Suchergebnisse

The European Economic Community/European Union was born as an economy-oriented organization, which was to facilitate rebuilding of the Old Continent after WWII through extensive cooperation, particularly in trade. However, the appetites of the state leaders were growing along the progress of the integration processes; the economic success was an argument for further integration of the European countries. Due to this, the organization was given the ability to make decisions and influence decision-makers at the national level in subsequent spheres that earlier were the sole prerogative of states. Still, for many years EU members determinedly guarded their competences regarding broadly understood security, predominantly defence. Successive attempts to accelerate integration in this area were not effective enough to develop a real common defence policy. One of the last initiatives, Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), is supposed to help change this situation. It is therefore necessary to pose several questions: What is PESCO? What is EU members' attitude towards developing this form of cooperation? What does this cooperation look like at the early implementation stages? What factors determine the involvement of the 'old' and 'new' EU member states? This article is an attempt to answer these questions.

The purpose of the paper is to highlight the activities of the representatives of the Republic of Poland in the UN Security Council in the status of a non-permanent member in 2018-2019, in particular regarding the resolving of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. The method of content analysis of state program documents, Internet portals of the government of the Republic of Poland and the United Nations, and scientific literature was used in the implementation of the goal. The problem-chronological method made it possible to trace the history of the participation of the Republic of Poland in the UN. The methodology is based on the principles of historicism and objectivity. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the new understanding of the role of Polish diplomacy in the UN Security Council after the occupation of Crimea and the start of Russia's hybrid war in Donbas. The analysis made it possible to formulate the following conclusions. The Republic of Poland – one of the founding states of the UN – tried to be an active member of the organization, including by participating in the work of its main bodies. Poland was elected a non-permanent member of the Security Council six times. The main priorities of Polish diplomacy at the UN Security Council in 2018-2019 included: respect for international law, protection of civilians in armed conflicts, peace and security in Eastern Europe. Much attention was paid to the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which, thanks to the Polish side, did not disappear from the body's agenda and was discussed in various contexts. The Polish delegates consistently reminded about the negative impact of the violation of international law and agreements by the Russian Federation, the situation in the occupied territories of Crimea and Donbas, and in the Black and Azov seas. They tried to present the consequences of the occupation of Crimea and the war in Donbas not only as a problem of regional security, but also as a global challenge to the international legal order. The Polish state made a significant contribution to the formation and strengthening of the international coalition in support of Ukraine in countering the aggression of the Russian Federation. An obstacle to an effective resolution of the Ukrainian issue was primarily the specificity and composition of the UN Security Council, where non-permanent members play only a limited role, and one of the permanent members is an aggressor country. The example of the debate surrounding the resolution of the Ukrainian issue once again proves the deficit of UN deep reform

The author presents selected ventures in the area of climate change mitigation and adaptation that negatively affect indigenous peoples. Against this factual background, she analyzes relevant international legal regulations. Such an analysis enables the answer to the main research question: can climate change adaptation and mitigation actions be the justification for disrespecting the rights of indigenous peoples? The research method adopted is legal- -institutional analysis which includes an examination of the content of legal and other documents. Combined with critical analysis of literature and media reports this analysis allows representation of the reality – violations of the rights of indigenous peoples as a part of efforts to counteract climate change. Recommendations and main findings include: climate change adaptation and mitigation measures may not justify violations of the rights of indigenous peoples; such measures have to be developed in collaboration with indigenous communities; indigenous peoples' rights may not be perceived as a factor hindering the State's economic development or an obstacle to environmental protection; indigenous knowledge should be included in the strategies to combat climate change. Indigenous peoples should be regularly consulted by policy makers so that the their traditional knowledge is incorporated in decisions regarding these matters.

For many years, the priority of foreign policy determined by subsequent governments of the six Western Balkan countries, i.e., Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia has been their accession to the European Union. Yet, in recent years, this process has slowed down, and so it can be assumed that in the coming years there will be no further enlargement of the EU to include any of the Western Balkan countries. The following article is aimed at analysing the present status of European integration with regard to the aforementioned states, and discusses the causes of regression in this process which can be identified on the side of the non-EU Western Balkan states and the European Union itself. Their integration is also a key issue in the context of the increasingly stronger presence of non-EU players such as China, Russia, and Turkey, all competing with the European Union for influence in this important region. The study was based on discourse analysis (including the critical discourse analysis approach) and content analysis.

The article presents the result of quantitative research on local government elections in Poland carried out on October 21 and November 4, 2018. Its goal is to examine the proportions of lists registered by political parties and nonpartisan electoral committees and the mandates they have obtained. This proportion shows the degree of presence of political parties in local governments of various levels and sizes. The data were selected so that all provinces in Poland were examined (16), a number of districts were randomly selected (in provinces with less than 20 districts, data from half districts were examined, in provinces with over 20 districts, from one third). Within the selected districts, all communes were examined. The quantitative research shows that local governments elected in 2018 are not political only in small and medium-sized communes, in which the councils are made up mostly of councilors who were candidates from nonpartisan committees.