The article concerns the Polish regulation and practice concerning postal voting. After presenting some background information on postal voting in Poland, such as the circumstances of its introduction in 2011 and changes it has undergone since then, the author focuses on the latest amendments related to postal voting in the presidential election that were ordered for 10 May 2020. The issue has recently become extremely topical as the ruling party wanted to use postal voting for a large scale as a remedy for problems with holding the traditional election due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That idea was followed by the adoption of a specific law which, however, has aroused many controversies and great doubts about its constitutionality, mainly related to the way it was proceeded.

Postal vote during the Covid-19 pandemic. Experiences from the Polish presidential election in 2020

In order to guarantee a higher level of implementation of the principle of universality of elections, many countries introduce additional (other than voting at a polling station) forms of voting in elections. Postal voting is one of the most popular alternative voting methods – complementary to traditional voting. If this form is the only way to participate in elections – there appear doubts as to the low degree of guarantee of the principle of universality. The aim of this article is to analyze Poland’s rather limited experiences with postal voting, with particular emphasis on the organization of elections during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Przedmiotem niniejszego artykułu są wybory parlamentarne w Republice Litewskiej. Podjęto się analizy przebiegu i uwarunkowań instytucjonalnych wyborów, które odbyły się na Litwie w październiku 2020 roku w czasie trwającej pandemii Covid-19. W artykule przeanalizowano takie elementy, jak: wyniki wyborów na Litwie w 2020 r., nowe regulacje wyborcze, a także zaimplementowane nowe techniki głosowania w czasie pandemii. Oprócz tego poruszono także zagadnienia przebiegu kampanii wyborczej, która prowadzona była w warunkach obostrzeń i ograniczeń, które miały zwiększyć bezpieczeństwo wyborców oraz zmniejszyć transmisję koronawirusa SARS-CoV-2.

W niniejszym artykule przedstawiono oddziaływanie pandemii COVID-19 na akulturację i strategie akulturacyjne studentów międzynarodowych w UE, USA i Australii. Pandemia wyostrzyła trudne i ryzykowne aspekty akulturacji studentów, przyśpieszając ją. Izolacja pandemiczna oraz chaos informacyjny spowodowany pandemią utrudniają badanym przejście od fazy szoku kulturowego do fazy zdrowienia/adaptacji. U tych, którzy przed pandemią zbliżali się do tego etapu, można zaobserwować zatrzymanie adaptacji i przyjęcie strategii wymuszonej separacji. Studenci wybierają strategie akulturacyjne - lub przez pandemię są skazani na takie wybory - które nie wiążą się z budowaniem relacji ze społeczeństwem przyjmującym: separację i marginalizację. Integracja pojawia się jedynie w kontekście relacji z innymi studentami międzynarodowymi, mieszkającymi w tym samym miejscu. Równocześnie studenci wyrażają obawy co tego, czy pandemia i jej skutki umożliwią im dalszą integrację ze społeczeństwem przyjmującym. To z kolei rodzi obawę przyszłego odpływu studentów międzynarodowych z UE, USA i Australii, czemu można zapobiec, zmieniając paradygmat myślenia o miejscu studentów międzynarodowych w systemach wspomnianych krajów.

Changes in the quality of academic education in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic

Through the first period of the coronavirus pandemic, and in the need to teach remotely the education system in Poland underwent the accelerated process of implementation of distance learning solutions. The task that universities set themselves in the era of the prevailing pandemic was to maintain the quality of education at the existing level, while ensuring the safety of students and lecturers. The main aim of the study is to illustrate the changes in the academic education process that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article highlights the specific features of distance learning, pointing to its positive and negative sides. To achieve the assumed goal, a query of domestic and foreign literature in the field of the presented research issues was used, as well as an analysis of secondary sources of information, mainly reports on remote education research during the pandemic. The analyzes show that the forced transfer of education to virtual platforms brought some benefits, but also resulted in a number of unfavorable changes. The educational experience so far during the pandemic has shown that the transfer of this form of verification of learning outcomes to cyberspace posed serious problems - not so much for students, but for teachers. Remote education offers hope for matching teaching techniques to the needs of students, as well as for forcing lecturers to improve the quality of their classes, also in terms of content. Distance learning techniques are therefore becoming an integral part of the education process. The issues discussed in the article may constitute a starting point for further in-depth research.

Distance learning of pedagogy students during the COVID-19 pandemic – empirical considerations

The article presents the results of research conducted in 2020 among students of pedagogy of the Institute of Education and Communication Research of the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice (Poland) regarding the evaluation of the quality of remote education introduced in response to the situation caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic and compared them with the results obtained by others native and foreign researchers, which made it possible to specify several conclusions for further work on the application of this form of education in academic education. The main method used in the research was a diagnostic survey with the technique assigned to it. The survey, taking into account the current situation of the university, resulting from distance learning during the pandemic, as well as other information disclosed by the media, consisted of two parts. The first part contained four questions (including those relating to demographic conditions). The second part consisted of questions focused on the research issues set out in this study, the main purpose of which was to learn about the opinions and views of students of pedagogy on compulsory distance education, implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the research have brought a lot of new information, important for the extended analyzes and measurements of remote education conducted in many countries during the lockdown, which will allow, during possible subsequent epidemic threats, to exclude the diagnosed and identified problems that hinder the implementation of remote education of students.

Termination of non-competition agreements during the COVID-19 pandemic – some remarks on the constitutionality of anti-crisis regulations

In 2020, the act commonly referred to as the „shield 4.0” introduced to the Polish legal system a provision which stipulates that during the period of the epidemic threat or epidemic state announced due to COVID-19, a party to a non-competition agreement, in favor of which it has been established, may terminate the agreement within seven days. This right is unilateral, granted only to the employer, who may use it regardless of whether the introduced state of epidemic has actually caused the deterioration of his economic situation or not. The aim of the article is not to assess the rationality or accuracy of the introduced solutions, but only to assess their constitutionality from the point of view of a number of constitutional principles, such as the principle of individual trust in the state, the principle of legal security, the principle of equality of parties to private-law relations, the principle of protection of acquired rights and protection of interests in progress, as well as constitutionally protected rights and freedoms, including freedom of contract or property rights.

Pandemia COVID-19 jest czynnikiem, który może w znaczącym stopniu zmienić sytuację na rynku pracy w Polsce. Obecnie – choć poza sporem pozostaje to, że takie przekształcenia nastąpią – można jednakże mówić raczej o pewnych prognozach co do przewidywanych kierunków i stopnia możliwych modyfikacji w tym zakresie, a finalny ich stan będzie efektem tak czasu trwania swoistego „zawieszenia” działalności szeregu firm, ale i pracowników, jak i efektywności podejmowanych działań – zarówno w sferze medycznej, jak i ekonomicznej, czy społecznej. Przedstawiony artykuł jest jednym z głosów w dyskusji na wskazany temat, toczącej się w przestrzeni publicznej, której celem jest nie tylko wskazanie potencjalnych wektorów rozwoju rynku pracy w trakcie i po trwającej pandemii, ale także zidentyfikowanie jego głównych problemów. Bowiem to właśnie w okresach znacznego pogorszenia koniunktury ujawniają się nieprawidłowości i zaniedbania, które mogą mieć istotny wpływ na rynek pracy i jego uczestników.

The meaning of individual social capital for the emotional well-being of students during the COVID-19 pandemic

The article presents the results of the research conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 among students of the University of Bialystok. The aim of the study was to determine the meaning of individual social capital for the emotional well-being of students. Emotional well-being has been defined as an overall assessment of an individual’s quality of life. Individual social capital is a potential resource of personal and social networks of individuals, which they “use” in various life situations. The study showed an interdependence between the individual social capital of students and their emotional well-being.

Pandemic Challenges Versus Changes in the Law and System Practice Selected European Countries

The article presents the changes that have taken place in the laws and systemic practice of states as a result of counteracting the crisis related to the Covid-19 pandemic. The author, pointing to pandemic challenges as well as actions taken by governments of states belonging to the Council of Europe, pointed out that the peculiar bluntness of changes could be most noticed in the construction and implementation of regulations on states of emergency. On the other hand, the issue of modifying the constitution was approached more carefully.

The article analyses the Italian Government’s response to the recent Covid-19 pandemic and, more precisely, the centralization of decisions and the consequent marginalization of Parliament and Regions. The author assesses the compatibility of the governmental emergency measures with the Italian Constitution (which does not expressly regulate the “state of emergency”) and with the principle of proportionality, in order to verify whether the compression of some fundamental rights and constitutional competencies was justified by the contingent crisis.

Sexuality in relationships during the first wave of COVID-19

Since the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions, such as lockdown and social distance) have had an impact on people’s lives. In this paper, our aim is to analyze how the lockdown (restrictions) in the early stage of the outbreak had an impact on sexuality in intimate relationships among the people in Poland and Japan. Online surveys were conducted in both countries. For this purpose, measurements were performed using the quantitative method with the use of an online questionnaire by Barbara Rothmüller adapted to the requirements of the study. Then comparisons were made between the Polish and Japanese groups. The results were compared to the existing knowledge in the field of the studied phenomenon. The observations made allowed to note several statistically significant differences between the studied groups and the areas in which the subjects from the Japanese and Polish samples did not differ significantly from each other. The observed differences mostly concerned the dynamic of the declared changes in the area of sexual behavior, which turned out to be higher in the Japanese group. The theoretical depiction refers to the differences between eastern and western cultures and the specificity of Poland and Japan, which, being culturally homogenous, function in the era of globalization.

The Constitutionality of Hearing Civil Cases by a Single Judge in the Time of the Covid-19 Pandemic

The subject of this article is the analysis of the constitutionality of the principle of hearing cases by a single judge in civil proceedings. Considerations presented in this study first of all address the issue of whether the principle of hearing cases by a single judge is consistent with minimum requirements set by the legislator of the constitutional system towards the ordinary legislator as regards shaping of the institution of the participation of the social factor in the administration of justice. The second aspect of considerations presented in this article is whether the introduction of the principle of hearing cases by a single judge in civil proceedings may be considered a violation of the right to a fair trial. The analysis of the issue in question is undoubtedly of practical importance due to significant consequences of the potential examination of a civil case in a non-constitutional composition.

The COVID-19 pandemic was a determinant of the operation of state institutions whose activity was focused on ensuring state’s capacity to exercise its functions and at the same time on efforts to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2. These challenges were the same for all European (and non-European) countries, albeit the methods of limiting the transmission of the virus and of minimising its negative consequences varied depending on the strategy adopted. The paper focuses on an analysis of its impact on how parliamentary elections in Serbia are organized and held. The author intentionally omits circumstances that accompany regional (to the parliament of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina) and local elections held in parallel.

The author analyzes the threats to state security and citizens that have arisen in recent years in Poland from the point of view of regulating the prerequisites for a state of emergency, trying to answer the question whether they justify the need to change the existing constitutional solutions. The general conclusion, which arises from these considerations, is that the constitution in this area does not require urgent amendment, while changes to the legislation are desirable.

Alternative voting procedures in Polish and Lithuanian election law

Organizing voting in general elections only in the traditional way (i.e., at the ballot boxes) may make it difficult for more and more voters to participate. This is due to the increasing mobility of society and the fact that citizens are away from home on election day, the aging population and much more difficult access of the old and the sick to polling stations, and – as shown in the years 2020–2021 – unexpected epidemic crises that affect public health, which in turn translates into the election process. This article focuses on alternative voting methods in Poland and Lithuania. The main intention of the authors is to analyze the legal basis and compare the functioning of alternative voting procedures in the electoral systems of both countries, as well as to answer the question about the possibility of introducing new forms of voting that could increase the health safety of voters and ensure the democratic nature of elections in emergency situations. The motivation to take up this topic were: the wprowapresidential elections in Poland in 2020 and the parliamentary elections in Lithuania in 2021, during which not only alternative voting methods were used (e.g., correspondence voting), but also the possibility of implementing completely new solutions – safe in the event of spreading coronavirus pandemic.

Social and economic functioning of women at risk of social exclusion during the Covid-19 pandemic

The main objective of the paper is to analyse the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the situation of Polish women whose common features are uncertain life circumstances. In March and April of this year, we held a qualitative study on this subject (Focus Group Interview). The choice of this research tool allowed for collecting testimonials that resulted in better understanding of problems and attitudes of women who due to their specific life circumstances were likely to endure more severely the consequences of the pandemic. Our analysis of presented input also leads to a conclusion about the dysfunctional nature of social policy.

Selected areas of women’s functioning during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland (compared to European Union countries)

The aim of the research is to analyze research reports, articles and diaries showing how women function during the COVID-19 pandemic. The subject of my analyzes was quantitative and qualitative data showing differences in the functioning of women and men during the pandemic, along with their real and potential consequences from the perspective of gender equality. Although I was mainly interested in the situation of women in the text, the adopted perspective of gender equality required me to often (for comparative purposes) compile data regarding men. The article attempts to answer the question: What changes in particular areas of women’s social functioning have been caused by the COVID-19 pandemic? I decided to use nonreactive research using the method of analyzing existing data. My research shows that the Covid pandemic has caused unfavorable changes from the perspective of gender equality, not only in Poland, but also in other countries belonging to the European Union. Women suffered health consequences, felt exhausted by their duties and returned to stereotypical social roles. Despite the attempts to eliminate gender inequality in European Union countries (including Poland), the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly reversed progress in these activities.