Legislative inspiration in the Polish legislative process

The institution of legislative initiative is a key element of the legislative process, because it starts legislative works. This concept has been widely discussed in the doctrine of constitutional law and it is a reason why in this article has been paid special attention to the pre-legislative stage. An attempt was made to distinguish the concept of the legislative inspiration from the legislative initiative. Basic features of a legislative initiative have been identified on the basis of constitutional provisions. Entities and ways to inspire the relevant bodies (which are able to bring a draft of the bill to the Sejm) have been determined under the provisions of various laws.

Institution of the Commissioner for Human Rights in Turkmenistan – normative dimension and practice

The article presents the institution of the Commissioner for Human Rights in Turkmenistan, also officially referred to as the Ombudsman of Turkmenistan. The institution of Ombudsman was established in the Constitution of Turkmenistan in a new editing of 14 September 2016, and detailed regulations were included in the Law of 23 November 2016 “On Ombudsman”. Statutory regulations concerning the Ombudsman generally meet the standards of similar acts being in force in democratic countries. However, in the reality of the authoritarian system of Turkmenistan, where fundamental human rights are violated, the new institution is not able to perform the functions for which it was established. The evidence is the Ombudsman’s first report for 2017, which clearly lacks cases relating to human rights of the first generation. As a matter of fact, until democratic changes take place in Turkmenistan, as well as change in the policy of the state authorities in their approach to the protection of individual rights and freedoms, the institution of the Ombudsman will remain a facade institution.

The article covers the issue of anthropocentrically conditioned relativism characterizing the attitude of humans toward animals. The relativity of good and evil in this respect was viewed through the prism of selected legal texts. Linguistic examples were indicated (various parts of speech, expressions, substitutions, collocations) attesting to cases of normative consent to the violation of animal welfare, resulting, as it may be assumed, from the subject approach to them and subordinating human welfare to them. The need to give the issue of animal protection a constitutional rank was also expressed.

The Issue of Supplementing the Ratification Act with Additional Content (art. 89 of the Polish Constitution)

The authors point to arguments of legal interpretation of the Constitution that would justify the possibility of including additional provisions in the statute agreeing to ratify the international agreement (Article 89(1) of the Polish Constitution). A condition for such an extension would be the direct link between the additional content and the implementation of the international agreement and the possibility of adopting additional content in the ordinary legislative procedure. Such provisions could not violate the provisions of the Polish Constitution. The authors also point to non-legal arguments that could justify such action by the legislature in a particular situation. However, they favour the uniqueness of such a solution and its embedding in a specific systemic context.

Normative Guarantees of the Freedom of Association in Political Parties in Kazakhstan

The subject of the study is the problem of freedom of association in political parties in Kazakhstan from the normative perspective. The analysis of national regulations concerning the guarantee of political pluralism and determining the principles for the creation and operation of political parties in Kazakhstan indicates for series transgressions and contradictions with international obligations accepted by them at the area freedom of association. The current law on political parties in this country contains very restrictive provisions. It lacks provisions that would guarantee the access of political parties to the mass media and the free organization of meetings and demonstrations. The law also prohibits the creation of religious, national and ethnic political parties.

Legislative Veto of the President of the Republic of Poland in Political Practice

The aim of the article is to analyze the legislative veto of the President of the Republic of Poland and his relationship with the Sejm. The study indicates the constitutional regulation concerning the presidential veto and the legislative process. The author’s intention was to show that the President’s veto may affect the fate of the act, but also the government’s policy. Such a situation takes place if the President’s veto concerns a bill submitted to the Sejm on the initiative of the Council of Ministers. The institution of the President’s legislative veto was analyzed in terms of theory and its practical functioning in political practice, as well as how the veto is used by a person holding the office of the President. In order to better illustrate the title issue, the activities of the presidents of the Republic of Poland since passed of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland have been briefly presented.

Selected Dimensions of Human Freedom in the Armed Forces of a Democratic State

The article reviews the scientific literature on selected dimensions of human freedom, being the subject of influence of the Polish Armed Forces. The aim of the article is to examine their nature and the manner of their interconnection through institutional and legal mechanisms. The conceptual framework of the article is determined by the use of the concept of consilience, useful in the analysis of the operation of public institutions, using approaches in the field of: politics, security, law, public management, praxeology, human resource management and the functional-interpretative paradigm and moderate constructivism. This article shows the understanding of individual security from the perspective of legal respect for selected dimensions of freedom of a member of the armed forces.

Act of March 11, 2022. on defense of the Homeland is a classic example of an “executive act” for the constitutional regulation of issues related to state security, including military security. The Homeland Defence Act contains the so far missing specification of the normative solutions contained in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of April 2, 1997. They concern in particular the development of regulations concerning the following constitutional issues: the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland, the duty of a Polish citizen to defend the Homeland, the President of the Republic as the supreme commander of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland and the Council of Ministers as the body that ensures the external security of the state and exercises general management in the field of national defense. The main goal of the legislator is to replace the archaic and incompatible with the current needs and tasks of the Polish state and the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland regulations contained in the Act of November 21, 1967. on the general duty to defend the Republic of Poland.

The objective of this article is to point to legal foundations of the crisis management system and to specify principles it is built on, its actors, their competences, mechanisms of cooperation and coordination and principles for financing crisis management tasks. The author places special emphasis on the need to observe human rights and freedoms in the context of actions taken by the state that aim to ensure security and to create an effective crisis management system. The starting point for this discussion is an assumption that security-related problems affect the entire society whereby this society has the right and obligation to participate in efforts to ensure security. At the same time, institutional mechanisms of ensuring security only use participation of institutions by various kinds of interrelations and support. This article shows certain mechanisms of building national security by state bodies and institutions that are responsible for it and competent to respond in crisis situations. How-ever, the exegesis covers participation of the armed forces and legal aspects of employing the Polish Armed Forces in the event of non-military threats.