The exclusive interview with Mr Lech Wałęsa, the legendary leader of “Solidarity” Trade Union, the Noble Peace Prize Laureate in 1983 and the President of Poland from 1990 to 1995, on the state of democracy in Poland and Europe, presents Mr Wałęsa’s perspective on challenges that contemporary political leaders have to face. It discusses four major areas: a historical consideration of Poland’s post-communist transformation, a today’s perspective on democracy in Poland, an evaluation of country’s role in united Europe and a discussion of processes that threaten democracy in Poland and Europe. In the interview, Mr Wałęsa shares his hopes and fears, and he presents main ideas for the new political times. His assessments do not focus only on the today’s state of democracy, but he also tries to consider how the democracy may look like in the future. As a result, the Polish Political Science Yearbook publishes a unique conversation with the legend of the struggle against Communist dictatorships in Europe that shows Mr Wałęsa’s personal remarks on the democracy, the globalised World and modern technologies. 

After a few decades of transformation China is becoming a major contender for the number two position in the world. Is it really possible? Will China balance the power of the United States? Today the United States supremacy is so great that it seems to be undeniable. The situation was similar at the end of the twentieth century when U.S. domination was obvious and any other reality was hard to imagine. Recently though, more and more often America’s political decisions are criticised. A few decades ago, in Beijing a new idea was developed. The essence of that idea was to transform the People’s Republic of China into a superpower. Since China was very vast and densely populated, but mostly a poor and backward country, it was a very daring vision. Years of consistent and painful reforms changed the way the world is looking at China, even though some of them were not accepted by international opinion.

Together with the acceleration of globalization processes, power in international relations has moved from the political and military space to the economic one. Today, true power means ability and capacity to integrate with the global economy. Therefore, economic diplomacy, which is not a new phenomenon, became one of the most important elements of foreign policy of all countries. The aim of the article is to present the importance of economic diplomacy in foreign policy in the era of globalization with a particular emphasis on the economic activity of China.