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The general aim of the paper is a systenatization of concepts and also an analysis of some aspects of the process of forming institutional infrastructure in Europe after the collapse of centrally managed economic system. Characteristic feature of such transformations is that they concern mainly the sphere of non-material components of economic subjects' surrouding. This involves difficulties in monitoring them and in interpreting them in a strict way. Europe needs a transformation of all the elements of its institutional infrastructure. In teh case of such institutions-organizations as European Union or NATO - an evolution is expected towards their more universal character. Within the institutions of codified principles the developing of European political infrastructure (i.e. agreements serving increased co-operation of all States of the region) is more particularly desirable. The element that unites transformations of institutions-organizations and institutions-formali zed principles is the fact that both of them are undertaken fully consciously. Also changes within institutions-non-formalized principles are of much importance for the process of European integration. The changes are the result of very complex and time consuming economic and social developments. The need for such changes involves more particularly the societies of former Eastern Europe which, under specific conditions of centrally planned economy, have developped institutional system quite difficult to adept it to the market economy. ; Digitalizacja i deponowanie archiwalnych zeszytów RPEiS sfinansowane przez MNiSW w ramach realizacji umowy nr 541/P-DUN/2016

Nowadays, energy security is a growing concern in state foreignpolicy. Interdependency in the energy field is a very important dimensionof contemporary relations between states and transnational corporations.Energy security is becoming a key issue for the European Union (EU). TheUnion is one of the world's fastest-growing energy markets and the biggestimporter of energy resources. For the foreseeable future, Europe's energydependence will probably increase. Facing a shortage of energy, Europe isdependent on imports and the EU member states need to diversify their energysupplies. The Caspian region contains some of the largest undevelopedoil and gas reserves in the world. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, thenewly independent Caspian states became open to foreign investment. Thegrowing energy needs have given the EU a strong interest in developing tieswith energy-producing states in the Caspian region to build the necessarypipeline infrastructure. In this analysis, the pipeline infrastructure that exists orwill be built in the near future will be presented. The analysis will concentrateon routes transporting gas from the Caspian region and the most importantproblems and solutions in designing the midstream energy system in the region.The key aim of the article is to analyse the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC)infrastructure project, which will inevitably contribute to the EU's energy securityinterest.

The study elaborates essentials, in the author's opinion, of the answer to the following query formulated at the outset: is the formation and the development of contemporary crisis phenomena related, and to what extent, to the present policies of infrastructure developement and to its attained level. A decision to elaborate this subject can be justified, on the one hand with prevalent disturbances of the economic developement in European States and on the other, with the weight attributed to infrastructure as a substantial determinant of economic changes. Relations between infrastructure and a developement of capitalist states can be characterized by means of presentation of three crucial moments. The first one incidental to the 19 c. industrial revolution, the second, resulting from Keynsian assumptions and the third one, started, in the author's opinion, in 1973 along with the oil crisis and a process of the EEC extension. As far as the socialist States are concerned, the author indicates at the significant reasons of apparent tendencies in economic practice in those States, they are rooted in the views on understanding a socialist economy, still vivid in the theory and present in the practice of economic life (e.g. identifying it with one giant enterprise), on principles and conditions of development (e.g. a tendency to allow a preferential treatment to accumulation in a distribution of national income), as well as on a practical interpretation of goals of socialist economy. Many conclusions and theses could be illustrated on account of a wide employment of statistical data on a state and a pace of transformations of economic infrastructure of the 20 European states, on utilization of infrastructure services in relation to the gained effect of GNP and on assessment of interactions between a level of infrastructure developement and a general stage of developement. ; Digitalizacja i deponowanie archiwalnych zeszytów RPEiS sfinansowane przez MNiSW w ramach realizacji umowy nr 541/P-DUN/2016

Energy security is a sine qua non condition for functioning and development of the economy of individual countries. The presented analysis concerns the issues of energy security of Poland, Belarus and Ukraine from the perspective of importers and transit countries of crude oil in the infrastructural dimension. The aim of the article is to answer the question: which direction to develop the strategic transmission infrastructure in the transit countries in order to ensure energy security?
Literature research on the subject and a comparative analysis shows that from the perspective of these countries, one of the most important determinant of their energy security is the strategic transmission infrastructure that allows for the diversification of the supplier's sources and directions. However, the implementation of this strategy requires coordinated and consistent political actions as part of an international strategy.

Chinese Belt and Road initiative (BRI) is not only an economic or political project, but also has the potential to transform the international system. The initiative's impact is large – from stimulating the financing of infrastructure investments in various countries around the world to the development of new global supply chains. The scientific goal of the article is to analyze the consequences of implementing the initiative. The research problem is included in the following question: does the Belt and Road Initiative contribute to increasing Chinese influence in the world and carries the risk of driving poorer countries into the ―debt trap‖? The conclusion from the article is that China should create an improved version of the BRI initiative based on a better risk assessment of the current projects. Infrastructure investments, if not carefully implemented and controlled, may lead to consequences, such as increasing the debt of some countries in the long term.

After 1864 the cities of the Kingdom of Poland went through a lot of changes which can be defined with the word 'modernization'. It refers to various spheres of reality, from economic, through social, and, finally, to cultural processes; it also concerns everyday life, which can be understood as material surroundings of an individual, communication, infrastructure and urban space, entertainment and free time. Using the press from that time, it is possible to trace some of the aspects of the modernization processes, the speed with which it occurred, and the relationship with the centre. The example of Lublin presents some characteristic trends of the provincial cities: following in the footsteps of Warsaw with a few-year delay, but also the problems (e.g. financial ones in the case of infrastructure or the required entertainments), which became common in the provinces; it is a fact that the material things spread faster than attitudes and some top-down activities associated with introduction of standardization, norms, and regulations in various spheres of life.

China's soft-power practice in its international activity boils down to four areas: culture, education, diplomacy, and economy. The most important element of China's soft-power policy seems to be the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Announced in 2013, the BRI is a complex, long-term and large-scale strategic political and economic project by the Chinese government with an infrastructure character. In this way, China is seeking to invest its capital surpluses in resurrecting the ancient Silk Road to create railroad and maritime networks with its most important trading partner – the European Union. In these circumstances, in September 2015, the presidents of Central and Eastern EU member states announced the establishment of the separate Three Seas Initiative (TSI), a political and economic project bringing together 12 EU states, including 11 'new' members and Austria. These entities constitute an informal bloc of states between the Adriatic, Baltic and Black seas, though without a permanent secretariat but with rotating leadership. In addition to the lack of a formal structure, the TSI region, located mainly in the EU's eastern part, is characterized by a weaker infrastructure network than Western Europe, lower GDP (except Austria), and high dependence on gas supplies from Russia (except Croatia). To overcome these disparities, the TSI has developed a catalogue of 48 investment priorities in three economic areas: energy, transport, and digitalisation. China's soft-power policy towards the 'new' EU members may be decided by the American patronage of the TSI and the fact that one of the flagship projects is the North-South Gas Corridor, which will enable the sale of American LNG in Central Europe, which has been dependent on gas supplies from Russia, China's partner in the BRI. In the context of the US-China trade war, White House planners recognise Central Europe as both a peripheral and key area for their policy and seek to strengthen the Three Seas project, which may lead to limiting areas of cooperation under the '17+1' format, involving CEE countries and China. On the other hand, the development of better energy, transport and digital connections in the EU's east clearly intersects with China's idea of building a New Eurasian Land Bridge under the BRI to connect the most economically developed edges of Eurasia. The new US strategy towards the countries of the CEE seems to boil down to involvement in specific energy-related projects. Instead of blocking or diminishing BRI-related infrastructure projects in China, they seem in fact to complement the Chinese activity in the CEE. Increased investment by American enterprises in the region may allow the administration in Washington to maintain control of Chinese infrastructure investments, and the US involvement may even lead to the participation of American companies in projects originally started by Beijing.

A military presence on the territory of the Republic of Belarus is highly significant for the Russian Federation geopolitically. Russia is very particular about having buffer zones, client and neighbouring states with limited sovereignty on its borders. The aim of this article is to analyse the specificity of the Russian Federation's military presence in Belarus. In the following article, two hypotheses have been verified using factor analysis. Firstly, sustaining control over the territory of Belarus is of particular importance for the military safety of Russia, while at the same time, it detrimentally affects the stability of the Central and Eastern Europe countries. Secondly, the Russian Federation does not have a permanent military base within Belarusian territory and its military presence is solely confined to the use of military and transport infrastructure, which is indispensable for rapid accommodation and deployment of the Armed Force formations as well as for the rotation of strike forces. Due to political reasons, a permanent military presence enables Russia to keep Belarus within its area of influence. Nevertheless, in military terms, the utilisation of military and transport infrastructure in order to rapidly deploy strike forces within the territory of the Republic is far more important.

Poziom bezpieczeństwa energetycznego państwa najlepiej można ocenić rozpoznając rynek w sektorach gazu, ropy naftowej i paliw oraz energii elektrycznej. W celu określenia poziomu bezpieczeństwa energetycznego Polski w 2015 r. w pierwszej kolejności zbadano istotę problemu krajowego rynku energii - przeanalizowano zasoby surowcowe, zapotrzebowanie oraz stan infrastruktury wytwórczej i przesyłowej tych surowców i energii. Następnie rozpoznano główne założenia polityki energetycznej i zaplanowane do realizacji w latach 2010–2015 działania. W dalszej kolejności zweryfikowano poziom wykonania tych założeń odzwierciedlony w rzeczywistych zrealizowanych i obecnie realizowanych działaniach. Tak przeprowadzone badanie pozwoliło, w końcowym efekcie pracy, potwierdzić założoną na wstępie hipotezę, że rząd Polski w latach 2010-2015 realizował i obecnie dalej realizuje planową politykę, która mimo pewnych opóźnień, prowadzi do zrównoważonego rozwoju oraz wzrostu bezpieczeństwa energetycznego i gospodarczego Polski. ; The level of national energy security can be rated by studying gas, oil, fuel and electricity markets. In order to estimate the level of Polish energy security in 2015, at first the essence of the national energy market problems was examined in the terms of the state of resources, demand, the condition of energy generation and distribution infrastructure. Next, the main principles of the energy policy and actions scheduled for 2010-2015 were analyzed. This analysis was followed by estimations of the extent at which these goals and plans had been met; it was done by analyzing the actions actually being performed and already completed. The research allowed to confirm the hypothesis put forward at the beginning of the paper that in 2010-2015 the Polish government had accomplished and still was performing the coherent policy which, despite some delays, led to sustainable development and improvement in energy and economic security of Poland.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the actions taken by the Polish government to achieve energy security. On the basis of specifi ed assumptions and its specifi c circumstances, the realization of Polish energy security is examined by looking at three levels: the state level, the EU level and the international level. At the state level, Poland seeks to diversify its energy mix [does author mean 'and' here instead of 'or'] and develop infrastructure. Energy security at the European Union level is sought by the development of trans- European networks between all member states and the attempt to build an internal energy market. At the international level the achievement of energy security is sought by the diversifi cation of Polish contracts for import of fossil fuels and efforts to build international infrastructure projects. All three levels are interdependent and their nature is one of mutual interpenetration. ; Celem artykułu jest analiza działań podejmowanych przez rząd Polski w celu realizacji bezpieczeństwa energetycznego. Biorąc pod uwagę jego specyfi czne uwarunkowania, realizacja bezpieczeństwa energetycznego Polski sprowadza się do trzech poziomów. Na poziomie państwa jest ono realizowane między innymi poprzez próby dywersyfi kacji struktury bilansu surowcowo-energetycznego oraz rozbudowę infrastruktury. Na poziomie Unii Europejskiej bezpieczeństwo energetyczne Polski jest realizowane w kontekście budowy wspólnego rynku energii, a także rozbudowy sieci transeuropejskich. Z kolei na poziomie międzynarodowym, realizacja bezpieczeństwa odbywa się poprzez dywersyfi kację struktury kontraktów na import surowców energetycznych oraz działania zmierzające do budowy międzynarodowych projektów infrastrukturalnych.