Many suggestions have been presented for solving the Israeli – Palestinian dispute. As for now, none of those suggestions, presented during more than thirty years of negotiations, have been accepted by both sides. As for this, some new ideas have to be entered into the arena. Here some new, “out of the box”, geographical proposals are presented, based on actual events and geographical realities which exist in other areas. These proposals could be seen as un-human or politically wrong suggestions but as all other proposals were rejected, the decision makers of both sides, as well as the leaders of the world, can use the presented suggestion as a base for future negotiations.

The study is a presentation - in an essayistic and exemplary approach - of the meandering history of multiculturalism and multinationalism in Poland. This history until 1918 is described in two dimensions - firstly, a rather peculiar and in fact harmful multiculturalism of rulers’ world (mostly foreign election kings and later aggressors) and, secondly, the developing, increasingly richer and introducing important values, multiculturalism of people. This is followed by an outline of the changes after 1918 (mostly the crisis of the multinational state), as well as after 1945 and 1989 - the birth of a national state in two different political systems. The recent years are the times of drifting apart from a pro-European (open to multiculturalism) state in favour of a state and a substantial part of the society which is increasingly less democratic and contests European and global problems. This constitutes the background for the discussed issues of multicultural education. What has been also considered is the (developed in Poland) concept and practice of intercultural education. Intercultural education seems to enhance in the best way the familiarization with and understanding of Others and, in consequence, the shaping of positive relations among people.

The dynamic character of changes we are observing in the contemporary world makes us ponder on the condition of the state – one of the most firmly established institutions, which has been a central unit in the international system so far. We got used to the unquestionably dominant role of the state as the main architect and arbitrator in both internal affairs and international relations. The superior position of the state has been undermined neither by World Wars nor the global economic crisis. At present, the world order based on the system of national states, commonly known as the Westphalian system, seems to be becoming a thing of the past due to huge international transformations, the most important of which is globalization. The multi-level character of changes affects basic spheres of international cooperation and is exerting an increasing influence upon the state, which is gradually losing its omnipotent position. The article presents how the abovementioned processes of change create new conditions of the functioning of the state and erode the foundations of its national identity: territoriality of state authority, sovereignty of the country and its generally secular character. All of them have been quite difficult to implement over the past twenty five years. As a result, the postmodern state is becoming less and less autonomous in its operations and is vulnerable to difficulties it encounters in the conditions of a turbulent environment and uncertain future. Not only the complexity of the international system, but also the fragmentation of the national society in the times of growing threats lead to the instability of traditional support usually offered to the state by a more homogenous national background. In these circumstances, the issue of the future of the national state becomes a subject of scientific research.

Znaczenie Kaukazu Północnego dla bezpieczeństwa Federacji Rosyjskiej

The article is dedicated to the dilemmas of post-imperial statehood in the context of Russian Federation security, with the particular emphasis on the fundamental alternative: to maintain the polyethnic (quasi-imperial) model of state or to build a nation state. The Author defines the concept of „empire” from the point of view of three determinants: the concentric structure based on center-periphery dichotomy, orientation towards the external mission and imperial idea. From this point of view, Russia is an imperial state (contrary to Tsarist Empire and USSR), neither is a typical nation state. The Author tries to prove that The author tries to demonstrate that the abandonment of federal, multinational state model would be tantamount to the loss of strategically important North Caucasus, which would deprive it of a regional power status. The study contains a multi-faceted exploration of the North Caucasus (which is a highly turbulent region) as a key territory for the global dimension of geostrategy. The Author analyzes potential threats to North Caucasian security and actions taken by Moscow in order to prevent them. He pays attention to the growing popularity of slogans about the necessity of separation of Caucasus and Russia. In his opinion, Caspian-Black Sea Region would become a zone of global destabilization, posing a threat to the world peace.