The paper aims to define the psychological foundations of lone wolf activism. The analysis that facilitated attaining this goal was based on the Nietzschean concept of resentment theory of compensatory revaluating values that explain the relationships between inferiority and fundamentalism, fanaticism, and ideologically motivated violence. Based on a phenomenological examination of the phenomenon, the author demonstrates that lone wolf activism is founded on two psychologically and sociologically determined successive processes. The first one occurs when a sense of personal inferiority becomes the source of an envy-based hostile attitude toward the world. Later on, this feeling, due to personality defence mechanisms, which bring about the falsification of “primary desires” and the generation of “secondary desires”, transforms into fundamentalism. The second process takes place when, as the result of fundamentalist legitimisation that arise on the level of social rivalry, given fundamentalism is destituted, resulting in fanaticism. The author believes that the knowledge of both processes is necessary to recognise and combat the terrorist activity of lone ideologically motivated individuals.

Strategic ambiguity, or the deliberate policy of uncertainty as to whether the United States would use force to defend Taiwan against an invasion by the People's Republic of China, has been the centrepiece of US policy towards the Taiwan issue for decades. This paper discusses the factors driving the redefinition of strategic ambiguity and its recalibration throughout Donald Trump's presidency (2017–2021). The fundamental driver of this change was to balance the rising power of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The paper applied offensive realism as a theoretical framework for its analysis. Under President Donald Trump, Washington modified its policy of strategic ambiguity, explicitly framing relations with Taiwan within a broader Indo-Pacific strategy. While the US retained key elements of strategic ambiguity, including the 'One China' policy, it added new features to deploy it offensively against Beijing's growing regional hegemony. The increased dynamism and unpredictability of relations with Taiwan were matched by a welcoming attitude towards strengthening Taiwanese identity and highlighting the systemic differences between communist China and democratic Taiwan. America stepped up arms sales and encouraged Taiwan to build its self-defence capabilities. Washington engaged in countering Chinese attempts to isolate Taiwan internationally and included it in restructuring global supply chains. Although the United States has not formally revised the boundaries of the 'One China' policy, the modification of strategic ambiguity increased Taiwan's prominence in US-China power competition and pushed back the prospect of peaceful unification.

The topic of the present article is the response of states to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic by using extraordinary legal measures provided for in their constitutions and legislation. By reference to the research project's findings, the authors characterise the legal solutions in selected jurisdictions and attempt to demonstrate the relationship between the application of emergency measures and the specific political system of states. By doing so, the authors consider such factors as the territory, population, or type of political regime.

The article presents the positions of the UK and Polish governments on the importance of European security management as a factor influencing and shaping the defence doctrine in both states. Building on the systemic nature of European security, security management concepts, as defined in UK and Poland’s strategies for developing defence capabilities, have been examined using a system analysis. The assessment of the issue from the perspective of the UK and Polish governments is based on a decision-making analysis, while differences in the approach to European security are demonstrated through a comparative method. The authors have shown that the actual perception of European security as part of the global order is a factor determining the current involvement of the UK Government in the process of security management. However, the Polish government has shown interest in similar actions only to the extent these are convergent with national security.

After the post-communist transition, decentralisation and subsidiarity have become one of Poland's major principles of political organisation. Moreover, especially the original 1990 reform and establishment of self-governing communes are regarded as a success story, not only in improving the quality of governance and public service provision but also in the civil society and citizen participation, as evidenced by the development of modern urban movements. The article explores legal possibilities for further decentralisation of municipalities, analysing the role of ancillary units in regional capitals. Ancillary units in Poland have developed differently in the countryside and urban communes. Relying on publicly available information and data provided by the respective municipal offices, the article describes the ancillary units' statutory role, competencies, and actual activities. The findings enable the assessment of the application of the sublocal decentralisation solution in Polish cities and the identification of its benefits and shortcomings.

The primary burden of tackling the pandemic COVID-19 lies with the state as the entity responsible for protecting the health and life of its citizens. Hence, it can be argued that the focus of the pandemic-induced changes to the Polish legal order was on administrative law, which not only sets out the principles of the functioning of the State as the executive power but also governs the relations between the government, local government and citizens, which had to be significantly modified during the pandemic. It would be impossible to analyse and discuss all the emergency measures that appeared in Poland’s administrative law due to the threats posed by the pandemic. The subject matter of the present study is the analysis of the legal solutions adopted in the Republic of Poland in the sphere of public law in connection with the spread of the virus and particular provisions shaping relationships between the two basic structural branches of Polish public administration, viz. the government administration and the local-government administration. The following part of this study will accordingly be devoted to the analysis of the legislative solution contained in Article 11h of the COVID-19 Act, establishing a legal framework for issuing binding instructions to, among others, the various bodies of local governments, local-government legal persons and local-government organisational entities without legal personality.

Apart from benefits, internet voting security is most frequently discussed by opponents and supporters of this form of electoral participation. Although this voting method is not available in Poland, the debate on the implementation of i-voting appears in each election. The COVID-19 pandemic showed a great need to implement additional remote voting methods in the elections, and increasingly more countries are considering the introduction of i-vote in the future. Although there is no plan for the nearest future in Poland, citizens' opinions suggest that this voting procedure would meet many of its users. The paper's main aim is to analyse Poles' opinions about the risks and benefits of internet voting. The results of our own studies are based on a survey among Poles regarding their views on internet voting. The main goal is to verify if Poles more often highlight the benefits than risks of i-voting, and if the opinions about risks and benefits of i-voting differ depending on respondents’ sex, age, education and domicile.

This paper explores the possibility of using lateral thinking to enhance student learning in higher education. Teams of students formed during classes using the „six think- ing hats” method, a concept developed by (de Bono, 1985), analyse a problem posed by the lecturer. This problem involves solving a commonly used economic rule considered in a deterministic environment, the so-called economic order quantity (EOQ) model. Students divided into research teams first solve the problem classically, using elements of differential calculus. In the next stage, they solve the problem using process analysis, re-engineering principles, and a computer application. The most important feature of this stage is the analysis of the problem, so to speak, from the end, i.e., from the definition of the goal, which is to determine the optimal order size of goods in the supply chain at minimum cost. The six thinking hats method is extremely helpful at this stage. The key benefits for students using this type of teaching are related to verifying previous thinking in solving the problem and adopting a creative approach to solving the task. Empirical studies confirm that this type of teaching increases the attractiveness of the class and the satisfaction of acquiring creative thinking skills and provides the satisfaction of solving a complex research problem in a team. Student surveys with a small sample (

The article aims to describe the regional security challenges to India in South Asia. Since the partition of India in 1947, the country has continuously been under external threat as a form of proxy warfare and terrorism. For this purpose, the article highlighted the core hotspots where India has major border issues with China in the Himalayan terrain. India has been facing a bigger security challenge from China and Pakistan in the South Asia region. This article analyses the defence ties between India and France in the context of security. India's neorealist approaches expand its strategic partnership in global politics. Therefore, India has been getting strategic support from the French side whenever India seeks support in a critical situation. The article uses the methods of case study and discourse analysis to answer the question and find out the study's relevance. As a result of severe security threats, India had to negotiate the purchase of defence equipment from France. India had to buy Rafael fighter jet, submarine and other heavy military weapons. Indo-French relations are stronger than in the past and will develop as friendly relations in the future.

The following paper employs a normative approach and focuses on the problem of the current state of the local self-government in the South Caucasus countries: Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Since all these countries are members of the Council of Europe, a reference point for decentralisation is the European Charter of Local Self-Government. The paper's main thesis is that despite showing some similarities, the countries have introduced different models of decentralisation that do not fully meet the Council of Europe’s criteria. Such variation is in line with the different political systems of these states and their level of democratisation. The more democratic the state is, the stronger the decentralisation it has adopted. Thus, decentralisation in Georgia follows the European model of public policy, while Azerbaijan is preserving the former Soviet model of weak self-government, with central authorities playing the leading role in public services. The current changes in Armenia’s model resemble the Georgian track of reforms. The findings of this paper may be applicable both in further theoretical research and in implementing reforms of local self-government in various post-Soviet states.

The article aims to analyse the potential role that hydrogen could play in the post-pandemic recovery of Portugal and its climate policy. The article focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and creating new workplaces. The basis for analysis is the Portuguese hydrogen strategy, published in May 2020 and other strategic documents. In the first part of the article, climate goals adopted by the European Union and Portugal are described and analysed. Then the hydrogen strategy of Portugal was analysed from the perspective of hydrogen contribution to the emission reduction by 2030. The article describes the role of hydrogen in the Portuguese economy, paying particular attention to the 2020–2030 horizon, but also covers a period till 2040. The second part analyses the impact of COVID-19 on the Portuguese economy. Based on the International Energy Agency’s estimates, the potential for creating new workplaces is described.

The article is dedicated to an issue of Eurocentrism in American political scientist Samuel P. Huntington’s concept of the clash of civilisations. The arguments presented indicate that Huntington’s concept is pure Eurocentric. I start by mentioning a few of Huntington’s critics (Noam Chomsky, Samir Amin, Arjun Appadurai, and John M. Hobson). The next step includes analysing in detail the “Eurocentrism anatomy” and presenting Eurocentrism as a phenomenon based on two axes, which I call “materialistic” and “epistemological”. In other words, Eurocentrism is a kind of spectrum. Thanks to that, I compare Huntington’s concept with facts from literature embedded in both axes. Apart from other arguments, Eurocentric factors in the clash of civilisations are 1) civilisations in the past, 2) origin of the West, 3) demographic argument, and 4) the downfall of the West. I argue that the clash of civilisations is based on false, Eurocentric assumptions and prejudices.

With the end of the 20th century, there was a change in the nature and methods of using military force in international politics. It led to the need to develop new cooperation methods between states and reorient military diplomacy into defence diplomacy. In the new reality, the group of entities influencing diplomatic activities has been expanded to include non-governmental entities, including think tanks. It raised questions about the role of expert centres in activities for defence diplomacy under Polish conditions, including shaping the international situation and shaping the state's defence policy. The following considerations are an attempt to answer this question. The analysis was based on the data obtained from a survey and information from the websites of fifteen Polish centres of expertise operating in international relations, political science, and security and defence.

The participatory budget is an important element of the catalogue of tools for involving residents in the local decision-making. The positive effects of involving many citizens in the decision-making process slowly bear fruit in attempts to transfer p.b. into other spheres. This article analyses how these well-known patterns are adapted to new conditions – at universities. Several of them decided to introduce their own participatory budget. A comparative analysis of the local government model and solutions adopted by three universities provides the answer to this question. The hypothesis assumes that the civic budget at universities and polytechnics is, for the most part, a modification of the model used in cities with district status. As shown, the municipal participatory budget is a proven basis for creating its own regulations. However, the available schemes should be modified.

This paper aims to indicate the changes in Polish criminal law introduced in the COVID-19 acts. The text identifies the new regulations of most importance to society. For this reason, the initial focus is on the issue of suspension of procedural time limits and some substantive law time limits from the Criminal Code. It must be stated that, from the perspective of the legal certainty principle, precisely these provisions are of the most significant importance for the defendant. Next, the changes in the Electronic tagging concerning the possibility of interrupting the execution of an imprisonment sentence and serving an imprisonment sentence were discussed. From a criminal policy point of view, higher penalties for the offences of exposure to infection and stalking should also have been mentioned. A new offence of particularly aggravated theft has appeared in the Penal Code and a new offence of obstructing a Police or Border Guard officer in performing official duties. For a more effective fight, it is also vital to provide for the possibility of imposing a new preventive measure and confiscating objects important to public health. The indicated legal developments are presented in the context of human rights protection and in light of recent literature and judicial decisions.

Information technologies, ICT and Industry 4.0 are developing particularly fast in the fourth technological revolution. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in the scale of digitisation and internationalisation of remote communication processes and various aspects of economic activity. Digitisation of the economy is currently taking place simultaneously in many areas of economic processes and the functioning of many economic entities and public, financial and other institutions. Many companies, enterprises and public institutions that previously operated mostly or solely offline during the pandemic have switched to remote, electronic operation via the Internet. The development of electronic banking is also increasing, including internet and mobile banking. The share of electronic, cashless payments via the Internet and payments with electronic bank cards is increasing. In addition, in recent years, the range of applications of Data Science, Big Data, and Data Analytics technologies in economics, finance and organisation management, including enterprises, financial and public institutions, has been increasing. Therefore, the importance of implementing analytical instruments for advanced processing of large Data Science data sets in enterprises, financial and public institutions is also growing, including the construction of Big Data Analytics platforms to support organisation management processes in various aspects of operations, including improvement relationship with customers. The scale of cybercrime has also increased during the pandemic, as has the importance of improving cybersecurity techniques and instruments.

This article aims to answer the question about the legality of the selected measures implemented by the Polish government during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, which resulted in constitutional rights and freedom restrictions. The study focuses on examining selected restrictions implemented in the spring of 2020 in the light of the Polish Constitution, especially in the light of Article 31 (3), which defines the premises of limitation of citizens’ rights and freedoms. It indicates the lack of legal basis and incompatibility with constitutional premises of many restrictions. The study further examines the premises of the introduction of the state of emergency, indicating that the government's decision not to impose such a state was legal and why. The study considers legal status from March 13 to May 16, 2020.

Within the context of increasingly digital work, it appeared interesting to look at how military leaders and their leadership style will have to adapt to remain “up-to-speed” with current challenges. It is qualitative research based on interviews with military and civilian experts. Four interviews have been conducted, but there would be the potential to interview many more experts and look deeper into the matter. Within the context of digitalised military leadership, the importance of communication and mutual trust has been underscored by the experts. They agreed that leaders nowadays must embrace digital developments and include them in their leadership styles. The civilian world can learn from the military when it comes to leadership approaches, which is happening at the time of publication of this article with practical examples (senior military leaders assigned to lead the pandemic task force in some countries). Overall, the outcome of the research is that a relevant and resilient military leadership style in the 21st century resembles the elements of the situational leadership style developed by Hersey-Blanchard.

The article sheds light on the nexus between higher education and foreign policy. International higher education has become an increasingly prominent element of some states’ policies towards other countries as a flank to traditional foreign policy. It has occurred in Central Asia, where the European Union, China and Russia are all supporting teaching, research and capacity-building activities in the tertiary sectors of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Although they employ similar tools and instruments, the assumptions and visions underpinning their respective strategies diverge. Russia’s strategy is shaped by historically informed identity factors and the impulse to entrench predominance in the post-Soviet space, whilst China uses its support for higher education as a soft infrastructure for its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Meanwhile, the EU has integrated higher education into its strategy for the region, which aims at drawing Central Asia closer to its orbit through democratisation and the rule of law.

The pandemic that broke out in 2019 had a significant impact on the lives of all social groups around the world. The imposed restrictions and mandatory quarantine were crucial to limit the virus’s spread. The research comprises an analysis of the psychosocial impact exerted by the pandemic that attempted to determine the response to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. For this purpose, a study on social resilience in the pandemic era was worked out. The study consisted of several parts: stress and the sense of safety, education, trust and defined needs and the mass media in COVID-19. The research team decided to present the study’s results in a series of articles that will contribute to forming a complete picture of the community in the context of the analysed variables. The paper is the first in this series. It contains an analysis of variables intended to determine the level of the experienced sense of safety and its constituent, i.e., stress, and the identification of socio-demographic data strongly influencing the studied variables. The study comprised 559 individuals who were surveyed between May 2020 and November 2020 with the use of an online survey questionnaire. SPSS Statistics version 21.0 and PQStat were used to conduct statistical analyses and correlate and assess the correlation of responses. Also used were Chisquare, Fisher’s test and Pearson’s linear correlation coefficient. A logistic regression analysis was carried out for dichotomous variables. The results of the study indicate that the level of experienced stress is influenced by age, place of residence, gender and job security. The sense of safety is inversely correlated with stress, i.e., as stress increases, the sense of safety decreases, indicating a need to undertake appropriate measures to reduce stress. It may be interesting to compare the level of stress with, among other things, information retrieval from different sources. These results will be presented in the subsequent studies.

In 2021, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) turned 20 years old. With “Shanghai Spirit” as its guiding principle, the scope of SCO’s activity has significantly expanded, recently adding India and Pakistan to its members. As a result, SCO policy has heavily influenced the Central Asia region. In response, in 2019, the EU launched a new strategy for Central Asia, adopting “connectivity” as its core concept. As a result, both SCO and EU strategies in Central Asia tend to conflict with each other, thus leading to uneven and inconsistent development of the region. Therefore, this paper aims to identify contradictions between SCO’s “Shanghai Spirit” guiding principle and the EU’s concept of “connectivity” by comparing the SCO and EU strategies toward Central Asia. The methodology in the paper involves a qualitative comparative method, including two qualitative case studies, represented by the SCO’s “Shanghai Spirit” and the EU’s concept of “connectivity” in their strategies on Central Asia. The article concludes that contestation between the SCO and the EU policies in Central Asia impedes stable development of the region, and therefore, a compromise between both policies in Central Asia is suggested.

This article aims to present the state of air quality treated as a measure of the state of quality of local environmental safety, based on the research conducted in the town of Barlinek. This information is necessary to identify the areas that require action to improve air quality (to reduce the concentration of pollutants). The main factors that inspired the author to address this issue are, first of all, the continuous high level of air pollution, despite the actions taken to reduce it; secondly, the lack of precise, clear indicators and measures of such deprivation that applies to a major part of the territory of Poland that would take into account the individual national context; thirdly, the need to identify the main factors that determine this phenomenon in the specific context of Poland. Other factors include the need to consider the requirement for Poland as a member state of the EU to participate in reducing air pollution to an appropriate extent; and, finally, the need to develop and implement integrated 10-year National Energy and Climate Plans (NECP) for the years 2021–2030 with a long-term perspective to the year 2050, as well as long-term renovation strategies to improve the accuracy of eliminating air pollution. The research problem focuses on three issues: presenting the current national and European criteria of ecological safety for air pollution, identifying the indicators and measures that enable the determination of air pollution levels, and presenting the local air pollution level based on the selected example. The research problem discussed in the article is empirical. Analytical/synthetic, qualitative and quantitative methods were used to provide a more in-depth analysis of the problem, and conclusions were drawn.

Book Review: Elżbieta Proń, International Institutions in China’s Foreign Policy: The Case of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek, Toruń 2021, pp. 303.

The article analyses political opposition toward the date of presidential elections and conducting them in the correspondence form on May 10, 2020, in Poland. The study is embedded in the theories of quasi-militant democracy and the emergence of social movements. The method used in the study is the qualitative analysis of media messages of the main news websites in Poland. Mainly in terms of the activity and arguments of citizens against the elections in the form of correspondence. The presidential elections revealed the imperious relationship between the government and citizens in Poland’s becoming quasimilitant democracy. The emphasis was on the elements regarding the organisation of elections on May 10 that could impact a social movement’s emergence. The most significant role in stopping the May 10 elections was played by institutional opposition in the form of local self-governments’ civil disobedience and the Senate’s action, which efficiently blocked the party’s initiative. The article accounts for how election matters determined the social mobilisation and activity of the new social movement. This paper’s main finding is that institutional opposition may prevail over the social one in the pandemic.

The authors examine the threats from hazardous toxic materials from World War II wrecks sunk in the Baltic Sea and their cargo of chemical ammunition, indicate Poland’s reaction to this situation, and map out Polish obligations in this regard. This problem gives rise to multiple uncertainties about the exact nature of threats to environmental/ecological security, marine security, human security (including health security), economic security and food safety. The authors also elaborate on legal regulations relevant in this context. The research methods include formal-institutional analysis of relevant legal documents and discourse analysis. The main conclusions are: 1. toxic materials in the Baltic Sea threaten ecological, economic, human and security; 2. food safety in all Baltic states might be endangered; Poland should accede to the Nairobi Wreck Removal Convention; and Poland should cooperate regionally to resolve the problem of the Baltic chemical waste.

The paper characterises contemporary fighting anarchism from the ideological, tactical, and organisational perspectives. An analysis is carried out that examines the activities of the groups revoking insurrectionism, which today entails three ideological trends, namely social, individualistic (illegalism), and ecological. In the author’s intention, the characteristics should serve practical goals, i.e., forming a prognosis regarding the phenomenon's future and drawing possible ways to counteract its proliferation in a further perspective. Contemporary anarchism, due to its intellectual allure (liberationist individualism), broadening the scope of its goals (with the liberation of non-human beings), adopting loose organisational forms, as well as employing the leaderless resistance strategy and swarming, is a phenomenon that has significant development potential. The development of anarchism, due to ongoing socio-political processes (the collapse of the existing mechanisms of social control and political representation, globalisation, informatisation) and the widely spreading ideology of individualism will lead to, as it seems, progressive radicalism, both in ideology and used methods.

This article presents the research results, which set out to explain the mechanisms leading to the achievement of dominance by the Russian Federation in the international security environment. In the research process, the systemic approach was applied. Analysis and criticism of the literature, non-participatory observation and case study elements were used to solve the research problems. As a result, it was determined that the theoretical basis for the Russian Federation's achievement of international dominance is the concept of new generation war. The model of the strategic influence of the Russian Federation is directed at the shaping of the security environment and includes the synchronisation of kinetic and non-kinetic measures, indirect and direct effects, the blurring of the boundaries between war and peace and the application of pressure and aggression. The Russian Federation achieves strategic dominance through asymmetry, chaos, reflexive control, and strategic deterrence. Armed forces provide a key role in asserting dominance, focused on conducting offensive activities and inflicting losses with conventional and nuclear weapons.

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted governments to take radical measures to contain the virus and protect their citizens. These included successive restrictions on social distance, which have led to closing many enterprises in various industries and dismissing their employees. Introducing restrictions has significantly weakened many countries’ economies. Stock markets have noted sharp declines. Therefore, public protection has led to severe consequences for the labour market. Attempts at defining them have been undertaken in the body of literature. However, they focus mainly on analysing selected indicators. According to the authors, it is worth analysing the correlation between the number of deaths as the variable that best reflects the disease’s severity and selected unemployment rates. It was assumed that the number of deaths is a factor significantly distinguishing the periods before and after the pandemic. Therefore, it is possible to assess the correlation between the pandemic and the labour market condition.

After the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine and Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, the Czech Republic became fully aware of the threats posed by the Kremlin despite President Zeman has denied the presence of Russian troops in Ukraine and has criticised the EU sanctions against Russia. Czechia belongs to the group of countries through which Russia influences the EU, to gradually and deliberately erode its structures. Russia exerts a strong influence on the Czech Republic by non-military means, including disinformation and propaganda, the activities of secret services, and penetration of its economy and specifically its energy sector. The article aims to answer the question about the role of Russian disinformation and propaganda in the context of Russian influence in the Czech Republic. The role of Russian disinformation and propaganda and how Russia influences Czechia is extensively analysed. The main hypothesis is that Russia treats the Czech Republic as a key state for espionage and disinformation activities and as a zone of influence, undermining the sovereignty of the Czech Republic and the role of NATO and the EU.

The difference in the methodology of conducting military operations by Russian and Ukrainian troops during the war ongoing since February 2022 is striking. It does not result only from the adopted convention of conducting these activities but is conditioned on a much deeper mental level resulting from cultural conditions. They determine the perception and understanding of the phenomenon of war. In other words, the operational and tactical methodology can be adapted to changing realities, provided that the essence of such a change is understood in terms of achieving the assumed military and non-military goals. Furthermore, these goals could be achieved by conducting military operations according to a completely different methodology, probably with much greater effectiveness. Why, in such a perspective, did the Russian side choose such a barbaric way of conducting war, characterising the methodology of military actions of the past decades or even centuries? This paper aims to answer the research question: What premises condition the Russian methodology of military action in the Russian-Ukrainian war of 2022? Empirical methods were employed to obtain an answer to this question.

In the European Union, the United States and other countries of the so-called Western world, the perception of the functionalities of AI, and other instruments of Industrial Revolution 4.0 significantly differs from its perception by the PRC’s authorities, which – for a few years – have been implementing solutions aimed at comprehensive scrutiny and social supervision rather than facilitating life and work. This idea has been reflected in the so-called Social Credit System since at least 2014 and has given rise to plenty of controversies and disputes, unfortunately based on emotions and imprecise interpretation of the characteristics, aims, and implementation of the project rather than knowledge. While the new, digital model of social management in China is extensively discussed in the literature, it is rarely addressed in Polish studies, which results in the scarcity of publications on this subject. This paper attempts to fill this gap by presenting the essence of the system and the progress of its implementation.

The world is constantly changing under the influence of new technologies. Artificial intelligence systems are currently used in many areas of human activity. Such systems are increasingly assigned the tasks of collecting and analysing personal data. The areas successfully using AI include transport, medicine, trade, marketing, and others. The number of these areas increases proportionally with the advancement of technology. We can process vast amounts of data and analyse it using IA. It is, of course, big data that sits at the heart of AI. As computing systems generally have grown in power and capacity, data consumption has grown exponentially.

De facto states are entities that resemble normal states, except for one difference: they lack international recognition or enjoy it only to a limited extent. Scott Pegg initiated a scholarly inquiry on these entities in 1998 when he published his seminal book, International Society and the De Facto State. Counting about twenty years after the birth of de facto state studies, scholars have started publishing their reflections on the problems that these studies face and directions for future research. I follow this reflective trend in my essay, drawing on my nearly two-decade-long experience of researching de facto states. More precisely, I discuss four problems of de facto state studies and suggest how they can be solved. These problems are as follows: 1. no consensus on a definition of a de facto state, 2. imperfect existing definitions, 3. insufficient engagement with the non-Western literature, and 4. indifference to other concepts and frameworks when studying de facto states.

This paper aims to determine whether the war in Ukraine will affect the scope of judicial verification of public administration in Poland. According to new legislation (the socalled Aid Act), which Polish Parliament passed shortly after February 24, 2022, the Polish municipalities (cities) are entitled to provide aid for local foreign communities, especially those within the borders of Ukraine. The basis for such aid will take the form of a proper municipal or city council resolution. The main issue concerning this form of aid is the necessity of applying Ukrainian law, at least in the context of decoding who is entitled to be a beneficiary. Against this background, it is vital to determine whether such circumstances as war and humanitarian reasons should affect the scope of judicial review. In theory, two approaches are available, formalism and judicial relativism which both are inappropriate. The author argues that the doctrine of deference, as understood by justice A. Scalia must be applied to secure both rule of law principle and the legitimacy of administrative courts in Poland. The main subject of the analysis was the content of the law, which was the starting point for analysing the views of the doctrine and jurisprudence. Due to the international nature of the issue, it was necessary to refer to the achievements of Ukrainian law.

The article aims to address the following question: in the case of a war in Ukraine, is public international law an obstacle to the application of combined international enforcement action within the framework of the collective security system under the auspices of the United Nations, or whether such impediments lie elsewhere? Russia’s presence in the Security Council as a permanent member, and thus endowed with the privilege of vetoing resolutions, paralyses this body. Therefore, the subject of the analysis is what other actions of the United Nations are permitted by law. It is important for assessing the status of the UN as a collective actor in international relations, the main objective of which, under Art. 1 of the UN Charter, is “to maintain international peace and security, and, to that end: to take effective collective measures for (…) the suppression of acts of aggression”. Bearing in mind the fact that international law is a consensual legal order, the article assesses its available compulsory mechanisms and instruments. The supplementary objective is to determine whether it is permissible to use the term “war” with regard to the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Contemporary crises, including armed conflicts, terrorist attacks, and other disasters, affect the most vulnerable groups of the world population, i.e., women, children, the elderly, people with disabilities, and refugees. The current refugee crisis caused by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has revealed several problems, the effective solutions of which constitute a starting point for systemic actions. Polish State authorities’ preparedness for crises must consider the possibility of migration waves caused by wars, hunger, and climate change. Effective cooperation between the government administration, local governments, and non-governmental organisations is crucial. Non-governmental agencies’ knowledge base on refugees is essential, as are refugee needs in dealing with local emergency services, government agencies, and other stakeholders to develop culturally competent emergency preparedness training. The proposed solutions focus on separating crisis preparedness education from language and culture training. Targeting resources and mapping the individual steps necessary to create and maintain successful crisis preparedness education should result in updated training sessions as essential elements are revealed in improving the situation of the refugees.

The problem of media visibility of politicians and political parties is at the heart of the interest of political communication researchers. Theoretical reflections and empirical studies focus on numerous media presence determinants. At the same time, attempts to identify the media visibility of political actors in specific periods, such as the particularly important for democracy period of the election campaign preceding the parliamentary election, are relatively rare. This study is intended to fill that gap. It proposes a simple research tool in the form of a media visibility index, which makes it possible to calculate and compare the visibility of electoral committees in selected media during the election campaign. The tool was used to determine the visibility of electoral committees taking part in the 2019 parliamentary elections in Poland in two TV news services “Wiadomości” and “Fakty”, and three weekly opinion magazines “Newsweek”, “Polityka” and “Sieci”. The data to calculate the index was gathered through manual content analysis of the studied media conducted six weeks before the day of the parliamentary elections.

The scale of disinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic has been called infodemic. It involved disseminating various messages and theories that had a significant negative impact on limiting the spread of the disease but also exacerbated existing social antagonisms and emboldened and radicalised fringe groups. Infodemic, to a large extent manifested in social media, also fostered the formalisation of denialist circles, who transferred their sometimes very aggressive sentiments from the web to the real world. Negation and contestation of the pandemic were partly born spontaneously but were also created as part of postmodern hybrid activities. Consequently, narratives of infodemic led to difficulties in functioning health services, but above all, to an increase in morbidity and mortality related to COVID-19. The consequences of the infodemic would also include various economic effects, such as increased medical expenses for unvaccinated people or turbulence in the labour market.

The material scope of the research problem presented in the text encompasses the issues concerned with the possibilities for and limitations of recruiting secret collaborators by the Polish civilian intelligence service. The analysis of the problematics of secret collaboration focuses mainly on institutional and legal aspects, which can be seen in its inclusion in the systemic legal perspective, encompassing such dimensions as administrative and legal, criminal and legal, civil and legal, and ethical one. Next to the normative aspects, the text addresses sociological and psychological aspects of recruiting secret collaborators by special services, thereby depicting the main recruitment methods. The methodology adopted is chiefly based on the institutional and legal approach, in which use is made of, inter alia, textual, functional and systemic interpretations. The problem of possible abuse concerned with the recruitment of secret collaborators by special services is illustrated with an abstract case study and a relevant legal interpretation. Besides, to extend the analysis of psychological and sociological aspects of recruiting secret collaborators, the study uses limited open interviews with former officers of the civilian special services operating in Poland before 1990.

This article aims to define the role played by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice in the political system of contemporary Venezuela and determine the extent of the executive branch’s influence on the judiciary. The research problem formulated by the author concerns the determination of the fundamental importance of the Tribunal in keeping the Chavistas in power. The paper compares the substantive legal competencies of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice with the political realities of recent years and shows why the Tribunal’s activities undertaken in recent years have raised so much controversy. It has been pointed out that the Chavistas’ control of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice is a significant factor enabling the supporters of Nicolas Maduro to exercise both judicial and extrajudicial control over the institutions of the judiciary and to influence the legislature, vide the deprivation of legislative powers already accomplished.

Defence diplomacy is increasingly important in modern states’ foreign and security policies. The ever-expanding circle of issues of interest fosters the strengthening of the role and importance of defence diplomacy. Alongside the traditional areas of military cooperation based on dialogue and support, other areas of interaction serving international security are becoming more visible. Each state has a different set of instruments at its disposal, and they try to shape defence diplomacy in their own way, taking into account the specificities of their own national interests and the environments in which they operate. Despite their natural differences, there is a common understanding that defence diplomacy can enhance trust and transparency in international relations. Nevertheless, with all the similarities in states or international security organisations, it is not easy to talk about a universal model of defence diplomacy. The wide range of diplomatic instruments allows each state to select and adapt them to the specific situation and the conditions dictated by geopolitics or geo-economics in the relevant international policy areas.

We argue that the current understanding of politics is caught in a tug of war between “economistic” and “postmodern” views, neither of which captures the distinctiveness of political rule and consequently instills confusion among citizens and misplaced expectations from leaders. Drawing largely on Aristotle, who warned precisely against this error, we consider the logic of mastery and contrast it to paternal rule. Then we discuss the voluntary nature of economic activity to distinguish it from the involuntary nature of mastery, before turning to discuss the political proper, which is a combination or mixture of these two that nevertheless makes it qualitatively distinct. These distinctions help us to better appreciate what is a likeness between political and economic, on the one hand, and between political and paternal, on the other while realising that political rule is not exhausted by either economic or paternal alone. The paper seeks to show that political rule finds itself as an in-between condition that balances itself against despotic, mastery, and the kind of care that paternal rule points to.

We present the institution of a local referendum from a comparative perspective on the example of legal regulations in Ukraine and Poland. The study is the result of the ongoing research of the two Authors and is of crucial importance in the current political situation – the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Hence, it is relevant both nationally, Europe-wide and internationally. The analysis includes a legal comparative analysis of institutions and an attempt to assess their effectiveness. The authors point out that there is a need for effective ‘safeguarding’ in Ukraine to prevent the referendum from being used as a political instrument (at hoc), against the will of the people. The analysis uses a dogmatic and comparative legal method and draws on the authors’ experience of holding local referendums. This research may be useful not only for the researchers of the local government law but also for the legislators.

Contemporary terrorism is characterised by a complex and networked model of operation. While the main objectives of terrorist acts remain the same, the attack environment, tactics and tools are changing. The international community is taking steps to strengthen counter-terrorism systems, but these are peaceful solutions. These models do not consider the conditions of hybrid armed conflicts in which terrorism is an element of combat tactics. It is a relatively new phenomenon and particularly dangerous for the civilian population. The acts of terror in hybrid warfare are not mechanisms with a simple scheme of action, and, as we try to show in this article, they represent a deliberate and broad spectrum of action. Therefore, there is an urgent need to understand terrorism in the context of the threat of hybrid war (especially when terrorist acts complement hybrid tactics or significantly replace conventional tactics). This type of threat must be recognised before achieving its strategic goals. From the substantive point of view, the article studies the problem of terrorism as one of the threats of an armed conflict in Ukraine, commonly known as hybrid war.

This paper aims to evaluate the sources of Russia’s soft power as a tool which should enable it to integrate Belarus more closely with Russia. The research question is as follows: what are Russia’s main sources of attractiveness, and what kind of instruments of soft power is the Russian government applying to achieve that aim? To what extent was this soft policy successful? The author applied a qualitative research method. It is inductive and allows the researcher to explore meanings and insights into Russia’s notion of “soft power” in its foreign policy toward Belarus. The basis of it lies in the interpretive approach to the present reality of Russia – Belarus political and economic relations and in the evaluation of Russian efforts to integrate its closest neighbour by using only non-military means.

The paper discusses populist appeals to emotions in political communication, considering their role in the proliferation of political polarisation and radicalisation. Revisiting the Emotional Rescue Model of anger, enthusiasm, and fear, we considered pride and compassion low-arousal alternatives to populist storytelling. In the experiments, we tested how participants (n=364) respond to appeals to pride and compassion in their brain activity, emotional expressions, prosocial behaviour, attitude change, and memorisation. In the paper, we primarily discussed the results of the fMRI (neuroimaging) study and compared them with the previous studies on authentic pride, compassion, empathy, and reappraisal. Considering similarities in the activation of the superior and middle temporal gyri, temporal pole, inferior frontal gyrus, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, we argue that compassionate political narratives should be the most effective low-arousal alternative to populist storytelling. Moreover, stimulation of the reappraisal-related network in that group suggests that participants reframed emotional negativity into prosocial acts of caring and helping, also re-evaluating their attitudes.

The purpose of this paper was to present ideas related to the creation of a self-government party in Poland, bringing together representatives of local authorities, community activists and all those for whom the idea of local self-government built „from the bottom up” was close to their hearts. The idea of creating a local government party appeared several times in discussions of members of Liga Krajowa association, which was an active entity on the political scene, a member of Electoral Action Solidarity of the Right, from the list of which League had its parliamentary representation. These concepts first appeared at the basis of the association's formation and then had a close connection with its further presence on the political scene. The local government party was supposed to be an electoral platform with a specific right-wing and centre-right political orientation, as well as to be the most important support for representatives of local authorities, but all efforts in this regard failed.

Syria is one of many countries in the Middle East diverse in terms of religion, nationality, and ethnicity. Internal divisions emerged when Syria reclaimed independence in 1946, but the differences inside Syrian society have become a taboo. One of the reasons for that was Arab nationalism, which claimed that they were all Arabs. The Syrian authorities managed to maintain the appearance of national homogeneity owing to these claims. This article aims to show the uniqueness of Arab nationalism, which is not characteristic of one country but of numerous states sharing a common past, language, and their citizens belonging to the family of the Arab nation. As a case study for Syria, this article analyses the basic concepts relevant to the subject (nationalism, the nation from the perspective of Islam, and Arab thought), the roots of pan-Arabism in Syria and its presence in the public and legal space. It also attempts to demonstrate that Arab nationalism helped the Syrian authorities (represented by the Alawite minority) blur national, ethnic, and religious differences and thus preserve the unity of society and state.

The European Union has been recognised as an international system whose decisions and actions are conditioned by environmental determinants, which is a dynamic process of change. The article attempts to explain the EU’s decisions based on the conclusions of the European Council in 2010–2022. 93 documents containing the conclusions of the European Council adopted during that period were analysed. It was found that the determinants of EU decisions and actions function – firstly – at the international system level and, secondly, at the level of the domestic systems of the Member States. In addition, the article: 1) reconstructed the discussion in the science of international relations on behavioural determinants, 2) reconstructed the perception of determinants in the conclusions of the European Council; 3) a model for organising the analysis of the determinants of the decisions of the European Council was proposed.

This article presents the results of research, which set out to clarify the importance and role played by the concept of using A2/AD capabilities in the military strategy of the Russian Federation. Analysis and criticism of the literature were used to solve the research problems. In order to guide the research process, a hypothesis was formulated, assuming that the Russian concept of using A2/AD capabilities is an operationalisation of a broader military strategy for defeating the adversary, as well as an effective deterrence mechanism. The research process established that the Russian concept of using A2/AD capabilities is a theory and operational practice, a broader military strategy of achieving multi-domain superiority over the adversary by conducting strategic offensive operations. Integrating offensive and defensive operational capabilities plays a key role in this concept, which guarantees possession of the strategic initiative and maintenance of dominance in the international security environment and supports the idea of creating Russian spheres of influence. It also prompts NATO states to counter the supremacy of the Russian Federation.

The article aims to identify social impact activities in the context of information operations conducted by Ukraine during the 2022 war. An analysis of the creation and spread of information threats as a result of Russia’s ongoing conflict is driven by the increasing impact of communication on global security. The content of the study highlights the impact of trends in the creation of information threats, which are the determinants of social risks. In the article, an analysis of creating information threats, including producing and reporting information in propaganda and the traditional and modern media, is of significant importance. The impact and role of mass media on awareness-raising is presented, revealing mechanisms for influencing public opinion.

The notion of non-liberal democracy has become an inseparable element of the debate on the crisis of liberal democracy. For some scholars and journalists, non-liberal democracy is a consequence of the crisis of liberal democracy. It should be pointed out that when indicating the causes of this crisis in the economic, political, and cultural spheres, researchers rarely address the issue of the legitimacy of identifying democracy as non-liberal and its characteristics. Moreover, no one has initiated a broad debate on the possibility of a retreat from non-liberal democracy and the conditions that must be met to return to liberal democracy. That is why this paper attempts to describe the phenomenon called nonliberal democracy and analyse the conditions which should be fulfilled, both in political and social terms. It is to enable the return to the idea of liberal democracy.

The purpose of the research was to investigate the scale of crime by foreign nationals in Switzerland in the context of the effectiveness of the assumptions of the migration policy of that state in the area of security. Materials and methods: The research uses literature sources and statistical data on the crime of foreign nationals in Switzerland and its migration policy. The author used qualitative research methods, including the query of literature and strategic documents (using the content analysis technique) and the analysis of statistical data (using the desk research technique). Results: In the context of the three analysed factors, the following trends can be observed: steadily declining crime in Switzerland; the relatively constant level of crime by foreign nationals, especially since 2018; constant, although relatively mildly growing, percentage of foreign nationals’ crime in the overall crime scale. Conclusions: In the context of the assessment of the effectiveness of the implementation of the assumptions of Switzerland’s migration policy in the area of security, it should be noted that the relatively constant level of the crime rate of foreign nationals, despite their constantly growing population, proves the optimality of these assumptions and their highly effective implementation.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine have brought to the surface problems of the modern world that the international community has not seriously addressed. These problems appear to be, on the one hand, the management of global public health and, on the other, relations between states on international trade. These situations are linked to circumstances that have altered the power relations of states over the years, challenging the centrality of the West and the already fragile power of UN institutions. This research analyses the international situation of two UN bodies: the WHO and the WTO, addressing the governance crisis on public health and international trade and trying to understand the causes of the decline in the leadership of their institutions. Adopting a thorough literature review, the findings show how faulty leadership within the UN has led to a significant increase in nationalism among emerging nations, distrust and lack of cooperation. The divergent political visions of members have radically shaken the international balance, triggering a cycle of change in the governance of global health and global trade on a new premise, that of ‘multilevel’ global governance.

After the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Kazakhstan’s policymakers recognised that the existing model of state governance had proved ineffective and needed to be changed. One of the necessary solutions was to carry out decentralisation. The main purpose of the following article is to outline the barriers that Kazakhstan must remove if it is serious about building local self-government independence. Confronting these with the President’s vision of the transformation of local self-government led to the following research questions: what organisational and legal issues remain unresolved or constitute a barrier to the construction of independent local government structures in the Republic of Kazakhstan after the collapse of the Soviet Union?; to what extent do the changes proposed by President Kasym Tokayev meet the real challenges in the context of expanding the autonomy of local power structures? Finding answers to the questions posed was possible by analysing legal acts, literature, and press materials.

The paper’s aim is to check whether there is a relationship between the effectiveness of emotion management techniques and the protesters’ subjectivity level in Poland. In this case, it is necessary to analyse selected significant social protests in terms of the emotions felt by the ruling elites, the emotions they evoke among the protesters, and the level of political subjectivity possessed by the latter. In June 1956, the technique of masking emotion management was used effectively. The intensification technique in October was fully effective. In December 1970, only the use of the intensification technique brought results. In June 1976, the masking technique proved to be effective within a limited time range. In the summer of 1980, the party-state apparatus was not able to effectively manage emotions. The breakthrough was the introduction of martial law and forcing a significant part of society to be submissive and conformist. Managing emotions by intensifying them during the Women’s Strike proved to be partially effective. Crossing the threshold of subjectivity by opposition social groups makes the management of emotions generally ineffective. The paper offers an innovative research design for analysing the relationships between the management of emotions and the political subjectivity level.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the elderly in a special way. On the one hand, it contributed to the increase in health deficits and those related to social isolation. On the other hand, it also had a significant impact on the level and methods of support provided to seniors. The pandemic situation turned out to be a particular challenge for local governments and non-governmental organisations operating in various areas of senior policy. The general aim of the article was to analyse the state’s initiatives aimed at counteracting the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic addressed to seniors and examples of activities of the local government and the civil sector cooperating with it for the benefit of this group of people. In turn, the specific objective was to identify and understand the greatest difficulties that seniors had during the pandemic and the role played by the non-governmental organisation (both during the pandemic and as an entity of potential support in the future, which was particularly interesting given the European Union promoting services provided in the local environment). In connection with the specific objective, qualitative research was carried out using the in-depth interview method. The interviews were based on scripts that concerned four areas: problems and experiences of the elderly during the pandemic, help and support, communication, health, and well-being.

The dynamic civilisation transformations observed worldwide in recent years have arisen from the rapid development of information and the ICTs that support it. Cyberspace is a new sphere affected by these processes, and it evolves alongside the threats occurring therein. Nowadays, no country’s cyberspace is entirely secure. Cyber threats are characterised by unpredictability and global reach. In modern times, cyberspace is a symbol of development, the freedom of speech, and the right to privacy and every interference in the behaviours of its users is associated with an attack on these values. The article discusses the fundamental problems concerning operations in cyberspace justified by the violation of human rights but should also be assessed in the context of interference with the scope of individual rights and freedoms, including in times of seemingly normal functioning, namely in times of peace.

The article outlines a position expressing the view that cyberspace opens up a new dimension of politics, in which cyber campaigns have the potential to become an important means or alternative to warfare in order to achieve strategic advantage. The consequences of cyber measures may not necessarily lead to disasters or military reprisals that disable a state’s critical infrastructure at an unexpected moment but instead may affect the sources of power and its legitimacy. This fact forces one to ponder the question of the nature of the cyber conflict. Global awareness among policymakers about cyber warfare has increased significantly over the past few years, and many states are preparing to defend themselves against this threat. Cyber warfare is part of the evolution of conventional warfare, which in turn is linked to the broad changes in the social and political spheres and, above all, in the technological sphere. This paper aims to seek an answer to the question: are we facing cyber warfare? The answer to this question will be provided by analysing the events in the initial stage of the war in Ukraine in 2022.