Pathologies and abuses accompany elections and are connected with the electoral system both in its narrow and broad sense. Moreover, they stem from a human nature and a degree of democratic principles consolidation. Cohabitation is conditioned by the electoral system and, in the case of the proportional allocation of seats, it arises more often than in the majority system with single member constituencies. The phenomenon itself is not always pathological. However, such an adverse situation develops when it comes to clashes, neither substantive nor creative, between the municipal bodies and, in consequence, the interests of the local community are jeopardised. Elections at the municipal level are also accompanied by other pathologies and abuses including: coercing votes when voting by proxy, adding voters to an electoral roll, bringing residents to a polling place, paying for one’s votes, preying on the naïvety of voters which can take grotesque forms or brutalising an election campaign caused by the mediatisation of local policy. The above-mentioned phenomena were examined and presented in the paper based on the analysis of statistical data, articles from the local press and, most essentially for the discussed subject, a rich material collected thanks to the in-depth interviews conducted by the authors.

This article presents the shape of the contemporary family in Poland and Spain which is based on developments that have taken place in these countries in relation to family formation and dissolution through an analysis of indicators such as: marriage, divorce, fertility, births outside marriage during the last three decades. The shape of the contemporary family keeps changing in both these countries, but the speed of changes is different. In Poland, changes in family formation have occurred much more slowly than in Spain, where the family is not only heterosexual marriage, but also homosexual marriage.

W artykule podjęto problematykę przywództwa lokalnego w oparciu o badania empiryczne przeprowadzone w latach 2014-2017 wśród wójtów, burmistrzów, prezydentów miast albo ich zastępców, a także radnych, mieszkańców (w tym dziennikarzy, przedsiębiorców, naukowców, przedstawicieli organizacji pozarządowych). W pierwszej części ukazano teoretyczny aspekt przywództwa lokalnego, w drugiej wskazano na uwarunkowania w pełnieniu funkcji wójta (burmistrza, prezydenta miasta), a w trzeciej określono cechy, jakie powinna posiadać osoba pełniąca ten urząd.

Przedmiotem artykułu jest jedna z instytucjonalnych form kooperacji dwóch podmiotów dualnej egzekutywy w Polsce, czyli instytucja Rady Gabinetowej. Jak stanowi Konstytucja, tworzy ją Rada Ministrów pod przewodnictwem Prezydenta RP. Ustrojodawca wyposażył tym samym głowę państwa w możliwość zwołania spotkania z rządem, który musi stawić się na zaproszenie Prezydenta. Co prawda temu organowi nie przysługują kompetencje Rady Ministrów, jednak można odnieść wrażenie, że rozmowa głowy państwa z rządem to dobra sposobność do wygaszania wzajemnych sporów oraz okazja do rozmowy dwóch politycznych graczy o przyszłości Polski. Czy to wrażenie ma pokrycie w rzeczywistości? Jak wyglądają obrady, co jest ich tematyką i kto im przewodniczy? Jaki może być realny cel obrad? Jakie funkcje może spełniać Rada Gabinetowa w warunkach koabitacji, a jakie przy politycznej jedności obu podmiotów egzekutywy? Celem artykułu jest przede wszystkim znalezienie odpowiedzi na tak postawione pytania.

Living in a cohabitation union is a more and more popular way of life in the contemporary societies. Changes in family behaviour and formation, such as increases in births outside of marriage, age at first marriage, and divorce have occurred in western countries with different paces and intensity as the elements of Second Demographic Transition (SDT). The aim of the article is to investigate the main determinants which influence attitudes towards living in a cohabitation union in two catholic countries: Spain and Poland. Using the European Social Survey conducted in Poland and Spain in two different moments 2006 and 2018, we carried out ordinal regression models in order to confirm which variables affect more the choice of this union. The results showed that educational level, placement on the left-right scale and religion are the prevailing predictors in both countries and both periods of time, but with different intensities, being greater for the Polish case.

The article presents the sociological aspect of the empirical research carried out among students of Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra in Slovakia, the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seul in South Korea and among students of the University of Silesia in Katowice, concerning their opinion on family life in the contemporary society and their preferred life model. The research was conducted on a research sample of 1341 students. The main research tool used during the research was a questionnaire containing 43 questions. The collected data were statistically analyzed in the program SPSS. The analysis of the conducted research shows a dissonance between the preferred life model and the significance of family life. Generally, most respondents preferred marriage as a type of relationship for the future, while claiming that family life is less and less important.

This study examined the role of women’s education in birth control in Rwanda from 1995 to 2000. It was conducted in four provinces, including Kigali City, using a survey questionnaire to collect data using a descriptive methodological approach. The population size is estimated to be 1067 n, comprised of women aged 15 to 49. Results indicated that younger women with fertility desire between 2–3 children are 75.07%; the rural area cohabitation rate among college students is 37.82%, while the Western model cohabitation in urban areas and universities is 19.23%; and contraceptive use is 46.3% among young women and 72.34%; among married women. Therefore, there was a significantly higher correlation between women with a high level of education and a lower fertility desire, which resulted in an increase in the age of first marriage.

The article presents a selected aspect of broader sociological empirical research into the issues of family and the phenomenon of cohabitation conducted among the students of the University of Constantine the Philosopher in the Republic of Slovakia and of the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. The presented analysis of the survey research results focuses on the determination of the importance of the institution of marriage for the youth belonging to academic environment. The results of the research have proven that in spite of the increasing level of liberalisation of marriage and family life a large percentage of students both from Poland and Slovakia perceived marriage as a valuable institution of high importance to the questioned individuals.

The family and all the types of social behaviour that were directly associated with it, its stability and sacred dimension created the natural and obvious world of the social life, the fundamental reality of culture that once for all became the “symbolic structure of reference” when man, in his/her adult life, was improving family experiences in a creative way, as well as when he/she was denying them. In the situation of axiological turmoil of culture, the family starts to be losing its privileged position in the structures of the social world. The significance of its existence as the fundamental group and social institution, the environment for social personality maturation becomes weaker. It is more and more common that family understood in a traditional way becomes unnecessary in the contemporary world. Demographic crisis is first of all the crisis of values and the crisis of the man as a value; the crisis of the family that is the natural educational environment. The future of every society depends on the state of its family. The question concerning the shape of the family is the question of the shape of the society, the nation and the State.

Government, Cohabitation, Opposition. Poland’s Case against the Background of other States’ Experiences

The systemic transformation in Poland – initiated in 1989 – was full of events that constituted challenges for the ongoing political and systemic changes. The intensity of those current since autumn 2023 is particularly high. They refer to the functioning of the government and the opposition, as well as the head of state who participates in it. This article examines not only the models of relations between the government and the opposition, but also the cognitively intriguing phenomenon of cohabitation, but not only in Poland. The other states mentioned in the article, namely France, Great Britain, Sweden and Norway, also become a points of reference for considerations hereby. These considerations lead to the conclusion that the Polish model of cohabitation is conflict-oriented, and the relations between the government and the opposition are not so much Westminster-like, but quasi-Westminster-like.