Issue 3

What Is Drawing Xi’s China and Lukashenko’s Belarus Closer?

  • Author: Solomiya Kharchuk
  • Institution: University of Wrocław (Poland)
  • ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2746-0897
  • Published online: 30 June 2021
  • Final submission: 16 June 2021
  • Printed issue: December 2021
  • Source: Show
  • Page no: 25
  • Pages: 67-90
  • DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/ppsy202128
  • PDF: ppsy/50/ppsy202128.pdf

What are the primary drivers of the relationship between Xi’s China and Lukashenko’s Belarus? The present research paper uses the historical process-tracing method to provide an answer to this question. Furthermore, it uses quantitative data analysis regarding the economic intercourse between Belarus and China. It examines whether China’s opposition regarding the unipolar American-led world order and Belarus’s security concerns are the primary drivers of the relationship between Minsk and Beijing. The present article concludes that the congruence of beliefs and Minsk’s desire to ensure survival are drawing the two countries closer together. China’s new strategy encompasses Beijing’s increasing participation in world affairs. China opposes the world order led by a single hegemon, the United States of America. In the interim, Belarus, a relatively weak state insignificant in the global balance of power, shares Beijing’s beliefs about the desired nature of the contemporary world order. However, the Belarusian economy’s condition, which relies heavily on external funding, does not allow the economic cooperation between Minsk and Beijing to thrive. China gradually increases its engagement with Belarus, yet it obscures its ambitions, for Minsk lies in Moscow’s sphere of influence.

multipolarity Belt and Road BRI world order Lukashenko Belarus China

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Persistent Conflict and Perceived Post-Conflict Peacebuilding in Southern Kaduna Region of Nigeria

  • Author: Tunde A. Abioro
  • Institution: Obafemi Awolowo University (Nigeria)
  • ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4508-8555
  • Published online: 30 June 2021
  • Final submission: 16 June 2021
  • Printed issue: December 2021
  • Source: Show
  • Page no: 11
  • Pages: 121-131
  • DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/ppsy202129
  • PDF: ppsy/50/ppsy202129.pdf

The cycle of individual and communal lives from birth to death is supposedly preserved by the government through institutions. However, political, social, and economic activities are engaged to make ends meet wherein the government is to serve as an unbiased regulator. The activities that play out in Southern Kaduna reflected politics of being on one side with interplay on origin, identity, religion, and locality. On the other hand, it reflects politics of belonging that play on kin, reciprocity, and stranger status. It has thus resulted in violence, suspicion, and persistent conflict. The study examines citizen’s inclusiveness in peacebuilding initiatives and the people’s perception of the sincerity of the government. The research relies on secondary sources where governmental and non-governmental publications and documents from relevant and reliable sources enriched the socio-historical approach, particularly those relating to contestation in the region. The study found out that just like situations in the other northwest states of the country, the crisis exacerbates by the government’s inability to mediate fairly between warring parties to ensure fairness and justice as well as failure to apprehend and punish the culprits, even as recommendations from the various interventions were unimplemented. Thus, the spate of violence continues.

Southern Kaduna justice peacebuilding conflict politics

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Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Relations Between Government and Parliamentary Opposition in Spain

  • Author: Agata Rydzewska
  • Institution: University of Warsaw (Poland)
  • ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7772-4275
  • Published online: 7 July 2021
  • Final submission: 30 June 2021
  • Printed issue: December 2021
  • Source: Show
  • Page no: 12
  • Pages: 41-52
  • DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/ppsy202130
  • PDF: ppsy/50/ppsy202130.pdf

The COVID-19 strongly affected the states all over the world in several aspects, Spain, being an inglorious leader in terms of the number of infections in Europe, was highly afflicted by the coronavirus and further consequences. After problems with forming the government, which was caused by substantial political polarization, a new incumbent coalition needed to face new challenges, which was strictly connected with managing the coronavirus crisis. The article’s main aim is to present how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the political situation in Spain by analyzing the relations between the ruling government and the parliamentary opposition.

government-opposition relations pandemic in Spain coronavirus crisis Spanish politics COVID-19

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The Round Table in 1989 – Consequences and Evaluation

  • Author: Wojciech Polak
  • Institution: Nicolaus Copernicus University (Poland)
  • ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6069-2876
  • Author: Sylwia Galij-Skarbińska
  • Institution: Nicolaus Copernicus University (Poland)
  • ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1799-4243
  • Published online: 10 July 2021
  • Final submission: 28 June 2021
  • Printed issue: December 2021
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  • Page no: 8
  • Pages: 149-156
  • DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/ppsy202131
  • PDF: ppsy/50/ppsy202131.pdf

The agreement of the round table signed on April 5, 1989, resulted in the creation of the government of Tadeusz Mazowiecki (September 12, 1989) and the end of communist rule in Poland. However, it should be pointed out that the agreement of the round table is currently often criticized. It is claimed, among other things, that the agreement was a form of “unification of the elite” (the term Jack Kuroń) to obtain financial and political benefits. As a result, the mixed communist-solidarity elite has taken over power in the country, guided solely by their own interests. It is also stressed that the contract has enabled the Communists to retain enormous influence in the special services, state administration, various institutions, the economy, and finance. On the other hand, these irregularities have been attributed to the solidarity elites who consider the round table agreements to be persistent. Other parts of the solidarity elite treated the round table exclusively as tactical action to take power away from the Communists.

Tadeusz Mazowiecki cabinet contracted elections in Poland Round Table

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Digitization in the Era of Coronavirus – A Review

  • Author: Łukasz Pietraszek
  • Institution: Kazimierz Wielki University, Poland
  • ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9284-4117
  • Published online: 10 July 2021
  • Final submission: 29 June 2021
  • Printed issue: December 2021
  • Source: Show
  • Page no: 8
  • Pages: 33-40
  • DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/ppsy202132
  • PDF: ppsy/50/ppsy202132.pdf

In the modern world, the development of technology has a significant impact on various areas of human functioning. However, the appearance of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and the need to implement numerous restrictions resulted in an even greater increase in the importance of new technologies, especially in such sectors as education, administration, or finance. In Poland, the introduction of the remote work system encountered many difficulties related to the unpreparedness of previous structures to implement such solutions. An example of a country where they operate efficiently, responding to the problems that Poland faces today, is Estonia, in which, beginning from 2004, the state administration sector has been gradually replaced by a digital system based on Blockchain technology. At present, in Poland, appropriate steps are already taken by the Ministry of Digitization to digitize public administration in the form of a plan of four streams. Given the protracted pandemic, the possibilities for immediate solutions and considering the advantages and disadvantages of digitizing the state seem worth attention.

X-road e-Government Blockchain digitization COVID-19

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Economic Sanctions as a Tool of China’s Hybrid Strategies

  • Author: Rafał Wiśniewski
  • Institution: Adam Mickiewicz University (Poland)
  • ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0155-246X
  • Published online: 10 July 2021
  • Final submission: 30 June 2021
  • Printed issue: December 2021
  • Source: Show
  • Page no: 13
  • Pages: 91-103
  • DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/ppsy202133
  • PDF: ppsy/50/ppsy202133.pdf

The article aims to analyze the role of economic sanctions in the People’s Republic of China’s overall approach to achieving its security objectives in the international arena. During the last two decades, Beijing used this instrument on numerous occasions to exert pressure on a varied group of actors. China’s current strategy toward a range of disputes and conflicts it is engaged in (the South China Sea territorial disputes most prominently stand out) is often described using the popular vocabulary of “hybrid warfare” or “grey zone conflicts”. Putting the conceptual complications aside, the author agrees that the PRC’s approach can be viewed as part of a growing trend for great powers to employ what can be called “hybrid strategies” toward its opponents. As part of a broader category of economic statecraft, economic sanctions form an important element of this approach. Considering current scholarship on both “hybrid” (or “grey area”) warfare and economic sanctions, the article answers the question of why the PRC increasingly resorts to hybrid strategies (including economic coercion) and identifies the main characteristics of Chinese economic sanctions. It also provides preliminary conclusions on their effectiveness.

economic sanctions People’s Republic of China coercion hybrid warfare

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Transforming Fears into the Populist Communication

  • Author: Patryk Wawrzyński
  • Institution: Nicolaus Copernicus University (Poland)
  • ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0911-1068
  • Published online: 10 July 2021
  • Final submission: 29 June 2021
  • Printed issue: December 2021
  • Source: Show
  • Page no: 5
  • Pages: 198-202
  • DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/ppsy202134
  • PDF: ppsy/50/ppsy202134.pdf

Book Review: Agnieszka Stępińska, Artur Lipiński, Dorota Piontek, Agnieszka Hess, Populist Political Communication in Poland. Political Actors – Media – Citizens, Logos Verlag, pp. 243.

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Humanity–Organization–Technology in View of Industry 4.0 / Society 5.0

  • Author: Andrzej Kiepas
  • Institution: Silesian University of Technology (Poland)
  • ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5279-5288
  • Published online: 10 July 2021
  • Final submission: 11 April 2021
  • Printed issue: December 2021
  • Source: Show
  • Page no: 12
  • Pages: 21-32
  • DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/ppsy202135
  • PDF: ppsy/50/ppsy202135.pdf

The article addresses selected problems related to the perspective on the development of Industry 4.0 and social and cultural changes that accompany this development and lead toward the so-called post-digital society. In the field of industry, the changes concern, among others, the functioning of various organizations, and in the perspective of post-digital society – human beings and their relations with the world of technology. These changes lead to an increase in the role of technological factors, hence the current revival of technological determinism, and this, in turn, has to do with questions regarding human subjectivity. In this context, questions regarding humans also revolve around the need to acknowledge their increasing capabilities and scope of freedom, and on the other hand, their loss of autonomy in relation to the world of technology.

human-technology relations smart organizations post-digital society society 5.0 Industry 4.0

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Book Review: Janusz Mariański, Socjologia i moralność. Czym jest i dokąd zmierza socjologia moralności? [Sociology and Morality. What Is the Sociology of Morality and Where Is it Heading?], Adam Marszałek Publishing House, Toruń 2019, pp. 355.

  • Author: Mariusz Zemło
  • Institution: University of Białystok (Poland)
  • ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0945-8651
  • Published online: 10 July 2021
  • Final submission: 30 June 2021
  • Printed issue: December 2021
  • Source: Show
  • Page no: 3
  • Pages: 204-207
  • DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/ppsy202136
  • PDF: ppsy/50/ppsy202136.pdf

Protocooperation as a Model for the Russia-UAE Partnership

  • Author: Andrzej Jacuch
  • Institution: Military University of Technology (Poland)
  • ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1013-6107
  • Published online: 10 July 2021
  • Final submission: 4 July 2021
  • Printed issue: December 2021
  • Source: Show
  • Page no: 16
  • Pages: 105-120
  • DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/ppsy202137
  • PDF: ppsy/50/ppsy202137.pdf

Russia’s intervention in Syria in 2015 marked the Russian Federation (RF) return as a key player in the Middle East and North Africa. In this context, the relations between Russia and the UAE are of utmost importance for both entities, for the region, and globally. This article seeks to fill a gap in scholarly knowledge by answering questions about the nature of the emerging cooperation between Russia and the UAE. How Russia seeks to use the UAE to expand its sphere of influence in the MENA region and how the UAE uses this cooperation to achieve its foreign policy goals. The article applies protocooperation (an analogy to the ecological relationship) as a model for the Russia-UAE partnership. The RF is strengthening its position in the MENA regarding the UAE as a key partner for regaining its political, economic, and military influence in the MENA region. Russia-UAE’s partnership aims at achieving conjunctural geopolitical interests benefiting from diminished Western, mainly the US, presence in the region.

UAE geopolitics Russia economy international relations

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Cybercrime on the Example of Selected Botnets

  • Author: Przemysław Mazurczak
  • Institution: Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities (Poland)
  • ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2986-8607
  • Published online: 16 July 2021
  • Final submission: 6 July 2021
  • Printed issue: December 2021
  • Year of publication: 2021
  • Source: Show
  • Page no: 13
  • Pages: 53-65
  • DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/ppsy202138
  • PDF: ppsy/50/ppsy202138.pdf

The article presents threat analysis resulting from botnet activity on the Internet. Botnet networks are a very common tool among cybercriminals. They enable the acquisition of large amounts of data from computers infected with the virus that creates the given network entirely subordinated to its creator. Currently, many unidentified botnets are a threat to Internet users. Those identified and diagnosed answer the problem of how dangerous a botnet is in the hands of cybercriminals. The article presents statistics and analysis of selected botnets. Currently, there is a decline in the interest in botnets in cybercrime, although many new threats appear, suggesting that botnets will continue to be popular and are still a dangerous weapon in the hands of criminals.

computer network botnet cyberspace cyber threats cybersecurity

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Systemic Analysis of Politics in the Light of Reconstruction of Structural Functionalism of Jeffrey C. Alexander

  • Author: Jarosław Nocoń
  • Institution: Univeristy of Gdańsk (Poland)
  • ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1202-7580
  • Published online: 16 July 2021
  • Final submission: 29 June 2021
  • Printed issue: December 2021
  • Year of publication: 2021
  • Source: Show
  • Page no: 14
  • Pages: 7-20
  • DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/ppsy202139
  • PDF: ppsy/50/ppsy202139.pdf

Applying systems analysis in political science research is still one of the important dimensions of political science methodology. Reconstruction of the functional model of the social system seems to be an attractive proposition for policy researchers. Signed by the name of Jeffrey Charles Alexander, the American version of neofunctionalism is one of the responses to the crisis of traditional forms of structural functionalism. The main purpose of the reconstruction of T. Parsons’s theory was its revitalization consisting in restoring the possibility of its application in contemporary social research. The reinterpretation of the classical approach was to a large extent “forced” by harsh criticism of the current approach and focused especially on attempts to overcome the limitations contained therein, which manifested in the impossibility of correlation of functional theorems with newly developing research currents Jeffrey Alexander restored relevance and emphasizes suitability for interpreting and explaining political processes and phenomena. Understanding the concept of functions and functional relations in the political environment allows for effective application in the analysis of contemporary political systems. Therefore, changing the method of functional analysis is a useful methodological tool in developing a political theory.

functional explanation political analysis political system

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Poland's Reason of State in the Creation of a New International Order. Foreign Policy as Poland's Reason of State in the 21st Century

  • Author: Piotr Lewandowski
  • Institution: War Studies University (Poland)
  • ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3664-4815
  • Published online: 19 July 2021
  • Final submission: 13 July 2021
  • Printed issue: December 2021
  • Source: Show
  • Page no: 16
  • Pages: 133-147
  • DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/ppsy202140
  • PDF: ppsy/50/ppsy202140.pdf

The article analyzes the Polish reason of state in changing international order understood as the loss of hegemon position by the United States. The author defines the reason of state as an analytical operant and relates it to the security and sovereignty of a state in the international environment. The text also outlines possibilities of development of Poland's reason of state in the region and global geopolitics.

new international order Poland's reason of state geopolitics security

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United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and the Most Important Utilitarian Values. Social Security Approach

  • Author: Pawel Gromek
  • Institution: Main School of Fire Service
  • ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0997-5069
  • Author: Tadeusz Kęsoń
  • Institution: Main School of Fire Service
  • ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7047-7811
  • Published online: 17 September 2021
  • Final submission: 17 September 2021
  • Printed issue: 2021
  • Source: Show
  • Page no: 18
  • Pages: 157-174
  • DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/ppsy202146
  • PDF: ppsy/50/ppsy202146.pdf

2030 Agenda constitutes a comprehensive framework for sustainable development. Nevertheless, not all sustainable development goals properly match the most important utilitarian values (human life and health). It is especially noticeable in terms of disasters and crises, which commonly determine social security. The research objective is to indicate the placement of the values in the particular goals. The systematic literature review indicates 47 information sources. That enables an in-depth analysis of the goals and social security specification elements, highlighting the direct or indirect character of relevant relations. The gaps can be identified considering the social character of the goals, characteristic hazards, danger to human life, and health and urgency of the response. In most cases, the relations between the goals and the values are indirect. They can be improved with a potentially positive influence on sustainable development in all circumstances (including the most dangerous ones). The goals specification states many references for the improvement in a synergistic way respecting the most important utilitarian values, especially in zero hunger, good health and well-being, sustainable cities and communities, climate action, partnership for the goals.

SDGs sustainability Sustainable Development Goals social security security

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Military Security of Poland – From Theory to Practice

  • Author: Grzegorz Sobolewski
  • Institution: Main School of Fire Service
  • ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4484-450X
  • Published online: 2 November 2021
  • Final submission: 20 September 2021
  • Printed issue: 2021
  • Source: Show
  • Page no: 21
  • Pages: 175-193
  • DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/ppsy202150
  • PDF: ppsy/50/ppsy202150.pdf

National and international security remains a fascinating area of scientific research. Studies of phenomena and processes in military security suggest that we are witnessing great and intense changes. In their analyses of the modern security environment, both NATO and the EU wish to accommodate the existing conditions. Poland also has been affected by that process. The security policy should be based on the main assumption that Poland is a sovereign security entity, able to define its national interests and strategic objectives autonomously. However, the foundations of our security are assured by membership in the EU and NATO, good relations in the region, a strategic alliance with the USA, and an internal defense mechanism. The needs of the state and the society for national security arise from a dynamic rate of changes in challenges and hazards. The Author intends to combine theory with practice that is implemented in favor of the military security of Poland. First of all, the essence of military security is presented from theoretical and utilitarian viewpoints. The subsequent parts of the paper present research results related to the identification of contemporary challenges and hazards to the military security of Poland. This approach provided an opportunity to outline assumptions of policy and strategy underlying military security in current international security conditions.

military potential state defense system military challenges and threats military security national and international security security strategy

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