The article presents the problem area of animation as a pedagogical method of working in the environment which is differentiated as regards its social, cultural and regional aspects. The environmental diagnosis is meant to identify local capitals which can offer support for a group of animators participating in the socio-cultural project, whose goal was activation of the examined local community. The author shows the role of the institution of culture functioning in the region of cultural and ethnic frontier in the social reception.

The text presents an outline of the history of local government development in Poland over the last hundred years, with particular emphasis on the last three decades. Its importance was discussed in the process of decentralization and democratization of the broadly understood political system. It was emphasized that it was this segment that was the first to be subjected to democratic changes and that it is in this area, both objectively and in the opinion of the public, that one can speak about the greatest success in rebuilding the social and political system of Poland. The extremely important role of self-government in the socio-economic development of the state was also pointed out, which is also connected with the fact that in no other country local governments play such a significant role in using EU structural funds. The role of local self-government as a school of democracy was also presented, showing that it is increasingly a kind of a center for the cadres of central power elites. Particular emphasis was placed on the fact that it is at this level that the instruments of direct democracy are used to the greatest extent, which favors democratic education in increasing social subjectivity. . It was also pointed out that after the parliamentary elections in 2015, won by the "Prawica Razem" coalition, the central authorities are taking steps to strengthen their position in relation to the local government.

Tożsamość religijna w społeczeństwach Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej ulega aktualnie silnym przemianom związanym zarówno z konsekwencjami transformacji systemowej, zmianami kulturowymi, jak i przemianami wewnątrz Kościołów. W nowych demokratycznych warunkach w państwach takich jak Polska, Słowacja i Ukraina tożsamość religijna staje się także jedną z tożsamości zbiorowych manifestowanych w sferze publicznej i istotnych nie tylko w kontekście dyskursu publicznego, ale także w kontekstach lokalnych, tj. tożsamości lokalnej i tożsamości miejsca. Autorka przedstawia w artykule refleksje dotyczące znaczeń religijnej tożsamości zbiorowej w lokalnej przestrzeni publicznej. Są to spostrzeżenia wyłaniające się z prowadzonych badań jakościowych. Zarysowują się tutaj trzy istotne konteksty znaczeń tożsamości religijnej w lokalnej przestrzeni życia publicznego: 1) specyfika roli religijności i religii w życiu publicznym w tej części Europy, 2) kulturowe i instytucjonalne znaczenia identyfikacji religijnej w odniesieniu do tożsamości lokalnej i tożsamości miejsca, 3) problematyka narracji wokół wieloreligijnego dziedzictwa sakralnego w społecznościach lokalnych, która wprowadza nowy sposób percepcji religijnej tożsamości jako kulturowego zasobu związanego z miejscem i pamięcią.

Dual Tenure of Executive in Municipalities – Restriction of Civil Rights or Reduction of Pathological Phenomena?

The phenomenon of multiterm mayors has become widespread in Poland, especially after introducing the direct election of the executive in municipalities in 2002. The direct election has given the mayors the dominant position in local politics. The way to limit it has seemed to be the limitation of number of terms in office of the municipal executive bodies to two. In the presented paper the arguments of opponents and supporters of this solution were analyzed. The analysis was made from the perspective of two levels: institutional- legal and socio-political. The aim of the analysis is to show the positives and negatives of the implemented change and the projected effects. The legal basis, its compliance with the constitution and the implications for the active and passive suffrage were analyzed. Also the results for local political systems and for local communities were examined, and it was confronted with the issue of political culture.

Subjects of Municipal Legal Policy as a Type of Legal Policy of the State

The article is devoted to the study of the issue of subjects of municipal legal policy. The author made a thorough analysis of approaches to the definition of legal policy, municipal legal policy and gives his own vision on this issue, based on scientific literature and the provisions of Ukrainian and foreign legislation. The article considers two approaches (activity and institutional) to the understanding of the concept of «legal policy» in the scientific literature and analyzes the approaches to the definition of «legal policy». Thus, the paper presents the scientific developments of the representatives of the activity approach, in which the main subject of legal policy is the state bodies, it is concluded that such an approach narrows the understanding of the subjects of legal policy. The opinions of the representatives of the institutional approach are studied and it is noted that their understanding of legal policy without the allocation of subjects is quite controversial. The paper singles out the scientific approach, according to which the subjects are understood as state and municipal bodies, it is said that such an approach also narrows the understanding of the subjects. The author concludes that the subjects of legal policy can include government agencies and non-governmental organizations (political parties, NGOs, citizens, the scientific community). Regarding the definition of subjects of municipal legal policy, the author analyzes the approach to which the subjects are public authorities, local governments and the local community. It is noted that this definition of subjects in terms of separate allocation of the local community is fully consistent with the provisions of Art. 140 of the Constitution of Ukraine. The approach to the selection of subjects of municipal legal policy, according to which the subject is local government, is studied. The author believes that this position should be criticized because the municipal legal policy is formed and implemented not only at the local but also at the national level. The results of the study conclude that the allocation of state and non-state structures as subjects is the most balanced position in the scientific literature. The author concludes that the subjects of municipal legal policy should be understood as state and non-state (political parties, public organizations, etc.) structures, as well as individual citizens, scientists. The separation of state and non-state structures as groups of subjects of municipal legal policy is substantiated, as well as their division into a number of smaller subgroups.

The research goal of the article was to show the process of providing aid by indicating the multilevel activities of the State Fire Service and Polish society during the military aggression of Russia in Ukraine. The paper analyzes the descriptions of selected aid events carried out by the local community and the officers of the State Fire Service. The analysis covered the period of February to August 2022. Theoretical methods that have been used are analysis – obtaining research material contained in the literature on the subject; synthesis – appropriate matching and integration of research material; comparison – constructing conclusions and final conclusions, generalizing, drawing conclusions. Empirical methods are the case study method and observation, and are selected in the work as a research method that allows for a broad description of a given phenomenon (providing assistance to refugees), its in-depth analysis and evaluation.

The process of system transformation starting in the 90s and continuing its consequences since more than a decade directs to the functioning in the mentioned context of social actors with the specific scope of demands, related to their adaptation to the liberal and democratic reality. The demands are directed to the individuals as well as to the different institutions, among others to the educational ones. The process of adaptation to new social conditions and reaching more actual qualities, in the criteria of the highly advanced in specific aspects societies or communities, can take on the form of modernisation. In the paper there are analysed the characteristics of the actual social realities of pluralistic, liberal, democratic every-day conditions, their consequences for the spheres of the individuals' functioning and directions of the possibilities of utilizing the resolves implicated by the theory of modernisation in creating the educational and extra-educational reality.

The main goal of the presented article is to form basic aims of research on the problems of family violence in the local community. In order to do so, an analysis of various international and national documents has been made as they are sources of standards applicable to local research on family violence. Adopting the perspective of the social sector as an essential one to counteract the phenomenon, and at the same time, to carry out research on the problem, four basic aims of research were suggested by the author: establishing the picture of the problem of family violence, working out the context of its incidence, recognizing and monitoring the possibility to reduce it in a local environment and the assessment of the effectiveness of applied solutions, programmes and means.