TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

The actions indicated above and taken by the United Nations and the European Union (in spite of their different international law status) argue that objectives attributed to international organisations are not only postulates, but a basis for actions taken specifically, both in the legal and actual dimension. Therefore, the main research objective adopted for this study was to bring them closer, with particular emphasis on the UN and the EU joint actions for international security. Due to the complexity and multifaceted nature of the discussed subject matter of these considerations, they will be confined to the T-306/01 Ahmed Ali Yusuf and Al Barakaat International Foundation case recognized by the EU Court of First Instance. In there, as in a lens, interrelationships between the international organisations in questions are concentrated; and not only in terms of international cooperation, but, more importantly, in terms of the principle of the primacy of the United Nations law over other legal regimes.

Scottish Independence Referendum will take place on 18 September 2014. There would be only one question during referendum: “Should Scotland be an independent country? The reform of devolution established by Scotland Act 2012 is sometimes overlooked by observers as too little too late. The most principal issues of the referendum will be: economy, oil resources, currency, defense and European Union. Main doubt around referendum is whether Scotland would be better economically after Independence. Scotland’s position within the EU is likely to be shaped more by any agreements between the parties than by pre-existing principles of EU law.
Doubts about Scottish membership in the EU have to be viewed in the context of the referendum on the UK’s membership in the European Union, that will take place if the Conservative Party wins the 2015. British political class have always behaved differently towards the European integration than continental elites The importance of the European dimension of the Scottish Independence Referendum was proved by Panelbase poll in May 2013.

Planning is a process of defining goals and identifying means and methods to achieve them, effective and relevant to future operating conditions, and therefore a diagnosis of a current situation, design and choice of goals, and ways to reach them. The main substance of this publication is to present research methods (methods of prediction) relating to the creation of the future of an organisation, especially a political organisation, or a country. They are: strategic planning and strategic review. In addition, the problems relating directly to the above methods such as limits to grand strategy, the Black Swan effect, the Tsunami effect, and the arguments against normative methods will be presented.

The end of the twentieth century wars initiated a paradigm shift. Conflicts that emerged at the end of the last century and developed in the early 21st century revealed new aspects of the armed struggle. The classic perception of war has been blurred. In place of the bipolar symmetry appeared asymmetric threats. The former state monopoly on the use of force was lost. Some new members of armed conflict appeared, traditional battlefield setting disappeared and progressive imbalance between the parties for the disposition of potential violence leads to inequality and instability in the world. Asymmetry became a main factor in determining the image of modern warfare.

Russian authorities have for years been proclaiming that in order to ensure energy security and to increase their economic presence in North-East Asia their priority is to diversify gas export and to increase cooperation with the Asia-Pacific region. Despite frequent meetings at interstate and business levels, and numerous formal – but no binding – agreements, no tangible progress in this regard has yet been made. This paper argues, from a game-theoretic perspective, that peril for Russian geopolitical and economic interests ensuing from both inception of EU energy policy and evolution of the European gas market has been one of the factors hindering Russian plans of eastbound gas export diversification.

The prospect of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) terrorism poses a danger for contemporary societies. However, the incidents related to an application of weapons of mass destruction (that is, nuclear, chemical, biological and radiological weapons) by non-state actors are relatively rare. The aim of the paper is to present recent incidents and to estimate the threat from particular types of WMD. The author focuses both on the question of motivation to undertake these operations and on the problem of technological capabilities. To sum up, the risk of a massive WMD terrorist attack should be perceived as quite moderate due to the technological barrier, but selective attacks carry a greater potential risk because of their higher probability and significant psychological effect.

In the given article the issues concerning normative resolutions which are given by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan according to criminal cases are pointed out. The structure and mechanism of normative resolutions are discussed. Correlation of normative legal acts are investigated. Normative legal acts consist of legal norms, they regulate and manage social relations. It means that, as the normative legal acts play an important role on the judicial sphere, they create, change the norms and even can stop their activity. Here we may include constitutional laws, codes, laws, all charters of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan which have legal power. Normative resolutions are equal for all, according to definite cases it is used not for one person, but for several people. Also, normative resolutions are used in accordance with legal acts, and until the used norm loses its power it can have definite power.

In recent years, the South China Sea area has become the arena of competition between the countries of Southeast Asia that set up claims to maritime areas and the islands, and, all the more, want to control and exploit what can be found under the seabed, namely the deposits of oil and gas. The situation in the area cannot even be resolved by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Montego Bay, 1982). Apart from the resources found in the sea and under the seabed, this body of water is an important shipping route, which makes it a strategically significant area for each of the countries located there, or those whose interests involve the South China Sea.
In this work, I describe the current situation in the waters of South China Sea: whether the countries bordering it strive for conflict or just secure their interests. It turns out each of the states will set up demands to the islands on this sea and especially to everything that lives in the sea and is to be found under the seabed. Minor, and also more significant incidents will happen, but it does not seem likely that any serious open conflict between the states of the region will break out in the close future. None of the countries pursues it and they do everything they can to maintain the status quo.

German Neo-Nazi groups have not stopped their Anti-Polish activity yet. They still, in the first place, come with revisionist objectives, not matter how Cold-War-or Polish-People’s- Republic-propaganda-like it can sound. The activity of the structures would not be possible without ideological backup. And so the Neo-Nazi ‘white collars’ determine the directions of the actions. One of such projects is Metapedia, a Neo-Nazi Wikipedia in which one can find many, shocking for us, information on Poland and the Poles. We cannot ignore it since, despite historic events, the 21st century Neo-Nazism has also many supports in our country.

A term „violence”, despite transformations of the meanings, has always been connected with relations between genders, and as such, what it means in a given society to be a woman and a man and which economic, social and psychological relations have been assigned to these categories. At least since the 18th century, unequal share of the power between men and women has been justified with, among others, a different share of “passion” and different potential of violence. A real power ready to use violence should be focused on the men side while a tasks of women should be neutralizing men’s readiness to use violence, achieved by subjecting themselves to men. For thousands of years military battles have been almost exclusively a man’s privilege. Even 100 years ago, women did not have a right to vote even in western countries with the longest democratic traditions. Today, giving a woman the highest office in a state is not unusual. So can we talk about a fall of the patriarchy and replacing men by women even in such man fields as war and military battles?

In the new, post-Cold War reality Polish foreign policy faced challenges stemming from the need to set targets that would reflect the interests of Poland, as well as take into account the changes in the international environment. Gradually, the assumptions and directions of foreign policy were rebuilt, with an aim to ensure the safety of the country in both internal and external dimension, to provide the territorial integrity, strengthen the sovereignty and create optimal conditions for the development of the state and society. After 1989, as a consequence of the concentration of efforts of Polish diplomacy on the implementation of strategic directions of foreign policy, others had a secondary meaning. Polish vital interests were located in the Euro-Atlantic area, in the immediate vicinity, as well as in Central and Eastern Europe, which is why in the first place all strengths and resources were engaged there in order to implement the strategic tasks of foreign policy; the Western Balkans remained on the sidelines, in the territory of former Yugoslavia. Nevertheless, this did not mean the total marginalization of the post- -Yugoslav region, and the perception of the events associated with the disintegration of the Yugoslav federation as not directly, but only indirectly connected with Polish interests.

This article discusses the features of the regulation of civil legal in the states, who inhabited the ancient territory of Kazakhstan. The authors also noted the development of a legal framework for regulation of civil relations in these countries. The nomads who inhabited the territory of present-day Kazakhstan, anciently engage in economic, cultural and political relations with other nations, and in accordance with the provisions of the laws protecting the rights of individuals, and sometimes even the whole country, when there was a threat to its interests, thereby protecting the political system, the legal system of nomadic state. Ancient legal system, to regulate relations in the tribal society, giving rise to the modern civil law.

This article analyses the position of European Parliament (EP) in the question of the lasting from 2010 association process of the South Caucasus countries with the EU. The process is aimed at the establishment of close, extensive political and economic cooperation of the countries with the EU. The author stresses the importance attached by EP to the association negotiations, which according to the Parliament should have a crucial impact on the democratization process in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. It should be underlined that the development of democracy in those EU’s partner countries is of special interest to EP, which in recognition of their geopolitical importance with its numerous resolutions requires making closer relations with them and even providing the countries with a potential European perspective (Georgia). However the more extensive cooperation of the EU with the countries is made dependent by EP on the incorporation by Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia of the values defined as European (democracy, rule of law, protection of human rights etc.). That is why so important for EP are the questions of human rights observance, observance of the rules of democracy and law, including transparency and fairness of the processes in the countries. In case of violating rules constituting foundations for democratic and lawful country’s functioning, EP responds in a determined way and usually takes un unambiguous stand quite often contrasting with more “weighted” opinions of other Union institutions.

On 3rd-5th June, 2013 the 27th Asian-Pacifi c Roundtable was organized in Kuala Lumpur. Th e conference held traditionally in the Malaysian capital provided invited speakers with an occasion for presentations of their views on current problem countries situated in Asia and around the Pacifi c Ocean, as well as the future of relations between them.Th is time, the theme of the Asian-Pacifi c Roundtable was Strategising Change in Asia. USA Ambassador Hill said that reports about the decline of the West seemed to be premature. He proposed not to overestimate successes of Asian countries scored mainly in the fi eld of economy and reminded once again that Europe as well as North America possessed experience in overcoming problems of diff erent nature. Minister Morgulov from Russia tried to convince that Russian politicians are aware that their state possessed too little potential to compete successfully with the United States or China for the regional or global leadership. It seems that Russia has begun to implement some kind of containment strategy aimed at the containment of Russia’s diminishing signifi cance in the world.

The so-called ‘Overton Window of Political Possibilities’ originates from a concept named after Joseph P. Overton and is based on the assumption that any collection of public policies within a policy area can be arranged in order from more free to less free. At any one time, some group of adjacent policies along the freedom spectrum fall into a ‘window of political possibility’. Policies inside the window are politically acceptable, meaning officeholders believe they can support the policies and survive the next election.

Now, unemployment among young generation of the Europeans is one of the most crucial problems in the policy of European Union and of the Member States. The economic crisis caused social exclusion of the significant part of the youth who after graduation augments number of the unemployed. Young generation shows less interest in running own business. Fear of bankruptcy forcibly decreases economic activity. European Union for few years has been undertaking measures aiming at coordination of the systems combating unemployment in the Member States. In the same time, it has been developing programs supporting actions undertaken in various states in the field of creating jobs, vocational trainings and probations addressed to the youth. Lowering unemployment rate among the youth is one of the priorities of the strategy Europe 2020. European politicians think that unemployment may be decreased based on the active “knowledge triangles” in which education of various levels, employers and business institutions participate and act together. Economic analysts however underline that unemployment among the youth may be decreased only when global economic growth occurs.

  Uzbekistan, so as other Central Asian Republics, turned into turbulent times in the beginning of 1990’s. After collapsing USSR, 5 Republics gained its independence. The whole region was very well-known from its religiosity. However, besides the fact that Islamist movements and parties were banned on any political activity and had no right to act as an opposition within the system of Uzbekistan, they have emerged subsequently especiallly in this country.
  The modern history of Uzbekistan is full of radical Islamic political and social movements. From the very beginning of the Republic, Islam Karimov, its first and the only one till now president, rules though and solidly. He was the biggest opponent of any Islamic initiative which showed up and tried to damp it down immediately.
  The aim of this study is to explore all the Islamist parties and movements which have been raised in Uzbekistan between 1990 and 2012. Which of them were and still remaining crucial and have the impact on Uzbek political and social life. The Author is trying to investigate the reasons and circumstances that led Islamist movements to arise and effectively influence on Uzbekistan political arena.

State social policy should take into account the subsidiary nature of assistance from public authorities in relation to the activity of the interested parties in their efforts to find and pursue work. Social assistance supports individuals and families in their efforts to meet the necessary needs and enables them to live in conditions which conform to human dignity. This aim is achieved by preventing insurmountable, difficult life situations when an individual in a crisis situation ceases to be self-sufficient. A classified form of this difficult situation is the case of individuals (families) who are on the verge of social exclusion. For it is the category of “social safety” that accommodates those allowances that are directed at individuals (families) being in a particularly difficult situation, and their function is to prevent the deprivation of needs. The group of social safety benefits singled out in this study constitutes a sub-category of social assistance benefits. Providing social safety is implemented with the use of a directory of services of different specifics, roles and functions.

  The purpose of this article is synthetic analysis of the theories concerning the Security and Defence Policy of the European Union. Author analyses neorealist and neofunctionalist theories and marginally takes into account theory of liberal intergovernmentalism and new institutionalism theory
  Neorealists argued that in order to understand CSDP, one should look at the changing nature of the balance of power and the way in which member states sought profits coming from the negotiation process, which took place between European Union and NATO. Liberal intergovernmetalists, including Andrew Moravcsik, assumed that CSDP is a factor created and driven by the domestic policy of member states, although both NATO and EU institutions influenced this process. Neofunctionalists’ hypothesis assumed that CSDP is a result of the spill-over effect – consequence of the economic integration. They demonstrated, through economic analysis, the impact of economic and monetary union on the process of development of the European security and defence policy. In neoinstitutionalist theory, the emergence of the CSDP is explained by highlighting the impact of international institutions in the foreign policy of the EU and NATO member states.
  Above hypotheses have the objective of finding the causes of the CSDP’s emergence, but are also an attempt to answer the question what is the CSDP. Exitisting theories do not adress the whole issue comprehensively, because they are missing implication of links between supranational, transnational and intergovernmental dimension of CSDP, indicating only the conceptualization of evolution and the role of the various bodies at different levels, particularly in the theories of neoliberalism, neoinstitutionalism and intergovernmental liberalism.

  Parliamentary elections in Italy, which took place on 24 – 25 February 2013 in a very specific political circumstances caused by economical crisis and the internal situation of the Italian State.The fall of the Silvio Berlusconi’s government and replacement it with a technical government did not improve the internal situation of the country, and indeed it has deepened. The withdrawal of support by the Popolo della Libertàto the government of Prime Minister Mario Monti has caused the need for early parliamentary elections.
  On the political scene appeared new political parties, including Movimento Cinque Stelle (Five Stars Movement), which stood out from the traditionally corrupt politics and proposed a new form of campaign, using such means as the Internet, blogs, and tour around the country. The new group has also set up outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti called Scelta Civica (Civic Choice) aided by the smaller parties which were in the Parliament and supported of the European Union austerity policies. In addition, in the election participated the Democratic Party, the Northern League and the Popolo della Libertà (People of Freedom). In total, their participation in the elections reported 215 political parties.
  Elections minimally won leftist Democratic Party with a score of 29.54% (Chamber of Deputies). Surprisingly Popolo dellaLibertà of Silvio Berlusconi received 29.13% (Chamber of Deputies). But the biggest winner was the Five Star Movement, which won 25.55% of the seats, while the biggest loser was the group of Mario Monti, because he received only 10.54% of votes. The result above shows that the creation of the coalition will be very difficult. Political class will have to regain the trust of the society to be able to make the necessary reforms to cure the economical situation of Italy and they should focus on the problems of the country and not the Silvio Berlusconi’s excesses.

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