Though in the present age the Internet is an important resource for gathering information, there are also plenty of significant and helpful traditional sources. The best data collection strategy in information broker activity is one that employs techniques from both. The first part of the text is focused on the methodology of obtaining information. The author points out the place of information broker in the information process. One of the key aspects of the following analysis is an attempt to indicate the main definitions and classifications of the traditional sources of information in a field of historical knowledge as well as in the information science. The second part of the article considers information broker professional qualifications, since for him is important to know how to search, gather and integrate information from institution such as the national and private archives, libraries or museums.
The processes of economical, political and cultural integration to the European Union lead to the creation of a large area of interrelation among a large number of societies with different cultures and languages. This means that the traditional communication areas which have so far lived in some functional monolingualism will find themselves located in a unique interrelation process. One of the goals mentioned in the European Council documents is to promote the unity among the European societies and, at the same time, to preserve the current cultural and linguistical diversity. In the present paper we analyse the reasons for which it is necessary to protect the linguistical diversity and outlight the need to protect the European regional languages. We stream the importance of education in the "multiidentity" through the mutual knowledge of various languages and cultures which coexist in the European interrelation space. ; The processes of economical, political and cultural integration to the European Union lead to the creation of a large area of interrelation among a large number of societies with different cultures and languages. This means that the traditional communication areas which have so far lived in some functional monolingualism will find themselves located in a unique interrelation process. One of the goals mentioned in the European Council documents is to promote the unity among the European societies and, at the same time, to preserve the current cultural and linguistical diversity. In the present paper we analyse the reasons for which it is necessary to protect the linguistical diversity and outlight the need to protect the European regional languages. We stream the importance of education in the "multiidentity" through the mutual knowledge of various languages and cultures which coexist in the European interrelation space.
The aim of this article is to outline the process of institutionalization of strategic studies, understood as the essence of contemporary security studies. Article explores the genesis of strategic studies and attempts to determine areas of reflection in this field of knowledge. Strategic studies developed in the half of the 20th century. Its mission was to form a creative synthesis of military, economic and political scientific approaches towards the threat of nuclear war. Crisis of strategic studies took place in the 70s. The end of so called Cold War popularized the issue of security within the non-military context. Therefore, problems analysed by traditional strategic studies evolved. Author's final reflection tries to strenghten Polish potential in developing contemporary security studies.
Historical policy versus the politics of remembrance is undoubtedly a policy, or a peculiar way to 'conduct policy,' where the optimally true knowledge of history as well as falsified and mythicized information about the past are a means to maintain, win and participate in power. By this token, historical policy is about the instrumentalization of the knowledge of history and mythicized accounts or opinions of the past for the sake of the implementation of a political agenda.So far, the concept of 'historical policy' has not yet become a clear academic category, which makes it difficult to agree what it actually encompasses. Still, the concept of 'historical policy' stands a chance of becoming an objective category in political science. Some professional historians may lean towards a certain skepticism, especially if they accept the traditional paradigm of studying the history of society.Misunderstandings regarding the issue of 'historical policy' sometimes result in a tendency to reject the possibility of this concept being applied by academics from the humanities and social fields of science. Recently, the issue of 'historical policy' has become of interest to political scientists, whose area of study involves the multiplicity of 'detailed policies.''Historical policy' is also discussed by many journalists who do not always present deepened reflections and concrete attitudes, as they rather tend to express their subjective views. It turns out that some Polish historians, political scientists and journalists are embroiled in the current political dispute in Poland. They frequently assume the role of lobbyists or opponents of one option of historical policy or another. The issue of historical policy requires analysis and explanation in an objective and multidisciplinary manner. It is a positive phenomenon that more and more publications with academic aspirations are emerging on this subject in Poland. One should recommend the cooperation between political scientists and historians in order to review and reliably explain planned and executed historical policy in a comparative manner. ; Historical policy versus the politics of remembrance is undoubtedly a policy, or a peculiar way to 'conduct policy,' where the optimally true knowledge of history as well as falsified and mythicized information about the past are a means to maintain, win and participate in power. By this token, historical policy is about the instrumentalization of the knowledge of history and mythicized accounts or opinions of the past for the sake of the implementation of a political agenda.So far, the concept of 'historical policy' has not yet become a clear academic category, which makes it difficult to agree what it actually encompasses. Still, the concept of 'historical policy' stands a chance of becoming an objective category in political science. Some professional historians may lean towards a certain skepticism, especially if they accept the traditional paradigm of studying the history of society.Misunderstandings regarding the issue of 'historical policy' sometimes result in a tendency to reject the possibility of this concept being applied by academics from the humanities and social fields of science. Recently, the issue of 'historical policy' has become of interest to political scientists, whose area of study involves the multiplicity of 'detailed policies.''Historical policy' is also discussed by many journalists who do not always present deepened reflections and concrete attitudes, as they rather tend to express their subjective views. It turns out that some Polish historians, political scientists and journalists are embroiled in the current political dispute in Poland. They frequently assume the role of lobbyists or opponents of one option of historical policy or another. The issue of historical policy requires analysis and explanation in an objective and multidisciplinary manner. It is a positive phenomenon that more and more publications with academic aspirations are emerging on this subject in Poland. One should recommend the cooperation between political scientists and historians in order to review and reliably explain planned and executed historical policy in a comparative manner.
The world of the 21st century provides an intriguing space for academic reflection, offering new challenges and stimulating new concepts of international relations. In this context there emerges the significant question of the essence and direction of these concepts. They may entail deconstruction followed by a reconstruction of the research space in this field. Astrategy of resetting cannot be excluded here, either. Assuming that reconstruction is the appropriate solution there are significant issues of its scope and direction. If a total reset is considered rational we need to address the issue of what it should involve. This is a difficult question for researchers into international relations because it would mean that the hitherto achievements of this subject are being questioned. The post-positivist approach of numerous researchers, which manifests their response to the positivist methodology in the field of international relations, has not so far produced a unified methodological formula or a relatively coherent theory of international relations. Questions concerning the function of science, the nature of the social world (ontology) and the relationship between knowledge and the world (epistemology) remain open. Therefore, it may be worth going back to M. Wight's provocative thesis that it is impossible to construct a reasonable theory of international relations, mainly owing to the dichotomy of the two fields of research that – in his opinion – cannot be overcome, namely the dichotomy of the 'international' (the realm of external affairs of states) and 'internal' (the realm of internal affairs within state), which are mutually exclusive because of their specificity; and once again ask the questions of how sensible the thesis of the dichotomy of both these environments is in a world that is strongly conditioned by the cross-border actors, interdependence and globalization. While the separateness of the 'internal' and 'external' state environments was, for Wight, an important obstacle, making it impossible to construct an academic theory explaining international relations, at the same time the current theory regarding their exclusivity in the context of the internalization of international affairs and the externalization of conditions inside states seems unsustainable. This phenomenon currently allows us to explain the imperative for combining these two environments, overlapping them …breaking down the old, established orders as a result of the now clearly visible phenomena and processes of the 'internal state' merging into the 'international environment' and vice versa, the disappearance of the traditional functions of borders, the weakening of old institutions and structures for steering the international environment as well as replacing them with entirely new institutions and structures.
The world of the 21st century provides an intriguing space for academic reflection, offering new challenges and stimulating new concepts of international relations. In this context there emerges the significant question of the essence and direction of these concepts. They may entail deconstruction followed by a reconstruction of the research space in this field. Astrategy of resetting cannot be excluded here, either. Assuming that reconstruction is the appropriate solution there are significant issues of its scope and direction. If a total reset is considered rational we need to address the issue of what it should involve. This is a difficult question for researchers into international relations because it would mean that the hitherto achievements of this subject are being questioned. The post-positivist approach of numerous researchers, which manifests their response to the positivist methodology in the field of international relations, has not so far produced a unified methodological formula or a relatively coherent theory of international relations. Questions concerning the function of science, the nature of the social world (ontology) and the relationship between knowledge and the world (epistemology) remain open. Therefore, it may be worth going back to M. Wight's provocative thesis that it is impossible to construct a reasonable theory of international relations, mainly owing to the dichotomy of the two fields of research that – in his opinion – cannot be overcome, namely the dichotomy of the 'international' (the realm of external affairs of states) and 'internal' (the realm of internal affairs within state), which are mutually exclusive because of their specificity; and once again ask the questions of how sensible the thesis of the dichotomy of both these environments is in a world that is strongly conditioned by the cross-border actors, interdependence and globalization. While the separateness of the 'internal' and 'external' state environments was, for Wight, an important obstacle, making it impossible to construct an academic theory explaining international relations, at the same time the current theory regarding their exclusivity in the context of the internalization of international affairs and the externalization of conditions inside states seems unsustainable. This phenomenon currently allows us to explain the imperative for combining these two environments, overlapping them …breaking down the old, established orders as a result of the now clearly visible phenomena and processes of the 'internal state' merging into the 'international environment' and vice versa, the disappearance of the traditional functions of borders, the weakening of old institutions and structures for steering the international environment as well as replacing them with entirely new institutions and structures.
The vast literature on European political parties is dominated by works focused on analyzing activities of the highest branches of state governments. Yet, it is difficult to be surprised by this state of affairs — in Europe, central authorities remain as the main political decision-makers, both in terms of internal affairs and foreign policies. However, it does not change the fact that political parties active in and submitting electoral candidates throughout any given country are not the only entities influencing the quality of political decisions made. It is particularly the case in federation countries and the so-called regional states, where regional parties, as well as their particular variety — ethno-regional parties — gain increasing political significance. The intensification of research on the position of regional parties in political systems of individual European states, especially on the subject of their presence in representative organs on four levels — European, state, regional, and local — is definitely justified. The first argument in favor of such research is the fact that in contemporary Europe, these groupings play a major role in establishing regional imagined communities. As a consequence, scientists must attempt to redefine the existing relations between the core and the periphery. The second argument is the fact that in Western European countries, the relevance level of regional parties is rather high, which indicates that the field of operations for such parties is still widening. Thirdly, regional parties are indeed a political occurrence characteristic for "old Europe" states, but they can also be found in Central and Eastern European countries. It means that conducting research on Western European regional parties conducted in Poland can be particularly significant. Poland is a rather unitary state and a change in the constitutional order, adopted in 1997, which establishes such a form of regime, is rather unlikely. It does not mean however, that the influence of Western European standards will not have an impact on political events in Poland and the shaping of the local political scene. An indepth analysis of solutions adopted in individual Western European states in terms of the capacity for representational participation of regional collectives in electoral representative organs on European, national, regional, and local levels can allow for drawing appropriate conclusions and a substantive evaluation of chances of and threats to democracy, which result from including political representatives of regional collective into lawmaking and — in a wider context — the workings of the political system. Fourthly, an analysis of the functioning of regional parties in the framework of European political systems can significantly contribute to the understanding of some factors conditioning the so-called "unfreezing process" of political systems. Finally, it should be noted that despite the existence of several classifications of political parties, the authors researching the matter today usually propose the adoption of a division into party "families", since the main "rivalry poles" are similar in most European states. The assumption of divisions based on doctrinal stereotypes is the reason many authors question the purposefulness of including regional and ethnic parties in classifications, which indicate the existence of ideological "families". It does not, however, change the fact that they comment on the matter of the existence of such groupings in their works, which is why we can assume that this is a consequential research issue. Contemporary Spain is undoubtedly one of the most interesting examples of a European state, where the political rivalry between the core and the periphery indicates the existence of a substantial sociopolitical division in this aspect. It is clear that any attempt to describe the functioning of its party system based solely on a classification formed using traditional doctrinal stereotypes must lead to an incomplete, heavily distorted image. The political processes in this country during the last 150 years show that the socio-political division between the core and the periphery is not any less vital in Spain than the divisions based on the attitudes towards economic and ideological issues. It is clear there that at the turn of the second decade of the 21st century, in the midst of a serious economic crisis, the disappointment in elite politics on the political core level resulted in the rise of popularity of regional parties. It should be noted here that the research on Spanish parties from this party "family" must be coupled with devoting particular attention to a subtype of groupings, which advocate ethnic values. This is due to the specificity of periphery regions, differing from other state areas in language, customs or tradition of political institutions, but also in using these differences in political play by ethno-regional parties. From the perspective of a highly centralized state such as Poland, it definitely merits to examine the case of Spain. The first argument in favor of researching this field is the fact that despite granting autonomic rights to all regions of Spain, the state still retains the form of a unitary state. This work is therefore an analysis of occurrences within the context of a similar form of state, as opposed to those happening in a federation — a form foreign to Polish tradition. Secondly, adding to Polish literature and therefore widening the knowledge of regional parties in Spain may be useful in future in the context of gradual maturing of Polish democracy on local and regional levels. The state decentralization, which occurred in Poland after 1989 was probably one of the most difficult political processes carried out in the country. It is suffice to note that in 1990, at the dawn of the Polish Third Republic, only one level of self-government — the municipal government — was established. Further solutions in the local government reform area were not implemented until 1998, when the government of Jerzy Buzek decided to create county and province levels. However, those solutions are becoming a frequent subject of political and scientific discussion. These discussions often include the notion that the local government reform is a process, which has not been finalized in Poland yet. It is worth noting here that the requests related to directions of changes in the field of Polish decentralization often come from local and regional entities. It can be therefore presumed that the process of development of sub-state political elites will result in subsequent requests in the future. This can further exacerbate the sociopolitical core-periphery division. Consequently, the main goal of this work is to verify the research hypothesis, which assumes that the significant sociopolitical core-periphery divisions in Spain must have prompted the political elites of the central level - which were active after the demise of general Franco and guided the democratic transformation process, setting the state's territorial integrity as a main goal — to employ solutions for the creation, activity and financing of political parties, as well as for electoral laws, which would allow for communities from individual historical regions to maintain a representation in representative organs on four levels — European, state, regional, and local — therefore ensuring their significant position in the political system of contemporary Spain.