The aim of the article is to present the development of biometric technology as a consequence of 9/11 terrorist attacks in the USA and issuing the PATRIOT ACT in 2001. Nowadays biometric technology is popular not only in the public security area (e.g. criminal data bases, face recognition surveillance systems) but is also used in everyday life (e.g. smartphones with touch ID/face recognition). The article shows both sides of biometric devices utilization: advantages and potential negative consequences for individuals.
The article deals with resonance, development, and changes in various forms of atheism in the works of Czech, especially Marxist, intellectuals in the second half of the 20th century. Attention is also paid to their influence on public opinion, especially in connection with a rise in negative attitude of a large part of the Czech public towards religion. The study is based primarily on historical and discursive analyses of the works of principal authors from the 1950s to 1989. Among the authors discussed are important figures such as Ivan Sviták, Milan Machovec, and Vítězslav Gardavský.
The following debate took place on March 22, 2019 at the Warsaw School of Economics. The content of the Study on Spatial Chaos report provided the framework for the discussion. Its authors estimated the cost of spatial chaos at PLN 84.3 billion per year. They indicated the main mechanisms leading to the occurrence of this phenomenon.
The author analyses the design and imposition of the bank levy that came into effect on the 1st of February 2016 both from the economic and legal perspective. The author portrays its origin as well as the main solutions. The risks connected with their implementation involving the capacity to collect the tax are outlined. The author also presents the development of the design of taxation of the banking sector in Poland in the past dozen or more years. The author conducts a comparative analysis of the various tax designs that prove effective in many E.U. Member States. This allows to show the similarities and tell the differences between the various state-specific designs and the ones adopted in Poland. The paper is also concerned with the consequences that the bank levy might bring about in Poland. The author postulates that the analysis of its design flaws makes it possible to evade taxation. The author puts forward alternative concepts, which would make the provisions of the law more precise. The bank levy applicable in Poland has also been subject to an in-depth analysis in the context of tax avoidance.
The paper describes the Polish road to NATO which, contrary to the West's expectations and promises, was long and bumpy. The author presents and analyses various obstacles that hindered Polish accession to NATO. The author divides such challenges into objective and subjective barriers, but using other criteria, the author points to specific geopolitical, international, political, social, and military conditions. Furthermore, the author presents the stances of different countries on the enlargement of the North Atlantic Alliance after the Cold War, particularly the attitudes of the USA, Germany, France, the USSR, and Russia as these states were either more or less supportive of Polish efforts to join NATO or not supportive at all. In 1989-1999 the Alliance's position was slowly evolving from being initially unwilling to support Poland's accession to NATO to being sympathetic towards it. In the paper, the author poses a few research questions on the above-mentioned obstacles on the Polish road to NATO and a few theses and hypotheses. The author states that primarily the USSR, later the Russian Federation, was against Poland's accession to NATO. Initially, the West also opposed it. After 1989, its priority was to reunite Germany and stabilize military relations with Moscow through the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) and the elimination of Soviet military bases in post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
The following article aims to show complete reception of the interwar works of Adolf Rudnicki. The author of the sketch, starting from the repeated by literary scholars argument, that Rudnicki has been a favorite of reviewers since his debut, presents comments about subsequent books of the author, from the Polish press of the thirties. There emerges a completely different image of critics' relation to Rudnicki's work, than the one, which was created by the literary scholars so far. The position that the author occupied in the literary world appears to be much less privileged than it has been said so far.
A child's language development vs. blended learning Abstract The author of the article analyzes the phenomenon of b-learning in speech therapy of children. The article presents answers to research hypotheses from the PhD dissertation of the author, "B-learning in the diagnosis and speech therapy of children". The author tries to find an answer to the question whether new technologies have a positive impact on the linguistic development of contemporary children? The digital world has not only risks but also benefits. Speech therapist, who are responsible for the linguistic development of children, should pay particular attention to these phenomena and study them in order to develop the best possible methods of stimulating the speech and communication of "digital natives".
The objective of this paper is to show the geopolitical dimension of the TSI from a French point of view. The author presents the TSI implementation process, characterises Poland's rivalry with Germany and Russia in a historical context, emphasizes the important role of Germany in the entire project, and reviews Russia's attitude towards the region. The article includes numerous maps made by the author.
In this paper author examines the perception of Central Asia by contemporary Russian thinkers and scientists: "neo-Slavophiles", "Eurasians" and "Westernizers". Author established the existence of significant differences between three groups of experts in the assessment of Russia's foreign policy in relation to Central Asian states. This conclusion applies equally to the attitude of selected Russian scientists concerning China, as well as to Russia's prospects in the region.
The author of the book research the interaction of politics and law as two important social regulators that have a common goal the effective development of society. The author defines the real models of interaction between politics and law, which have formed in Ukraine and the Republic of Poland in the process of social transformation, and the creation of an appropriate model, which should be based on the goal of ensuring the public interest.
Reviewed monography Necros. Introduction to death body's ontology by prof. Ewa Domańska (AMU) is a fragmentary reflection on ontological status of dead body and corps (treated subjectively). Review's author presenting the methodological assumptions of the work, its main goals and concepts of consideration for political scientists. Author also indicates how the term (historical) "necropolitics" could be used by political science and sets a potential field for its scientific exploration.
The aim of this article is to present the problem of Italian national identity on the example of Padania. Particular attention was paid to the context of the Venetian and Lombard referendum for greater autonomy which took place on 22 October 2017. The analysis is aimed at verifying the research hypothesis assuming a weakening of the sense of the Italian national identity in favor of regional identity. To explain the research problems was applied a historical-comparative method which would allow to attempt to answer if Northern Italy, often identified with Padania could aspire to be a new independent state. There is analyzed the evolution of separatist tendencies in Italy.
The article presents and compares historiosophical conceptions of Cyprian Norwid and Zbigniew Herbert based on particular notes and pieces of both poets. It shows that the author of Vade-mecum sees history by – say – methodology of Herodotus, and the author of Pan Cogito creates vision of history like in Thucydides's one. Both perspectives are valuable and stem from different original presuppositions, nonetheless both of them lead to the same aim, which is understanding of mechanisms ruling human history.
The author formulates the assumption that public authorities in Poland are less able to hold accountability in connection with the changes introduced to the political system under the rule of the United Right. The aim of this article is to justify this assumption by presenting the current conditions of accountability of public authorities. In defining accountability, the author uses the approaches of R. Mulgan and M. Bovens. Following these authors, she distinguishes three stages of accountability: information, discussion, and consequences. The article presents the legal grounds and restrictions on access to public information, discussion of government policy and imposing sanctions on public authorities and officials. The author formulates a conclusion on the accountability deficit of public authorities in Poland due to the limitation of discussions in the parliament and public media and the breaking of the chain of accountability at the stage of consequences, which results mainly from the political subordination of the prosecutor's office.