The article is theoretically and methodologically dedicated to analyzing party factors of formation, functioning and stability of governmental cabinets in parliamentary democracies. This task proved to be relevant at the background of the fact that party governments are usually formed and function in countries that are institutionally defined as parliamentary democracies, even regardless of their systems of government. In view of this, governmental cabinets as the top executive in such countries are inevitably and typically marked and characterized by the influence of party factors that outline the parameters of formation, functioning and stability of governments in different parliamentary democracies. The author found that the attributes of party systems, including electoral volatility and party fractionalization, as well as the desire of parties to achieve the status of minimally winning governmental cabinets, have the greatest impact on the formation, functioning, responsibility and stability of governments. At the same time, it was stated that the party determination of the processes of government formation, functioning, responsibility and stability, although it is amenable to averaging, should not be unidirectional, as it is additionally determined by national and regional, including institutional, specifics.
The article analyzes and systematizes different political and institutional perspectives of defining and arrangement of relations between electoral and parliamentary parties, as well as the options of distinguishing between them in representative democracies. This is done in view of the fact that parties in representative democracies play a major role in organizing and articulating the demands, interests and needs of different groups of voters. Accordingly, the issue of theorizing and understanding political and institutional perspectives of defining and arrangement of relations between parties as participants in elections and fractions as parties in the parliaments of almost all democratic countries in the world was put on the agenda. To do this, the author analyzed and structured the differences between such notions as "party", "electoral party", "parliamentary party", "faction", "caucus" and "coalition".
The article is devoted to analyzing the nature and attributes of party government and party governance in European representative democracies, in particular at the background of the relationship between the state, parties and civil society. As a result, attributes have been identified that indicate the expediency of forming party governments for representative democracies, but also some defective manifestations of party government and alternatives to party government have been outlined. On this basis, it is stated that party governments are the "standard" of representative democracies among European countries, although they are or may be characterized by both immanent and congenital defects and distortions associated with the phenomenon of party patronage, the difference between political and bureaucratic components of governance, "decline" or "crisis" of the concept and phenomena of party in Europe, etc. In other words, it is specified that visually, constructively and by the nature of parliamentary support, party governments have been and remain predominant ones in European representative democracies, but they have more and more obvious alternatives, including in the format of non-party and semi-party governments.
The article deals with analyzing the historical trends and political, social and economic preconditions for the formation and reformation of urban transport and urban transportations in the Visegrad Group countries – Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic – firstly in the communist and post-communist periods and later after the European integration of the region. On this basis, the specifics, trends, models and effects of the development of urban transportations in the Visegrad Group countries for the entire period after the collapse of the regimes of "real socialism" have been clarified. It has demonstrated that currently urban transportations, in particular due to their incomplete reformation or involvement, are not at the appropriate level to overcome the existing modal split between road and rail transport in the Visegrad Group countries, even in spite of the fact that the countries of the region had tested different models of development and reformation of their urban transport.
The article considers and systematizes the meaning, functionality, optionality and consequences of political, as well as parliamentary opposition in the conditions of presidential and other options of non-parliamentary democracies in the world. It is stated that the opposition in the case of presidential or non-parliamentary democracies should be considered more broadly, but also in a slightly different sense than within parliamentary democracies. In particular, due to the fact that it is not an alternative to the executive, but is a manifestation or a mechanism of checks and balances in the conditions of a "rigid" separation of powers. In addition, it is found that the political opposition in presidentialism is determined by various institutional and political factors that can act as veto players, in particular by federal system, bicameral parliament, type of party system, qualities of the head of state, etc. This "broadens" the spectrum of political opposition in the case of presidential or non-parliamentary democracies, but does not strengthen parliamentary opposition in such political systems. Thus, it is proven that parliamentary opposition in non-parliamentary democracies is significantly more limited than in the case of parliamentary democracies, but in general political opposition here is much more "broader".
The article analyzes the peculiarities of the formation, optionality and prospects for the development of populism in the countries of Central-Eastern Europe at the background of political theorizations and the European experience. This is done in view of the fact that populism is being talked about both theoretically and practically, as well as in a regional context, in particular in the context of certain samples of countries and even parts of the world. It is revealed that the current understanding of populism is quite blurred by both regional and national specifics, as well as by the conditions in which political actors in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe appeal to or modify the principles and postulates that are classically associated with the phenomenon of populism in political theory and practice, at least in European one. Having studied the options of populism in the countries of the region, it is found that it only partially repeats the attributes of populism in the all-European context, as well as it (especially in the current political situation in the world) is not and cannot be a short-term phenomenon without a future.
The article analyzes the essence, stages of formation, key priorities, problems, as well as prospects for the development of the EU transport policy. It was stated that the so-called joint transport policy should be considered as a component of coordination and agreement of transport policies and processes at the level of international transport cooperation of the EU countries in general and some of them in particular. The author argued that the common transport policy of the EU (from stage to stage of its development) acquires more and more consolidated outlines, but it is still characterized by significant problems of logistical, infrastructural and political importance. It was noticed that the consolidation of the common transport policy of the EU directly depends on the level of integration of the EU members, but the former is more and more going beyond the EU. At the same time, it was recorded that the deterioration or slowing down of the development of the common transport policy of the EU occurs at the background of various crises and conflicts.
The article examines the peculiarities and varieties of the institution of monarchy, as well as offers a comparative analysis of the powers of formal and informal authority of monarchs in European countries. On this basis, it was checked whether the power of monarchs is a factor in the success and prosperity of monarchies. The author stated that there is no really strong monarch on the territory of Europe at the present stage, and almost all the countries considered are constitutional monarchies, where a monarch and his or her actions are significantly limited by constitution, traditions, laws, government and parliament. This is due to the fact that the heads of state in the democratic countries of Europe govern, but do not rule and do not manage, as well as instead perform nominal and symbolic roles. Oddly enough, this is one of the reasons for the success and prosperity of monarchies, although the hypothesis that the power of monarchs correlates with the development results and prosperity rating of certain states has not been directly proven.
The article is dedicated to studying the parameters of stability and conflict of inter-institutional relations within the framework of Polish semi-presidentialism of the period of the "Small Constitution" (1992–1997). The study is based on the fact that this period of the development of the Polish political system was the first stage in the development of Polish semi-presidentialism in the recent political history of this country. It is argued that the early stage of the development of Polish semi-presidentialism was characterized by quite significant conflicts in inter-institutional relations. The author argued that Poland chose a rather complex scenario of political and inter-institutional relations during the period of 1992–1997, since the formalized attributes of Polish semi-presidentialism at that time were significantly modified by the lack of political traditions and personal characteristics of Polish politicians, especially presidents. In general, the Polish semi-presidential system of 1992–1997 often provided incentives for power and inter-institutional conflicts and political/constitutional destabilization, especially if certain constitutional conditions, including the powers of political institutions, were ambiguous. Thus, it is established that both formally and politically, the Polish early case of semi-presidentialism not only foresaw, but even dictated the possibility and probability of inter-institutional conflicts, even when different political institutions and their personalities represented the same electoral majority or even a parliamentary majority.
The article is dedicated to analyzing the phenomenon and features of internal The article is devoted to analyzing the basic preconditions, features, prospects and problems of the motor transport development in the countries of the Visegrad Group, i.e. in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. This is done against the background of the well-known conclusion about the existence of a modal split in the development of transport in the countries of the region, in particular between the regressing rail transport and the progressing motor transport. To do this, the researcher first analyzed the state of development of various types of transport until the collapse of communist regimes in the region. After that, the focus was on the causes of the decline of rail transport and the improvement of motor transport efficiency. Finally, the author analyzed the current state of development and problems of motor transport in the countries of the Visegrad Group. As a result, it is proved that at present, in fact, nothing can affect the already formed modal split in the transport system of the countries of the region, which obviously will continue to deepen in favor of motor transport.
The article concerns the issue of ethnic conflicts in the selected countries of the European Union. The origin of the conflicts is explained by conflicts among different groups pursuing various interests. Cultural and religious identity, the idea of being socially recognized, freedom from discrimination, freedom of religion often have a further negative impact on conflicting relationships. The absence of dialogue between actors of the conflicts brings about the ongoing increase of different acts of violence. The Great Britain, Spain and France are the examples of the multicultural countries with multi-faceted origin of ethnic conflicts. Searching for the roots of the ethnic conflicts reference should be made to interethnic relationships with their beginning in distant historical epochs. It will enable understand, among others, the Irish's reluctance to the British or the front pages news.
The base of contemporary democracy there is the right to participate in presidential elections, which are, as a rule, universal and direct, as well as equal and secret, according to point 127 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. A society, understood as a general public by their electoral rights, is still, to a lesser extent, aspiring to take direct part in the election of the head of state.1 Such a right is granted to all citizens of the country in which the presidential election take place, as defined in point 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland at the latest on election day ends 18 years of age. It is worth noting that not everyone who crosses this magic threshold can be identified as a voter. The right to vote is vested in those who hold the full rights of the public, who have not been denied the right to vote by the ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal and the person in full mental authority.2 The prevalence of the presidential election is expressed in the drafting of voters by the municipal offices, which are supposed to allow the voter to vote. The list includes citizens who meet the above requirements, including persons in hospitals, social welfare facilities, penitentiaries or detention centers.3 At this point, it is particularly important to add that people of Polish descent who have been on immigration for a longer or shorter time may also vote. At the time of the Polish presidential election campaign 2015, Internet forums devoted to Polonia issues and social networking sites such as Facebook had heated discussions over the matter of voting by people who did not live in their country of origin and still enjoy the right of election. Constituentists, lawyers and politicians joined in this discussion. The aim of this article is to bend over the presidential elections 2015 in the context of the migration of Poles. From a methodological point of view, it is intended to be used as a test material for quantitative analysis and justification for its wide application in political science and humanities which, as a result of incorrect assumptions, abounds in nonparametric data, resulting in objective results of research that could be representative. Thus, the thesis set out in this article is the statement that quantitative analysis as a re- search tool can be used in political science to obtain objective results that are representative and used for further exploratory research. The research questions that are supposed to be used as guides are: a. What is the main assumption of quantitative analysis in the theoretical aspect?, b. How quantitative analysis as a tool can be used in political science?, c. In what way the statistical databases can be used as a source of information?, d. How to use the quantitative analysis to analyze the results of the election on emigration?. Paying particular attention to the fact that the phenomenon of migration is becoming more powerful and the number of Poles abroad, especially in the United Kingdom, is increasing significantly, leading to social and political disputes, expressed even in the Brexit idea, the Polish presidential elections in the UK are the basis of exploration for this tool. It is intended to examine the mechanisms of electoral behaviour and attitudes of migrants towards such actions.
The article is dedicated to comparative analyzing political regimes in Eastern European countries and making correlation of their hybrid and authoritarian political practices in 1991-2016. The researcher used such methods of analysis of political regimes as "Freedom in the World", "Nations in Transit", Vanhanen scheme, Democracy Index of "The Economist Intelligence Unit", project "Polity IV" and so on. As a result it was mapped all received effective data of divergent comparative methods of democracy and autocracy assessment, on the basis of which the author held their correlation in terms of common and distinctive findings and displayed adjacent/coupled design for understanding political regimes in Eastern Europe.
The article is dedicated to theoretical and methodological systematizing and updating the definition and indicators for measuring the stability of governments. The researcher examined theoretical, methodological and empirical results that variously describe the fullness and the essence of the concept of "government stability". For this the author analyzed the essence of the notions of "government," "governmental cabinet", "cabinet of ministers" and "stability". As a result, the researcher highlighted and systematized the indicators and measurement tools for analyzing stability of governments.
The article deals with analyses and structuration of the legal framework for regulating migration and migration processes in the European Union on the eve of the European "migration crisis". This is researched in view of the fact that the migration processes in the region have intensified and began to manifest themselves in an extraordinary variety of forms dur- ing the recent decades. The author found that the legal framework for regulating migration and migration processes in the European Union, in particular in retrospective and prognostic sections and mainly on the eve of the European "migration crisis" (i.e. until 2014–2015), was mostly gradually liberalized and simplified, although it provided for greater responsibility. Accondignly, the legal or political and legal specifics of the regulation of migration and migration processes in the EU were one of the factors that contributed or did not prevent the beginning and intensification of the European "migration crisis" in 2014–2015.
