Constitutional requirements of access to civil service in the light of the Polish Constitution of 2nd April 1997

The major interest of the article’s author is the issue of citizenship as a condition limiting access to civil service. Joining the European Union by Poland has resulted in a fact that Poland has been bound by Community regulations, which, because of the principle of primacy of Community law, have a privileged position over national regulations. One of the bedrocks of the internal common market is the free movement of people. The freedom in regulations has been limited with regards to the employment in public administration. However, it must be noted that, according to the well-founded judicature in this area, employment in public administration should be highly defined, that is as execution of public powerand functions aimed at the protection of general interests of the state. In this area, the national legislator has a right to limit the access to employment in public administration to its own citizens only.

Nobility in the republic and its functions. The case of San Marino

On February 13, 1980, the Great and General Council of San Marino adopted a law which finally abolished the titles of nobility. The mere fact of granting nobility by the government of republican state deserves attention. Granting nobility was from the very beginning related to the acquisition of San Marino citizenship. It was granted mainly to gain support among the rural gentry. Later, a honorary citizenship of San Marino became a prestigious award – an expression of gratitude for contribution made to the republic or recognition of outstanding achievements in the arts and culture. It was granted for life or hereditarily. Adopting the Nobility Law of 1931 was probably an attempt to use the institution of nobility to legitimate the new Fascist regime. In 1946 that law was repealed. In 1980 granting of nobility titles was finally prohibited. The article describes the 500 year history of the nobility in San Marino and its regulation, as well as tries to answer the question about the functions of nobility in the republic.

Constitutional right of a Polish citizen for diplomatic and consular protection – a few remarks in the light of art. 36 of the Polish Constitution

The Constitution of the Republic of Poland provides for Polish citizens the right to diplomatic and consular protection, which may be implemented during their stay abroad. The article draws attention to the need to interpret the provision of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, taking into account the regulations of international law. It also formulates the thesis that the current international relations of a political or economic nature have a significant influence on the manner of applying the discussed law. The rest of the article discusses the subject matter of art. 36 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and associates the right to care abroad with the institution of citizenship. The issues of the so-called abandonment of the citizen and the possibility of taking care of people who do not have Polish citizenship. The last part of the study is devoted to the issue of the content of the right to care. Attention was drawn to the indefinability of the concepts of diplomatic care and consular protection. What is also important there is the practical aspect, consisting in the virtually unlimited right of the state to represent its citizen abroad.

Certificate of Polish citizenship and transcription of birth certificates of children whose parents are in same-sex relationships. The analysis of the Supreme Administrative Court case-law

In discussions about the need of transition from informal relationships (especially same-sex relationships) to structures regulated by normative standards, various arguments of axiological and sociological nature clash. The problems affecting children, which are a direct consequence of their parents’ decision to apply institutions not regulated by Polish law, play a significant role in this debate. The analysis of the case-law concerning the issue, indicated in the title of the article, leads to the conclusion that currently the Supreme Administrative Court tries to compensate for the lack of appropriate normative regulations by legal interpretation, which reflects the welfare of the child to the greatest extent, referring to the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and article 72 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. However, the adopted solution does not guarantee that there will be no future problems, which may have a significant negative impact on the legal situation of children whose parents decided to live in same-sex relationships.

Autor wyraża niepokój, wskazując, że paradygmat współistnienia kultur jest coraz częściej podważany mniej lub bardziej świadomymi wypowiedziami i działaniami. Przedstawia je w tekście, analizuje i wartościuje w kontekście działań edukacji międzykulturowej. Podkreśla, że edukacja międzykulturowa zawsze uczestniczyła w procesie przeciwstawiania się dehumanizacji i infrahumanizacji, i podaje przykłady jej działalności, jak też przykłady radykalnych tendencji ograniczających człowieczeństwo Innych oraz degradujących godność i wartość człowieka. W tekście pyta i podejmuje próby odpowiedzi, w jakim zakresie zatraciliśmy wartości humanistyczne i postawę wrażliwości. Analizuje, ilustruje, poszukuje przyczyn i wskazuje na znaczenie tych zjawisk w kontekście funkcji edukacji międzykulturowej. Zwraca uwagę na problem ideologizacji narodu i nowe zadania edukacji międzykulturowej wobec przedstawianych zjawisk i zachodzących procesów społeczno-politycznych.

Współczesne dyskusje o problemach państw europejskich przyjmujących rzesze migrantów stanowią wiodące wątki namysłu nad humanitarnymi rozwiązaniami problemu masowego napływu obywateli różnych narodowości i kultur do Europy, a także współczesnego rozumienia idei wielokulturowości, tolerancji oraz przestrzegania praw człowieka. Celem artykułu jest ukazanie pomijanego dotąd wątku obywatelskiego działania w społecznościach lokalnych na rzecz integracji i inkluzji migrantów i azylantów. Przykład XIX projektu Hull House z Chicago (USA) ukazuje, jak próbowano ten problem rozwiązywać lokalnymi siłami społecznymi w czasach, gdy migrantami byli Europejczycy. Autorki zadają w tym kontekście pytanie, czy i w jakim stopniu w czasach współczesnych rola obywateli jest i powinna być bardziej znacząca w debatach polityki społecznej i międzynarodowych dyskusjach międzypaństwowych. Ukazują szereg współczesnych inicjatyw lokalnych, będących odpowiedzią zwykłych mieszkańców na to, jak widzą możliwości i realizacje działań przyjmujących i włączających nowych przybyszów do społeczeństwa.

Citizen Extradition in the Light of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and Selected International Agreements

The article deals with the issue of extradition of a Polish citizen in the light of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and selected international agreements as well as the nature, scope and significance of citizenship in correlation with a potential extradition. It presents the methods of presenting the issue of citizenship of the person covered by the application for the issuance by the constitutional norms of selected states and regulating the extradition turnover of representative international agreements. The aim of the article is to analyze binding norms in the scope of the indicated issues, both those which qualify citizenship as an obligatory obstacle to extradition and those which give it an optional character. As part of the work, the research methods traditionally used in legal sciences were used, namely the formal-dogmatic metod, the comparative metod and the historical-legal metod.

Gloss to the Decision of the Supreme Administrative Court of February 16, 2022, file ref. no. II OSK 128/19

In the commented order, the Supreme Administrative Court held that the state is obliged to grant Polish citizenship to a person whose parents are of the same sex, which results from the birth certificate submitted by them, and that the implementation of this obligation does not threaten the public order of the Republic of Poland. The use of the public order clause in such a case is not legally justified and constitutes a form of discrimination against the child on the basis of the content of international instruments.

New citizenship and patriotism at the cultural frontier: a cross-cultural context

The cultural diversification of states deconstructs the model of a homogenous national community, yet it requires the maintenance of the stability of democratic institutions in a situation where culturally different citizens are increasingly resistant to forced assimilation and subjugation. A multicultural state must actively protect the cultural identities of its citizens. Some dilemmas arise in the understanding of citizenship and patriotism, for which state multiculturalism and interculturalism at the level of an individual citizen become contextual references. Therefore, the subject of this article is the different types of new citizenship and patriotism, with model approaches to them. The author exposes multiculturalism, revealing the new citizenship and intercultural connotations of patriotism. She looks at these categories from a cultural borderland perspective. With reference to the pillars of coexistence identified on the basis of empirical research in this borderland, the author conceptualizes intercultural citizenship and patriotism. She also points to their multidimensional nature with an intercultural connotation. The author sees them as integrating factors of a culturally diverse society. Their national-cultural, identity, and community provenance gives an intercultural character to the integration process. Integration conceived in this way fosters the evolution of the nation-state into a heterogeneous national community operating within its borders.