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. 

Times are changing. The second half of the 19th century and the following years stood for rapid development of various tools based on electricity. Expansion of telecommunication and progress of electronic media constitute important elements of this period. It may be said, we now live in the Internet era, and there is a perception that anyone who does not jump on the technology bandwagon is going to be left far behind. The growth of online interactions can be observed by the inconceivable increase in the number of people with home PC and Internet access.

On one hand, Israel is a leader in the field of high-tech industry, but on the other, it remains a country focused on traditions. In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) is one of the most common treatments among many possibilities which were created in the field of assisted reproductive technology (ART). Indeed, the number of Jewish women as intensive consumers of IVF has increased in the past few years. Due to the great importance of motherhood and raising families in Jewish tradition, Israel strongly supports health care procedures assisting Jewish adults in becoming parents. There is no doubt that for Jews life is the most precious value in its religious and political meaning, however, they are quite flexible in accommodating modern technologies in order to serve life. The State has historically focused on increasing birthrates and nowadays a woman’s biological clock is an important element not only in the context of matrilineal descent and for the answer to the question of Jews identity but it is also intervening as a part of the reproductive industry.

Development and popularization of new communication technologies generate new dimensions of opportunities and threats associated with learning and using technologies as well as with their sociocultural consequences. The article presents four dimensions of social perception of these threats and opportunities: creativity, representative potential, psychological attitude, privacy and control. They were distinguished on the basis of two research projects using qualitative research techniques. Particular attention was dedicated to generational usage of technology. In this way, the paper may be the basis for distinguishing the dimensions of technological competencies.

The domination of new technologies in the lives of children and the youth leads to its consideration in the context of threats and a potential negative influence on adolescents’ functioning. Considering various threats occurring in the virtual space, first of all it is indicated that the Internet, due to apparent anonymity, is often the space of mutual aggression, mocking and attempts to discredit other net users. The presented study refers to the analysis of behaviours being a demonstration of cyberbullying. The research was conducted in conformity with the quantity-quality paradigm. It involved a method of diagnostic survey using the technique of a questionnaire and documents analysis. As the conducted study showed, cyberbullying is a phenomenon which often occurs among contemporary teenagers. The examined persons were most often victims or witnesses of verbal aggression in the net.

Contemporary time, interpreted by the prism of security, is no longer dominated by easy to describe inter-state conflicts or regional threats. Experts every now and then define new types of threats such as cybercrime, cyberterrorism or cyberwar. The intense and multi-level uncertainty affects the understanding of the present and the predicted future, and thus the search for security by all of us. The answer depends in part on whether we are able to understand contemporary security environment. These issues are, to my mind, independent of the place in which we are. Using tools for diagnosing and monitoring security remains an open question. At the moment we are searching for a solution to this problem by means of modern technologies. The paper stresses the importance and application of e.g. Internet technology and global telecommunication. Interpersonal relations are being replaced with technological solutions. Nowadays, a phone or a computer connected to the web is sufficient to make contact with another person or check what information official sources are bringing us today. Actions for security as a result of incorrect reception of a message may be associated with erroneous perception of the content and propaganda. As a result, the recipient is consciously manipulated. New technologies take the form of nonconventional, organized activities for security. Any number of people can cooperate through the web for security management without actual superior authority. Members of such groups, established ad hoc, may use their knowledge to express objections or dissatisfaction. The paper also presents another aspect of using technology. According to the author, there are situations in which technologies acting for reinforcing security often cause objection, motivated by restricting civil freedoms and by the threat of an attack on a free and open society.

Tekst dotyczy możliwości komunikacji międzykulturowej, jakie dają współczesne media cyfrowe. Analizuje możliwości jej rozwoju na przykładzie problemu masowej migracji do Europy. Dotyczy ona krajów, które są często dużo słabiej ekonomicznie rozwinięte niż kraje Europy czy Ameryki. Jak pokazują jednak dane dotyczące rozwoju technologii w tych krajach czy jej wykorzystania (np. w masowych ruchach społecznych z przełomu pierwszej i drugiej dekady XXI w.), obywatele tych krajów nie są „cyfrowymi analfabetami”. Podobnie jest z migrantami przybywającymi z tych krajów. Dlatego media cyfrowe, a szczególnie takie narzędzia jak smartfony, mogą być wykorzystane w międzykulturowym dialogu oraz pomocy migrantom na różnych etapach ich migracyjnej wędrówki. Dotyczy to zwłaszcza etapu podejmowania decyzji, wędrówki do wybranego kraju czy aklimatyzacji w kraju docelowym. Powstało szereg takich pomocy (przede wszystkim aplikacji na smartfony), które jednak nie dotyczą w równym stopniu wszystkich trzech etapów życia migranta.

This article aims to analyze the use of new technologies (ICT) in the election process in Lithuania, understood as election procedures and electronic voting. While ICT is widely used in the registration of voters, calculating voting results, or announcing election results, so far, the concept of electronic voting in Lithuania raises many concerns. However, it is anticipated that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, new regulations may be adopted, and electronic voting will contribute to the modernization of election procedures and help maintain sanitary requirements in the current crisis. Based on the analysis of legal acts, reports of international organizations, and the results of academic research, the author proves that new technologies significantly affect the operation of the broadly understood electoral apparatus. They can also increase electoral accessibility and participation, improve electoral processes in the context of new challenges, and stimulate the international visibility of the state.

The world is constantly changing under the influence of new technologies. Artificial intelligence systems are currently used in many areas of human activity. Such systems are increasingly assigned the tasks of collecting and analysing personal data. The areas successfully using AI include transport, medicine, trade, marketing, and others. The number of these areas increases proportionally with the advancement of technology. We can process vast amounts of data and analyse it using IA. It is, of course, big data that sits at the heart of AI. As computing systems generally have grown in power and capacity, data consumption has grown exponentially.

As a long-term researcher and active participant in the rescue and humanitarian international aid coordination action, the author undertakes the analysis of changes that have occurred since the inception of the legal basis and international crisis coordination structures, focusing on the increasing role of the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism. The material contains not only the analysis of normative documents and a comprehensive description of the pillars of European civil protection but also practical examples of the European mechanism’s increasing involvement in actions outside the Union over two decades and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article contains examples of material and hardware-based humanitarian aid implemented for Ukraine and a comprehensive systemic approach to Polish civil protection represented by the State Fire Service in preparation for Ukrainian representatives to be familiar with the European Civil Protection mechanism. Numerous examples of activating the mechanism from the Polish perspective are shown both from the perspective of the aid recipient (fire in Biebrza National Park in 2020) and the donor (Lebanon blast in 2020, earthquake in Nepal 2015, forest fires in France 2022 or support to Ukraine).

This study comprises an analysis of the school education system in the context of using modern technologies. Its main goal is to present the benefits and limitations associated with the implementation of modern technologies in the school environment. Two fundamental questions will be asked: 1) What are the effects of using new technologies in education, including intercultural education? 2) Can modern technologies pave the way for implementing the ideal of education as an activity aimed primarily at shaping an individual capable of effective and creative adaptation to the social reality in which otherness, including cultural otherness, is common? The authors indicate the types of implemented technologies and assess their impact on adapting students to the extracurricular reality. Referring to the source data and postulates of the contemporary pedagogical and sociological thought, the authors highlight the topicality of the message requiring from the school the activation and development of students’ competencies that will be effectively and creatively implemented in their future professional and social life. It should also be noted that education takes place in cyberspace as well, especially when it is related to the use of modern technologies, which is why great importance should be drawn to cybersecurity.