Suchergebnisse

The primary purpose of this article is to explain the meaning and consequences of foreign fighters' participation from Western Balkan countries (WB6) in armed conflicts in Syria and Iraq. In the first part, the issue of foreign fighters is discussed in historical terms. The author focuses on the examples of the Soviet inva-sion of Afghanistan and the ethno-religious conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the second part of the text, the definition framework of foreign fighters' concept and its evolution towards foreign terrorist-fighters is dis-cussed. Then, a detailed analysis of the main problem is conducted, and several research questions are an-swered: 1) What is the scale of the phenomenon of Balkan volunteers (e.g., their number, the structure of origin, and others) in comparison to fighters from other regions? 2) What are their motivations and goals, and what are their recruitment process and ways of moving into the war zone? 3) What is the threat posed by returning fight-ers to the security of the Western Balkans, and how do individual states counteract this phenomenon? The au-thor uses mainly the following research methods: critical content analysis (literature, scientific articles, docu-ments, reports, press materials), and historical and comparative analysis. The author's visits to this country in 2018-2020 constituted an essential contribution to the part concerning the case of Kosovo.

Transparency in higher education is one of the aims of the Bologna Declaration (1999). In a number of countries in Europe this led to processes to change quality assurance into accreditation, which supposedly results in more transparency. Are these lessons to be learnt from experiences and Central and Eastern Europe regarding accreditation since 1990? The author maintains that the character of those "first generation" accreditation systems is more exclusively academic and drives towards uniformity more than the multifaceted systems needed for Bologna's "second generation" requirements. A "multiple accreditation system" would answer these requirements better. Some principles of a multiple accreditation systems are presented, together with consequences of external evaluation criteria and procedures. Two nascent accreditation systems designs in Western European countries (Germany and the Netherlands) are then compared with the demands set by the Bologna Declaration and with the design principles of a multiple accreditation system. The main conclusion is that although some steps towards an open and flexible accreditation system are set, at the present stage of their development it seems that maintaining national control in these two cases has more priority than achieving Europeanwide transparency. ; Jednym z celów Deklaracji Bolońskiej, podpisanej w 1999 roku, jest osiągnięcie przejrzystości systemów szkolnictwa wyższego. W wielu państwach europejskich metody zapewniania jakości kształcenia zaczęto zastępować procesem akredytacji. Zakładano, iż wynikiem tych działań będzie właśnie większa przejrzystość. Czy można skorzystać z doświadczeń państw Europy Środkowej i Wschodniej zdobytych po 1990 roku i odnoszących się do akredytacji? Autor utrzymuje, iż systemy akredytacyjne "pierwszej generacji" miały niemal wyłącznie charakter akademicki i celem ich było w większym stopniu ujednolicanie niż tworzenie różnorodnych systemów. W świetle dokumentu przyjętego w Bolonii systemy akredytacyjne "drugiej generacji" mają zapewnić większą różnorodność. W artykule ukazane są niektóre zasady zróżnicowanego systemu akredytacji, a także ich wpływ na kryteria i procedury oceny zewnętrznej. Następnie autor dokonuje porównania dwóch rodzących się modeli systemów akredytacyjnych w krajach Europy Zachodniej (Niemczech i Holandii) z wymaganiami określonymi w Deklaracji Bolońskiej oraz z zasadami zróżnicowanego systemu akredytacji. Na podstawie tego porównania formułuje wniosek, iż - mimo podjęcia już pewnych kroków w kierunku stworzenia otwartego i elastycznego systemu akredytacji - można odnieść wrażenie, że w dwóch wymienionych przypadkach utrzymanie kontroli na poziomie krajowym jest ważniejsze niż osiągnięcie przejrzystości w szerokim wymiarze europejskim.

Peacekeeping operations are nowadays an important phenomenon in international relations and especially in conflict-ridden regions. The concept and framework of such operations has been constantly evolving in the past and one of the milestones of this evolution was the fall of the communist system and the end of the cold war. In Europe, this historic moment coincided with establishment by the Maastricht Treaty of the new organism within the process of western Europe's integration: the European Union. Both these facts triggered a reaction of the somewhat passive and hardly visible European defence organisation of the Western European Union. Its Petersberg Declaration of 1992 redefined security and sought to change peace obligations of the member states of WEU, as they accepted a broader responsibility and a broader concept of security in the European region. This was an important first step in making defence integration a part of the mainstream integration process. On the legal basis of the Petersberg Declaration, six operations were carried out. The paper discusses them, showing striking similarities, which actually comprise a special philosophy of intervention by WEU. This philosophy reflects both strengths and weaknesses of WEU's role in the European integration.

Peacekeeping operations are nowadays an important phenomenon in international relations and especially in conflict-ridden regions. The concept and framework of such operations has been constantly evolving in the past and one of the milestones of this evolution was the fall of the communist system and the end of the cold war. In Europe, this historic moment coincided with establishment by the Maastricht Treaty of the new organism within the process of western Europe's integration: the European Union. Both these facts triggered a reaction of the somewhat passive and hardly visible European defence organisation of the Western European Union. Its Petersberg Declaration of 1992 redefined security and sought to change peace obligations of the member states of WEU, as they accepted a broader responsibility and a broader concept of security in the European region. This was an important first step in making defence integration a part of the mainstream integration process. On the legal basis of the Petersberg Declaration, six operations were carried out. The paper discusses them, showing striking similarities, which actually comprise a special philosophy of intervention by WEU. This philosophy reflects both strengths and weaknesses of WEU's role in the European integration.

By focusing on the Western Balkans, this paper asks two questions: first, how small states that are both EU members and candidates for membership understand their role within this normatively powered order and, second, what their roles and agency mean for the order they are socialised into via democratic norms. The notions of hierarchies and orders are conceptualised in this paper as processes of norm diffusion and understood within the socialisation of democratic norms, which, according to the literature, can be institutionalised, rejected, or modified locally. First, I argue that such measurements can help us understand how the EU's practices shape the broader understanding of its actorness in normative and strategic terms toward the Western Balkans. Second, I scrutinise national strategies related to the processes of state-building, security, economy, and society to demonstrate how Serbia and Croatia present their agency as supporting and affirming of the prevalent conception of order in norm localisation, or being more critical of it in the process of localised norm contestation. Third, the effects of EU approaches that provide more tactical and technical views of Europeanisation, rather than (a strategic) full thrust on enlargement, are discussed in the conclusion by bringing the comparative insights together and parsing them by means of the shelter theory for small states.

Russo-Western relations after the declared end of the Cold War, just as on the eve and in the middle of it, have been fraught with developments pointing towards the persisting distrust and disgust in one another's perceptions cast against the background of officially declared truce. Such a decades-long half-truth-balancing has gradually lost its flexibility and acceptability and culminated in what much of the current academic debate calls, since 2014, a "Russian-Ukrainian conflict", but what, in fact, presents an extension to the latent Russo-Western conflict that embarked upon the end of the Cold War – a "cold peace".This article aims to reveal the origins, form and substance of the current Russian hybrid gambling in Ukraine by addressing the essential notions in international but also domestic politics – trust, truth, lies/deception, distrust, war and peace immensely trapped by politics of incremental hybridity and interpretivism.

Russo-Western relations after the declared end of the Cold War, just as on the eve and in the middle of it, have been fraught with developments pointing towards the persisting distrust and disgust in one another's perceptions cast against the background of officially declared truce. Such a decades-long half-truth-balancing has gradually lost its flexibility and acceptability and culminated in what much of the current academic debate calls, since 2014, a "Russian-Ukrainian conflict", but what, in fact, presents an extension to the latent Russo-Western conflict that embarked upon the end of the Cold War – a "cold peace".This article aims to reveal the origins, form and substance of the current Russian hybrid gambling in Ukraine by addressing the essential notions in international but also domestic politics – trust, truth, lies/deception, distrust, war and peace immensely trapped by politics of incremental hybridity and interpretivism.

Autor przyjął założenia badawcze oparte na teorii realizmu politycznego. To pozwoliło mu przeanalizować kryzys ukraiński jako rywalizację mocarstw o Ukrainę. W rywalizacji tej z jednej strony uczestniczy Zachód, tj. USA i Unia Europejska, a z drugiej strony Rosja. Artykuł przedstawia motywy obu stron, uwzględniając w stanowisku Zachodu motywy zaangażowania Polski. Niejako dla zobiektywizowania analizy ukazuje stanowisko strony trzeciej, tj. mocarstw azjatyckich Indii i Chin oraz niezależnych ekspertów z krajów zachodnich. Następnie wskazuje na konsekwencje kryzysu ukraińskiego dla bezpieczeństwa międzynarodowego w Europie. W ostatniej części podejmuje próbę ukazania szans znalezienia porozumienia Zachodu z Rosją w celu rozwiązania kryzysu ukraińskiego. Stwierdza, że jest to potrzebne i możliwe, jednak pod warunkiem rezygnacji przez zaangażowane strony z "absolutnej satysfakcji" i zdecydowania się na kompromisowe rozwiązanie. ; The author has adopted the assumptions based on the theory of political realism. This allowed him to analyse the Ukraine crisis as powers rivalry on Ukraine. In this competition, on the one hand, attending West, the United States and the European Union and Russia, on the other hand. The paper presents reasons of both sides, taking into account within the position of the West the motives of Poland's involvement. To make the analysis objective it shows the position of a third party, i.e. Asian powers India and China, and independent experts from Western countries. Then the paper points the Ukraine crisis consequences for international security in Europe. In the last part attempts to show the chances of reaching an agreement between the West and Russia to solve the Ukraine crisis. It states that it is necessary and possible, but subject to the abandonment by the parties involved "absolute satisfaction" and decide on a compromise solution.

In this article, the author's present relations between the Russian Federation and the European Union in the context of competition for influence in the Western Balkans. Particular attention is paid to the intersecting lines of interest and, nevertheless, important aspects of historical participation in intra-regional relations between the two actors. The article addresses both political, social and economic issues, which are the merits of mutual relations both within the Russian Federation – the European Union as well as between the two actors and the countries of the region. ; W niniejszym artykule autorzy prezentują relacje pomiędzy Federacją Rosyjską a Unią Europejską w kontekście rywalizacji o wpływy na obszarze Bałkanów Zachodnich. Szczególną uwagę autorzy zwracają na przecinające się linie interesów i niemniej ważne aspekty historycznej partycypacji w stosunkach wewnątrz regionu obu aktorów. W artykule zarówno poruszono kwestie polityczne, społeczne jak i gospodarcze, które stanowią meritum wzajemnych relacji zarówno na przestrzeni Federacja Rosyjska – Unia Europejska, jak i pomiędzy oboma aktorami a państwami regionu.