniu i braku stabilności. Chodzi tu o problemowe podejście do unijnych strategii zmiany i rozwoju, w tym strategii "Europa 2020" - na rzecz inteligentnego i zrównoważonego rozwoju sprzyjającego włączeniu społecznemu, które zakładają realizację wielu nowych unijnych wspólnotowych inicjatyw i rozwiązań praktycznych, także tych dotyczących sektora kultury oraz sektora kreatywnego i audiowizualnego. Unia Europejska po roku 2020 zamierza być gotowa do osiągnięcia wysokiego stopnia zatrudnienia i wydajności oraz większej spójności społecznej. Aby to było realne Unia musi zapewnić bardziej atrakcyjne warunki ramowe dla innowacji i kreatywności. Pod tym względem sektor kultury oraz sektor kreatywny i audiowizualny są źródłem nowatorskich pomysłów, które mogą zamienić się w produkty i usługi przyczyniające się do wzrostu gospodarczego i tworzenia miejsc pracy, pomagając stawić czoła kryzysowi i problemom społecznym. Kryzys gospodarczy i społeczny w Europie rozprzestrzenia się również na świat kultury. Identyfikujemy tu katalog trudno rozwiązywalnych problemów związanych z rozdrobnieniem sfery kultury i jego wytworów, globalizacją i digitalizacją, niedoinwestowaniem, niewłaściwą ochroną własności intelektualnej i praw autorskich oraz niewystarczającą międzynarodową współpracą kulturalną. ; The intention of the author of this paper is to present a scientific analysis of the influence of culture and the cultural diplomacy of the European Union on the animation and stimulation of Europe's integration process, which is in a constant state of perturbation and lack of stability. It examines the problem-related approach to the European Union's change and development strategy, including the "Europe 2020" strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, which envisages the implementation of many new communal initiatives and practical solutions introduced by the European Union, including ones that concern both the cultural sector and the creative and audiovisual sector. The European Union, from 2020 onwards, intends to be ready to reach a high level of employment and efficiency, and a higher level of social integration. To enable this, the European Union must ensure attractive framework conditions for innovation and creativity. In that respect, the cultural sector and the creative and audiovisual sector are the source of groundbreaking ideas which may develop into products and services that could contribute to economic growth and job creation, thereby fighting the crisis and social problems. The economic and social crisis in Europe has also been influencing the world of culture. A series of problematic issues associated with the fragmentation of culture and its inventions are identified, including globalisation and digitalisation, underinvestment, inadequate protection of intellectual property and copyright, and insufficient international cultural cooperation.

Political parties are the key element of the representative formula of democratic system. The aim of the paper is to show parties' attitudes towards the citizen legislative initiative, being an institution of direct democracy. The analysis was carried out with the inclusion of the following three levels of party activity: conceptional, programme-related and functional. Both on the conceptional and programme-related levels there is a lack of reflexion and – in consequence – hardly any debate held on the essence of the institution of citizen legislative initiative, its significance and consequences with regard to the socio-political system. This results in an almost mechanical acceptance of concrete legal solutions, which – at the next stage, i.e., that of realization of these records – ends in an escape from the problem (here: prolonging works of Parliament or an instrumental making use of citizens' activity).Both ruling parties and those in the Opposition – despite obvious differences in the approach towards institutions of direct democracy – are joined by an axiologically justified dislike of strengthening these forms of citizens' engagement, which diminish the area of representative democracy.