We are very pleased to present you the latest issue of "Polish Political Science Yearbook" (2015, Vol. 44). We hope that the broad spectrum of the problems discussed will be for you a useful source of inspiration and knowledge. Articles published in this issue elaborate the extremely diverse topics – from political theory and problems in bilateral and multilateral relations to different questions in various policy areas.

In article, author pay attention to the potential and scope of the impact of new forms of communication on the form and content of theoretical research. In principle, such an effect can be seen in two related, but different dimensions of analysis. In the first place it concerns the scope of the political theory, which is enriched with new areas and issues revealing previously unknown or not perceived problems, phenomena and processes that guide the interests of contemporary researchers. On the other hand, global mass communication techniques significantly shape, and thus change the existing forms of theoretical discourse and the structure of the theory itself. These changes in the perspective of plurality and decentralization of theoretical discourse subjects, as well as the emergence of new research areas which aspire to the status of scientific discipline, gain innovative importance especially from the point of view of the attempts to achieve meta-synthetic accumulation of social knowledge.

The problem of justice, one of the key problems of contemporary political philosophy, is reconsidered in the light of a new paradigm: Otfried Höffe’s theory of transcendental exchange. The main research question is how this theory influences our understanding of the ways of formation of just moral and legal grounds in contemporary society. In order to understand justice adequately, it is important to regard it as personal responsibility, deeply related to attitudes of solidarity and recognition. There is an attempt to fuse moral and material grounds of social existence in order to overcome social injustice. Freedom and justice are rooted in the living world and are based on formal norms and procedures of morality and law. This gives us methodological grounds for understanding Höffe’s philosophy of political justice, which regards freedom and justice as the main conditions of human existence.

The idea of European federation keeps recurring in politicians' and intellectuals' discourses on the future of the European Union. The logic of global rivalry of “large territories” favors this in particular, as it somehow forces Europe’s states to enter into a tighter integration if they want to realize their politics. The biggest challenge which the Union faces is the problem of leadership, understood both in the context of internal policy and relationally towards the surrounding. The problem, however, is the diversity of the member states and the unrelenting tension between particular concern about a national interest and European universalism. European federation sensu stricto, just because of this diversity has still been a utopian project. The future of the European Union most probably lies in a new intermediate model, as unique as the European Commonwealths used to be in the 1950s.

The article is devoted to the political and legal analysis of integration processes in the post-Soviet states – Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. It reviews the activities of the Customs Union and its economic and political expediency, as well as the creation and functioning of the Eurasian Economic Union. The author has revealed the reasons for the ineffectiveness of the EAEC activities and proposed a number of legal, political and economic measures to improve it. The paper provides examples of internal economic and political contradictions of the Eurasian Economic Union and offers a legal mechanism to resolve them, and further regulation on the basis of creating a single legal space.

The establishment of the PRC opened the new chapter in the Sino–Soviet/Russian relations. For many years the existence of the problem of the common border was not openly expressed. In 1957 the first announcements about the territorial disputes between USSR and PRC were issued in China. And in 1960 Zhou Enlai stated that there were insignificant disrepancies in the Russian and Chinese maps, very easy to solve. Over the next nearly 30 years the problem of determination of the border has become a victim of tense and hostile Soviet-Chinese relations and unproductive talks. Gorbachev's rise to power in the Kremlin enabled to negotiate a solution to the Soviet–Chinese border problem. And consequently to sign “The agreement on the eastern section of the Sino-Soviet state border” on May 16, 1991. The agreement on the western section of the border was signed on September 3, 1994. The demarcation of the western section of the border was finished by Joint Russian–Chinese Demarcation Commission on September 10, 1998. After six years of negotiations on October 14, 2004 the Complementary Agreement on the Eastern Section of the China–Russia Boundary was signed in Beijing. On its basis the Russian side ceded the whole of Tarabarov island (ch. Yinlongdao), half of Bolshoy Ussuriyski (ch. Heixiazidao) and half of Bolshoy (ch. Abagaitu) island. Another halves of Bolshoy Ussuriyski and Bolshoy islands were kept by Russia. Both sides shared disputed territory almost equally. The ceremony of installation of the border landmarks between Russia and China on Bolshoy Ussuriyski island (on October 14, 2008) finished the long process of demarcation of the Russian–Chinese border.

Regardless of the role that is attributed largely to the traditional attitude of Switzerland on bilateral relations and the trend of still continuing the support of the conduct of international design policies, one still cannot ignore the importance of the part played by the participation of both countries in international organizations. In the face of the current progressive opacity and complexity of the global situation, which not only makes it impossible to carry out the policy of isolationism, but also significantly reduces the effects of bilateral policy, an increase in the role of this plane has become increasingly evident in many contexts Polish–Swiss relations.

Sports boycott is one of the most important dimension of sport colliding with politics. The subject of the article is the boycott of the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984, one of the most spectacular boycotts, which was conducted by communist countries. It is widely recognized, that Los Angeles Olympics were boycotted as a result of a similar action by Western countries towards Moscow Olympics in 1980. However, evidence proves that there was no decision concerning communist boycott of Los Angeles Olympics until a few months before the Games. Preparations to the Olympics were on their way, but unexpected change of Soviet leader resulted in the boycott. Safety reasons were the declared reason for the boycott of the Soviet Union and 13 other communist countries. Nevertheless, it is evident that the real reasons were connected with the political game of USSR. The probable actual aims were the desire to hit the first ever privately financed Olympic Games and to make it harder for American president Ronald Raegan to be reelected. Naturally, at least partly it was also a matter of revenge for boycotting the Moscow Games.

The article presents basic relations which happen among Europeanization and the public politics on the example of the politics of the cohesion. The author makes the broad exploration objective concepts and also postulates determined conclusions and recommendations.

The paper presents results of the experimental study on the government's remembrance policy, attitudes towards it, and the influence of remembrance narratives. It discusses individual differences of participants on three different grounds: (1) interest in history or politics, and level of historical knowledge, (2) features of cognitive motivation measured by the need for closure questionnaire: preference of order, desire for predictability, discomfort with ambiguity, closed-mindedness and decisiveness, and (3) response to the presented narrative, including inspired emotions and an assessment of a story. Collected data and research observations offer an interesting and valuable insight into relationships between various factors and citizen's support for the remembrance policy. They also lead the team to formulate three conclusions which may be used to develop theoretical understandings of this aspect of politics within political science and related disciplines.