Due to contemporary political conditions, there is a number of geopolitical entities outside the states that are not internationally recognized as states, due to a number of sociological, legal, historical and political factors. The world’s changes may contribute to the changes of the status of non-state geopolitical units. Authorities from unrecognized states have been making efforts for many years to recognize members of the international community as full, but this is a difficult task. Also, in the societies of dependent territories, the need for change is more and more often considered to be crucial, because it is very important for their future. There is no doubt that contemporary international relations constitute an interesting research field, if only due to the problems of recognition and lack of recognition of the states undertaken in the following considerations.

The article aims to refer to issues related to the understanding of national identity, assuming that the basic reference point for the theoretical analysis is the model of universally recognised European values. Attempting to concretise the concept of national identity and identify determinants affecting its shaping, reference was made to the problem of identifying Poles with European values. Since the problem of national identity was often the object of interest of researchers, especially during the intensification of integration processes in Europe and the impact of such phenomena as globalisation, migration or development of mass culture with a cosmopolitan character, there were observed increased anxieties of various nations encouraging underlining their own “separateness”, and also greater identification with the national community. The author does not treat this phenomenon as disturbing because, according to the latest trends related to the understanding of European identity, it can crystallise as the sum of the identity of European national countries.

The concept of terrorism raises serious disputes and doubts. Difficulty in defining the phenomenon of terrorism is the problem of distinguishing terrorist activities from acts committed by madmen or criminals. The considerations taken in the text concentrate on the searching for the answer to the question: is it possible to construct a commonly accepted definition of terrorism? It was necessary to refer the perception of terrorism and show the scientific approach to terrorism as a phenomenon present in the modern societies.