The aim of the article is to present the results of the research conducted by author in Poland and Russia last years, as well as to analyse the ways for improvement the situation in civil society in these countries. The author postulates the need of new understanding of the role of non–governmental organizations in times of crises, which happened in Europe and in the world in recent years (the world financial crisis, migration crisis, political crises in Poland and Russia, the crisis of European integration, etc.). Presented in this article research demonstrates, that mass–media, governments and ordinary people in Poland and Russia see the role of non–governmental organisations primarily in the social problems solving. Moreover, different other studies analysed in the article demonstrate the weakness of non–governmental sector and civil society in these countries. Author concludes that non–governmental organizations have to work in coalitions, because this way they can receive support from other institutions in the network and promote their activities on a larger scale. Networking, federations and coalitions of non–governmental organizations are the significant force in society. It is very important especially in a context of social development of Poland and Russia and overcoming the consequences of crises. 

Human rights are “basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled”. Proponents of the concept usually assert that all humans are endowed with certain entitlements merely by reason of being human. Human rights are thus conceived in a universalist and egalitarian fashion. Such entitlements can exist as shared norms of actual human moralities, as justifi ed moral norms or natural rights supported by strong reasons, or as legal rights either at a national level or within international law. However, there is no consensus as to the precise nature of what in particular should or should not be regarded as a human right in any of the preceding senses, and the abstract concept of human rights has been a subject of intense philosophical debate and criticism. As the new millennium emerges, trends in global human rights are changing. Human rights issues are crossing sovereign boundaries and are no longer just issues of the state. As more and more non-governmental organizations are growing, and the Internet expands and facilitates a quicker spread of information, there are more and more people raising concerns about human rights related issues. Some of these come from the increasingly larger and infl uential commercial sector including large, multinational companies, while the others are raised by ordinary people, being parts of diff erent networks. The aim of this article is to examine the way social networks influence and change the methods of raising the awareness concerning human rights on one hand, but, on the other hand, to analyse how new media contribute to deepening global inequalities.

A characteristic feature of a modern state is dichotomy of its development. On one hand, it is striving a!er unification and universality of social, political and economic solutions aiming to integrate the world, but on the other, there is a growth of tendencies disintegrating a country, development of localness, aspiring to give local communities high level of independence and self-deciding powers, that is: the reverse of massive society. The phenomena connected with unification and aspirations for preserving local identity are complementary and complement one another. The globalization of world-wide system does not mean its inner homogeneity. The world is perceived as an internally diverse reality.

This essay aims at taking reflection on the civil society. The author tries to prove the validity of the thesis that civil society is a precondition for stable development of democracy. For this purpose, author invokes the Polish and foreign studies and sources of public opinion surveys, referring mainly to the example of Poland. Atthe beginning terms such as civil society and stable democracy are explained. Then the arguments are given and critical private opinions of the author. They confirm this thesis. There is no shortage of the scientific data and references to personal experiences of the author, which is professionally associated with many non-governmental organizations for several years. This texts aim is to deepen the theme of the development of civil society and encourage the substantive discussion of the condition of contemporary democracy in Poland.

In my article I suggest two models of social participation which can positively influence on the process of building the civil society in Ukraine, especially in the area of local government. I want to consider two types of the participatory budgeting, first comes from Porto Allegre in Brazil and the second one from Lodz in Poland. The first model, 27 years old, is the example of representative democracy and is characterized by hierarchical structure. On the other hand, we have different model which is the representative of participatory democracy without any gradation. In this area of research I’m going to choice the best proposition which fit in the process of political transition on Ukraine.

The article presents the entitled fields in the framework of their mutual influence. The notion of the public sphere is valuable for understanding the role that civil society plays in transitional justice processes. However transitional justice often reduces the idea of civil society to NGOs and ignores the social movements and civic engagement in the public realm that can be perceived as integral to the creation of new cases for understanding justice in transition. This fact results in the lack of perception of the civil society place in transitional justice processes. Thus the presented paper is based on hermeneutics, critical discourse analysis and dialogue between various theoretical approaches.

One of the most crucial principles of democratic regime is the concept of civil society. The implications of such concept are also visible within the area of labour law as the right to strike has been perceived as its core element. The primary purpose of the presented article is to consider whether the application of the doctrine of civil society automatically disables for a recognition of lockout for the employers’ organizations within the Polish legal system as well as international standards. The presented paper will mainly rely upon the legal dogmatic analysis of the provisions of Polish Constitution from 1997 and international regulations. The author will also use the elements of the comparative analysis between Polish standards amd norms enacted by the Council of Europe and the European Union. The innovative approach of the paper is the complex analysis of the Polish solutions from the intenational perspective in terms of equality between labour and the capital.

An integral part of social discourse is discussions concerning the issue of how to motivate citizens to actively build civil society. Scholars search for the factors that develop and promote pro-civic attitudes. The discussions mostly refer to young citizens, as they are the ones that determine the direction of changes. This article presents a study following the trend of searching for psychological determinants of young people’s civic engagement. The researchers found that the determinants include two motivational variables: the sense of self-efficacy, and dispositional optimism. They also diagnosed the structure of values of individuals with different levels of civic engagement.

In recent years, nation branding attracts interest of scholars and academic environment. In the era of globalisation, the need to care for propoer image and perception of a state in international environment becomes even more apparent. Soft power resources are a vital element in creating a strong nation brand. The aim of the article is to verify hipothesis stating that civil society can be perceived as a soft power resource used in building the brand. Therefore, the proposed research is conducted by analysing most significant branding rankings with respect to the positions reached by Sweden, used as a model state with strong civil society.

Artykuł jest analizą roli budżetu partycypacyjnego w procesie partycypacji społecznej. Przedstawione trzy modele jego funkcjonowania prezentują różny ich wpływ na jakość kapitału społecznego, czyli cechy społeczeństwa objawiające się wysokim poziomem zaufania, współpracy oraz więzi społecznych między obywatelami. W celu przeprowadzenia analizy zostanie zastosowana koncepcja kapitału społecznego i wspólnot obywatelskich Roberta Putnama.

Uznaje się, że polityka jest częścią życia społecznego, dlatego jest również częścią kultury. W drugiej połowie XX w. kultura polityczna stała się obiektem analiz politologów w świecie oraz w Polsce. W związku z tym zaczęto postrzegać kulturę polityczną, jako komponent kultury w dosłownym znaczeniu przez pryzmat ogółu materialnych i niematerialnych wytworów życia społecznego. Stało się to asumptem do rozszerzenia się definicji kultury politycznej o takie składniki, jak instytucje polityczne oraz system socjalizacji oraz edukacji politycznej. Celem tego było wzmocnienie demokratycznego systemu politycznego poprzez przesunięcie z elementów indywidualnych na ogólnospołeczne.

It can be striking for us today that when so little divides us there is still so much that separates us from each other. We observe the fragility of social cohesion and witness the degradation of social capital even though some say that our religious belief as well as material conditions or differences in political rights no longer divide us. In the light of critical observations, one can say that there is a need to reconcile people with each other, to establish bonds between us, that we need to establish civil society. When trying to establish a well-functioning civil society we have to ask ourselves a few crucial questions. These questions include: How can Western individualism be combined with the values of community and social solidarity? What are the necessary conditions for freedom and solidarity among people? To answer these questions it is worth reaching the philosophical thought of John Dewey and Roberto Unger. In his text Roberto Unger points out that today’s social and political order is not something solid and stable. Even our democratic order that I was referring to in this paper faces challenges that may undermine its base. Without the right preparation to face these challenges-through responsible and critical public participation and deliberation-it is possible that instead of us having some sort of possibility of steering the growth of our societies and having an impact on political and economic evolution, the evolving situations will steer us. If this happens, we will be left behind, being unable to grasp and handle the different new situations.

Civil disobedience is the attitude which in the 20th century proved to be the only effective form of resistance to authoritarian regimes. So it was in the case of the events of August ’91 when the Soviet society objected to the activities of the State Committee on the State of Emergency. It would not have been possible without the reform programme known as perestroika initiated by the last USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Thanks to perestroika and the accompanying glasnost transparency of socio­political life the previously apathetic and alienated Soviet society felt responsible for their own life and for the fate of the State. By opposing the rebels through passive resistance, the citizens proved to the leaders of their own country, to the world, and above all, to themselves that they were aware of their rights and responsibilities. The process of socio­political socialization stimulated the development of civil society in the Soviet Union.

The article analyses the Polish political thought after 1989 concerning the local self-government. Attention was drawn to various currents of the Polish political thought, such as liberalism, conservatism, the teaching of the Church, social democracy or nationalism. Particular attention was paid to the role of the self-government in building civil society and to the forms of citizen participation. According to the main hypothesis, the activity of the local self-government is generally accepted. The self-government is an important element of political projects and is considered an important element of civil security and plays an important role in building the civil society. The thought of Charles Taylor “the atrophy of the self-government constitutes a danger for the stability of the liberal society and in the consequence for the freedom protected by it” suited undoubtedly the liberals and the representatives of other political trends

Niniejszy artykuł traktuje na temat społeczeństwa obywatelskiego jako potencjalnego instrumentu mogącego wpłynąć na podniesienie jakości demokratycznego systemu politycznego. Ukazanie źródeł sfery obywatelskiej oraz wskazanie na czynniki ją sankcjonujące, poprzez wykorzystanie koncepcji kapitału społecznego, umożliwia pogłębioną analizę relacji społecznych w wymiarze społecznym, jak i politycznym. W tym celu należy odwołać się do szerokiego dorobku badaczy z zakresu nauk społecznych, których efektem będzie modelowa analiza zjawiska tworzenia się społeczeństwa obywatelskiego oraz jego potencjalnych efektów dla całego systemu politycznego.

The paper presents the results of analysis of the status of organizational and legal mechanism of public administration of electronic consultations (e-consultations) as well as scientific and theoretical substantiation of recommendations to Ukrainian authorities on their improvement. The study of national and international laws in regard to functioning of the mechanism of e-consultations has been conducted to determine positive and negative factors influencing its application. Ways to improve specified mechanism regarding the structure of units of central (regional, local) executive bodies and local governments, legal normative acts concerning e-consultations and participation of public councils in the process of e-consultations have been offered. The main shortcomings of the organizational and legal mechanism of public administration of national e-consultations have been identified, including: low 36 Yanis Yansons quality of e-consultations; unwillingness of the subjects of power to allow the civil society to have a real impact on state affairs, lack of responsibility for ignoring the law in regard to organization and conduct of e-consultations, distrust of the authorities and “digital inequality” etc. Based on the analysis of international experience in implementing the tool of e-consultations, ways to improve the procedure for its implementation in Ukraine, changes to national laws and recommendations to central (regional, local) executive bodies and local governments, public councils and the civil society to improve the organizational and legal mechanism managing tool of econsultations implementation, operation and development.

The scientific article is devoted to the study of the content of the legal provision of the constitutional right to peaceful assemblies in Ukraine as a means of ensuring the observance of citizens’ rights. Types of liability for violation of the order of organization and holding of meetings and rallies are considered. The study emphasizes the importance of enforcement of court decisions that have entered into force. The changes taking place in Ukrainian society arouse high activity and the desire of people to take a direct part in solving problems that concern their common interests, including the use of the right to peaceful assembly. However, despite the importance of this type of political rights, the constitutional provisions on freedom of assembly, assembly, street demonstrations and demonstrations, which are still not properly specified in the current legislation, are often limited or even violated. Based on the international experience of regulating the right to peaceful assembly, ways to increase the effectiveness of the mechanism of administrative and legal support of the right to peaceful assembly are proposed, which are to create a domestic mechanism to monitor compliance with international standards of human rights and freedoms. human being, if this or that problem is not solved at the national level. It is proved that even a rather small range of current norms enshrined in legislative acts of various levels, which guarantee the right to peaceful assembly, often show some inconsistency in the content of the outlined rights, especially from the standpoint of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. the subject is called a citizen, and civil law - an individual. The necessity of introduction of international standards of ensuring the right to peaceful assembly, first of all the standards of the European community, which is connected with the European integration aspirations of Ukraine, is proved. After all, the implementation of European standards and their observance by the subjects of public administration is one of the preconditions for Ukraine’s integration into the European legal space. Since the right to freedom of peaceful assembly cannot be exercised in the absence of corresponding responsibilities imposed on the state by its authorized bodies, the analysis of the Constitution and laws of Ukraine allowed to separate such bodies into the category of subjects of power to ensure the right to peaceful assembly. In order to improve the situation in the studied area, it is advisable to review the current legislation, which ensures the implementation of court decisions, to continue reforming public authorities for the effective operation of the judiciary and the protection of citizens’ rights.

The Territorial Self-Government and the Division of State Powers under the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 1997

Territorial self-government is an institution deeply entrenched in the fabric of civil society. As a result, the state should guarantee that institution’s right to evolve naturally, following the development of and attainment of successive maturity stages by Polish civil society. Consequently, according to the constitution-maker’s intentions, the constitutional regime of territorial self-government should not be an inhibitive factor for the natural processes accompanying the civil society’s development within self-governing communities, but it should allow for the ossification of such processes in territorial self-government laws. In this paper, the possibility of implementing the above assumption and the powers of territorial self-government are considered through the prism of the principles of the division of state powers and decentralization of public authorities. The considerations lead to the conclusion that there are systemic foundations for the separation of self-government authority within the vertical division of state power.

The paper aims to examine the political activity of young Georgians. The research statement of this paper is that the negative attitudes of young people toward social and political life can be attributed to political processes that do not take into account the interests of young people. In addition, the young generation is mostly politically active in the form of protests. To analyze this scientific objective, we have used several research methods based partly on secondary and primary sources, i.e., expert interviews were conducted online with Georgian researchers from Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University and Ilia State University. The paper is part of a series of papers on the opinions of the young generation of Georgians about democracy and democratization. The study is essential for analyzing the perception of the mentioned concepts among the generations in Georgia.

In the context of democratic discourse, civil society is given a decisive role in the formation of power and influence on power. However, between the authorities (state and self-governing) and public organizations, as representatives of the interests of civil society, mostly subject-object relations are established, where the subject is the government. The article is devoted to finding an answer to the question: can the model of subject-subject relations between the government and civil society, where both social institutions are equal participants in the political process, have practical application? Analysis of social changes in Western Europe and Ukraine gives grounds to support the point of view of those scholars who consider civil society the basis of the state, a factor that gives a specific character to each state formation, regardless of the generality of democratic processes. At the same time, attention is drawn to the heterogeneity of civil society, which is a barrier to its consolidation and strengthening of subjectivity. There is a noticeable increase in competition between the state and civil society in terms of influencing society, as well as the manipulation of public movements by public authorities to achieve political goals. However, a fairly high level of public confidence in public organizations and the potential for their advocacy allow the use of public influence to activate the population and strengthen the position of civil society in relations with the authorities.