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The subject of this article is a critical reflection on how to analyse contemporary foreign policy. In times of ever-faster globalisation and deepening European integration two questions appear to be particularly important: to what extent are the classic(al) methods of explaining and analysing foreign policy still relevant? Are new theoretical concepts needed that are functional and useful? To accomplish the task described above, structural realism, as one of the major theories of international relations, has been juxtaposed with the very popular concept of Europeanization. Following this path, the relevant literature, consisting predominantly of Kenneth Waltz's works published after the end of the Cold War and the creation of the EU, has been reviewed and analysed. As for Europeanization, materials devoted to the specific issue of its impact on the foreign policies of European states and the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy as a whole has been used. To summarise, the attempt to combine and synthesize structural realism and the concept of Europeanization has been undertaken in search for an optimal (in a cognitive and explanatory aspect) method of analysing the foreign policies of EU Member States.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The aim of this article is an analysis of Witold Gombrowicz's position in reference to the archetype of Polish political culture. THE RESEARCH PROBLEMS AND METHODS: The main problem undertaken in the article is an analysis of Witold Gombrowicz's position in reference to the question of Polishness, its components, and its relationship to Latin civilization. The article is based on an analysis of Gombrowicz's Diary. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The article begins with a synthetic outline of two fundamental issues: the Latinness of European civilization and the debate surrounding the archetype of Polish political culture. This is followed by what constitutes the main body of the article: an analysis of Gombrowicz's views on Polishness. RESEARCH RESULTS: The most important result of the scientific analysis conducted here is the indication of the main theses of Gombrowicz's understanding of Polishness and of the relationship between Polishness and Latin civilization. Gombrowicz's conception is presented as an innovative approach to the problem, transcending traditional takes on Polishness as a specific type of realism. CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: In his conclusions, the author indicates interpretative possibilities resulting from the perspective taken in the article, as well as areas that require further study, concerning such issues as the relationship between the Sonland and the Fatherland, and the culture of the Polish nobility during the "Saxon Era."

From the perspective of the history of political and legal doctrines, the dichotomous way of looking at actuality through the prism of the struggle between realism and idealism is one of the classical approaches to social sciences. The basic source of knowledge for the political realism idea is the achievements of politicians, historians and philosophers, who are often at the same time creators of political and legal thought. In the research on political realism, however, one should, based on subsidiarity, also use the message found in the rhetorical speeches, recorded and preserved until today. Taking these reservations into account, the subject of the article is to analyze – in a rhetorical perspective – the classical political realism, with the simultaneous narrowing of the research field to international relations. The subject of the analysis are selected ancient Greek rhetorical speeches by authors such as Cleon, Diodotus, Pericles, Demosthenes, Andocides, Isocrates and Lysias. ; Z perspektywy historii doktryn polityczno-prawnych dychotomiczny sposób spojrzenia na rzeczywistość przez pryzmat zmagań między realizmem a idealizmem stanowi jedno z klasycznych ujęć nauk społecznych. Podstawowym źródłem poznania idei realizmu politycznego jest dorobek polityków, historyków czy filozofów, którzy często znajdują się jednocześnie w gronie twórców myśli polityczno-prawnej. W badaniach nad realizmem politycznym należy jednak, na zasadzie subsydiarności, korzystać także z przekazu znajdującego się w utrwalonych i zachowanych do dzisiaj mowach retorycznych. Uwzględniając te zastrzeżenia, przedmiotem artykułu jest analiza – w retorycznej optyce – klasycznego realizmu politycznego, z jednoczesnym zawężeniem pola badawczego do stosunków międzynarodowych. Przedmiotem analizy są wybrane starożytne greckie mowy retoryczne takich autorów, jak Kleon, Diodotos, Perykles, Demostenes, Andokides, Izokrates i Lizjasz.

A dispute between idealism and realism in International Relations theory is both widely known and still unresolved. Although one can find more arguments in favour of the latter perspective, once in a while the proponents of idealism – backed with solid evidence from international politics – raise justified objections. This phenomenon applies especially to the American foreign policy which provides many examples of the continuous rivalry between both paradigms. The article refers to that discourse and conducts an analysis of the U.S. policy towards the Arab Spring, where noble (and idealistic) values clashed with hard (and realist) interests. While addressing the question – idealism or realism? – the paper offers a slightly different approach to the subject. It distinguishes the "instrumental idealism" (which in fact is a disguised realism) and the "pure idealism" (which truly pursues its goals). Six countries, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria, serve as case studies for the analysis. The article argues that the U.S. conducted a heterogeneous policy towards the Arab Spring, employing three approaches – realism in Yemen and Bahrain, idealism in Libya, and the combination of both in Tunisia, Egypt and Syria.

While many people all over the world become conscious about serious defects and inefficiencies of the prevailing political systems based on representative democracy, alternative solutions for more just and inclusive systems of governance continue developing. Alternative forms of democracy based on the idea of civic participation and deliberation have more and more followers, who are willing to implement innovative participatory and collective decision making practices in various areas and at various organizational levels. However, the strife for greater self-governance, reinforcement of citizens role in political decision-making processes and establishment of bottom-up control over public expenditures is often considered as a merely utopian project, especially by those who benefit most from the current status quo. In this article, I examine the fundamental ideological challenges for the new egalitarian approaches and argue that instead of making dichotomous distinction between utopianism and realism, realistically utopian approach is the most desirable.

In the post-cold era, the economic and military power of the People's Republic of China is constantly growing. As a result, the rebirth of the idea of the protectionist economic policy, which has always been present in the American public debate, took place in the U.S. This idea is evidently reflected in the foreign policy of the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump. This article includes the analysis of the contemporary economic protectionism of the United States from the perspective of the offensive realism theory created by John Mearsheimer. The theory is based on three fundamental assumptions: the structure of the international system is anarchic, the primary goal of a state is to survive, for that reason states seek maximalization of their power. ; W epoce pozimnowojennej ma miejsce stały wzrost potęgi ekonomicznej oraz militarnej Chińskiej Republiki Ludowej. Owa tendencja spowodowała odrodzenie idei protekcjonizmu gospodarczego w Stanach Zjednoczonych, która była wcześniej obecna w amerykańskiej debacie publicznej. Owa idea wyraźnie się przejawia w polityce obecnego Prezydenta USA Donalda Trumpa. Artykuł zawiera analizę współczesnego zjawiska protekcjonizmu gospodarczego USA z perspektywy teorii realizmu ofensywnego stworzonej przez Johna Mearsheimera, której podstawowymi założeniami są przekonanie o anarchicznej strukturze systemu międzynarodowego oraz o przetrwaniu jako naczelnym celu państwa, które w związku z tym dąży do maksymalizacji własnej potęgi.

The main purpose of the submitted article is to refer the realism doctrine to the contemporary Polish-Us and Polish-Russian foreign relations and to prove that the doctrine of realism is the most appropriate to provide the security for Poland. In order to bring closer the background of realism thought, in the first part, the author presents and describes its the most important precursors and their achievements beginning from antiquity. In the second part the author attempts to describe the thought of the 20th century realists like Edward H. Carr, Hans Morgenthau and Kenneth Waltz. In the third and the last part, the rules of the realism doctrine presented above are being referred to the current security problems in Polish-Us and Polish-Russian foreign relations. ; Głównym celem niniejszego artykułu jest próba odniesienia założeń myśli realizmu w stosunkach międzynarodowych do współczesnych relacji polsko-amerykańskich i polsko-rosyjskich oraz wykazanie, iż to właśnie podejście realistyczne jest najwłaściwsze dla zapewnienia Polsce bezpieczeństwa. W celu przybliżenia genezy i tła myśli realistycznej autor w pierwszej części prezentuje i opisuje najważniejszych prekursorów myśli realistycznej oraz ich dokonania, zaczynając od czasów antycznych. W części drugiej podejmuje próbę opisania myśli realistów dwudziestowiecznych, takich jak Edward H. Carr, Hans Morgenthau i Kenneth Waltz. W trzeciej i zarazem ostatniej części autor odnosi wcześniej przedstawione zasady realizmu w stosunkach międzynarodowych do współczesnych problemów bezpieczeństwa w relacjach polsko-amerykańskich i polsko-rosyjskich.

Próba odwrócenia politycznej "życiowej treści" powieści Śnieg (tur. Kar) tureckiego noblisty Orhana Pamuka z artystycznej abstrakcji do rzeczywistości. ; The article describes the hidden political content of the novel Snow (in Turkish: Kar) written by the Nobel winner Orhan Pamuk. Snow is analyzed in terms of tensions between artistic abstraction and realism.

Głównym celem artykułu jest teoretyczna i empiryczna analiza wpływu Unii Europejskiej na proces demokratyzacji w państwach Europy Wschodniej. W swojej polityce zagranicznej Unia Europejska, uważana za mocarstwo normatywne, ma strategiczny interes w stabilizacji państw sąsiednich poprzez eksport wartości demokratycznych w celu zapewnienia własnego bezpieczeństwa. Twierdzi się jednak, że zdolność Unii Europejskiej do wywierania wpływu na świat zewnętrzny jest ograniczona. Skuteczność polityki warunkowości UE związana jest głównie z postrzeganymi korzyściami przez państwa trzecie - w przypadku państw Europy Wschodniej oferta członkostwa, jako główna zachęta, nie jest jeszcze brana pod uwagę. Nie bez znaczenia jest też brak wspólnego stanowiska UE wobec Rosji, dla której europejski eksport wartości demokratycznych do państw obszaru poradzieckiego jest wyzwaniem dla jej pozycji na arenie międzynarodowej. Rywalizację europejsko-rosyjską na obszarze poradzieckim można zatem opisać, posługując się realistyczną teorią stosunków międzynarodowych. Artykuł kończy się rekomendacjami dla Unii Europejskiej. ; The main aim of the article is a theoretical and empirical analysis of the impact of the European Union on the democratization process in the countries of Eastern Europe. In its foreign policy the European Union, regarded as a normative power, has a strategic interest in stabilizing neighbouring countries through the export of democratic values in order to ensure its own security. It is claimed, however, that the European Union's ability to influence the outside world is limited. The effectiveness of the EU's conditionality policy is mainly related to the perceived benefits by third countries – in case of Eastern European countries a membership offer as the main incentive is not yet taken into account. Of great importance there is also a lack of common EU position towards Russia, which regards a European export of democratic values to countries of the post-Soviet area as a challenge to its position on the international arena. A European-Russian rivalry on the post-Soviet area can be then described using realist theory of international relations. The article ends with recommendations for the European Union.