The focal point of this paper is voter turnout in the self-government elections in Poland. Particular attention is given to the turnout in the city with district rights, Łódź. This city provides an interesting place of research, both on account of its peculiar location in the center of Poland, and its recent cultural, economic and political transformation. A local referendum on the dismissal of the city mayor, held on January 10, 2010, is worth mentioning. Łódź was the first large Polish city (with a population of over 500,000) where a one-man executive organ was dismissed before the end of his term. In the paper, the results of parliamentary election turnouts are juxtaposed with self-government election turnouts. Voter turnout is analyzed for each term of the self-government in Łódź, and the types and reasons for absence are indicated. The author uses these data to emphasize that over the twenty years of self-government's existence, voting procedures in Poland have not changed and are the most conservative in Europe.
Niniejsza praca jest efektem projektu badawczego, mającego na celu poznanie preferencji wyborczych sądeczan przed wyborami samorządowymi na prezydenta miasta Nowego Sącza w 2014 roku. Badanie zostało zrealizowane przy użyciu metody sondażu diagnostycznego na reprezentatywnej próbie dorosłych mieszkańców miasta, a tłem eksploracji empirycznej był okres przedwyborczej kampanii wyborczej prowadzonej przez kandydatów pretendujących do organu wykonawczego miasta. Cała praca składa się z trzech części. Pierwsza część – teoretyczna - naświetla problematykę pracy, ukazując ją w całokształcie wzajemnych związków i zależności przyczynowo – skutkowych (rozdział pierwszy i drugi). Druga cześć – badawczo – aplikacyjna przedstawia zakres działań projektowych oraz charakterystykę technologii i narzędzi stosowanych w prowadzonym sondażu, a także opis funkcjonalny i techniczny wykonanego projektu wzbogacony o elementy komparatystyki (rozdział trzeci, czwarty i piąty). Trzecia cześć ujmuje podejmowaną problematykę z perspektywy mediów lokalnych (rozdział szósty). W pracy podniesiono szereg ciekawych zagadnień na temat wyborczych preferencji sądeczan i ich uczestnictwa w lokalnych mechanizmach demokratycznych. Zebrane dane pozwoliły na zweryfikowanie postawionych hipotez badawczych, wyznaczenie drogi do określenia profilu wyborcy poszczególnych kandydatów, a także dały możliwość porównawczego ujęcia zbadanych preferencji z oficjalnymi wynikami wyborów. Przedstawione wyniki pokazały, że deklarowane preferencje znalazły, w granicach przyjętego błędu, odzwierciedlenie w oficjalnych wynikach wyborów. ; This paper is the result of a research project aimed at cognizing political preferences of the residents of Nowy Sącz, before the local elections to become the President of Nowy Sacz in 2014. The survey was conducted using the method of diagnostic survey on a representative sample of adult residents of the town, and the background of empirical exploration was the period of pre-election campaign run by the candidates aspiring for the executive body of the town The entire work consists of three parts. The first part - theoretical - highlights the issues of the paper, presenting it in the whole inter-relationships and cause and effect dependencies (Chapter One and Two). The second part - research - application shows the scope of project activities and the characteristics of the technology and tools used in the survey conducted as well as a functional and technical description of the project made enriched with elements of comparative literature (Chapter third, fourth and fifth). The third part takes on the issues from the perspective of local media (Chapter Six). The paper raised a number of interesting issues on the electoral preferences of the residents of Nowy Sącz and their participation in local democratic mechanisms. The data collected made it possible to verify the research hypotheses, the identification of the way to determine a voter profile of each candidate, and also provided an opportunity for a comparative approach of the examined preferences and the official election results. The presented results showed that the declared preferences were reflected, within the accepted error, in the official results of the election.
At the beginning of the 21st century the European Union faces the greatest challenge in its history. Several problems were raised due to the joining of new member countries to the EU, one of which – the free movement of people – was the most important. The 15 EU member-states, with fears of the cheap labour of the ten joining countries, in 2003 introduced days of grace for seven years to restrict the free movement of labour. However the majority of basic rights came into being before the joining to EU, the free movement of people and rather the free movement of employees became a question of serious debates. Facts did not prove these fears even in the case of France where the fi gure of a Polish mechanic became a topic of voting campaign in 2005. The expected wave of migrant workers never arrived consequently; countries having opened their labour marked after 1 May 2004 were out of danger. At the same time the areas that lost their inhabitants started to decline in terms of both economy and society. This is one of the main reasons for revitalization, which could support the improvement of socio-economic factors of rural areas, decreasing the unfavourable effects of migration. The newer reconsideration of the transition period is coming at an early date; we made a quantitative research with face to face method in Hungary in August 2008. In the questionnaire we analyzed the migration potential of the Hungarian people with 1200 members national representative sampling.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The scientific goal of the article is to analyze traffic safety policy, in a problem-chronological perspective, as part of the Swedish "welfare state" model, with particular emphasis on internal political and social factors.THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: In exploring the issues of road safety in Sweden, the author used a functionalist approach to examine the relationship of political forces affecting their shape. The genetic method has allowed to mention qualitative factors that are the foundations of Swedish policy. Institutional and normative approach with regard to the characteristics of decision-making processes, law-making processes resulted in a system analysis in line with the theoretical model proposed by David Easton. Each stage of the legislative process has been followed – from the change initiative to the entry intoforce of the "Vision Zero". The method of content analysis and the institutional and legal method served to illustrate the role that it has for Sweden for 20 years.THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: Ensuring broadly understood, multi-tasked road traffic safety is today a prerequisite for harmonious economic and social development of the country (for example, due to the cost of treatment of accident victims, but also the legitimacy of authority, whose task is to ensure safety).RESEARCH RESULTS: The necessity of introducing a nationwide road safety strategy was convinced by all the groups that sat in the Swedish parliament in 1997 (as evidenced by its voting through acclamation). The consolidation attitude of many social groups, institutions and individual road users, promoted by the Vision Zero, resulted in considerable successes. First of all, the number of fatalities in road accidents in 1997-2012 dropped by 48%. At the same time, the number of people who suffered minor injuries in the same period as a result of road accidents has increased. This testifies to the correct decisions of Swedish strategists who were already well aware in 1997 that it is impossible to eliminate accidents as such (which is why they focused on reducing the most tragic effects).CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The Vision of Zero, which is now a general philosophy of approach to road safety issues in Sweden, thanks to its efficiency and effectiveness has become not only a source of pride on the part of the Swedes themselves. Few (Sweden's population for the first time reached a ceiling of 10 million inhabitants in January 2017), although the very innovative Swedish society developed an innovative model of cooperation between private and public sector entities as well as every single user of transport infrastructure that contributed to the radical decline the number of accidents resulting in death or serious injury. Thus, once again, the descendants of the Vikings became a role model for other nations – both among European Union countries and on a global scale.
