The Concept of Constitutional Reform of the  Republic of Poland According to the Polish Solidarity Party

In May 2013 the party of the Polish Solidarity with Zbigniew Ziobro (further called „SP”) announced the project of changes in the current Constitution of the Republic of Poland from 2 April 1997 (further called „Constitution RP”). This project was presented in the form of consolidated text of the constitution which obtained the name of „New Constitution of the Republic of Poland” (further called „Project SP”). The Project SP proposes amendments or repeals of 83 articles of the Constitution RP (it makes a bit more than a third of its all articles) as well as addition of nine articles, not always completely new as for their solutions. The Project SP proposes introducing changes in the Constitution of RP covering in particular: system of legal sources, list of general rules of the system of state, forms of direct exercising power by the nation, especially introducing the presidential system of government, which mean far-reaching reforms of constitutional system of authorities. The article focuses the attention on their analysis and assesses them from the viewpoint of their democratisation, rules of legal state and contributing to rising effectiveness of activities of authorities while comparing them with regulations introduced by the Constitution of 1997. The estimate of proposals of constitutional system of RP covered by Project SP is not to be unidirectional – only approving or only critical. Some of these proposals deserve a positive mark, others arouse estimative dilemmas due to their loose ends or controversial character; finally there are those which cannot result in other than negative marks.

In the text, types of reforms to formal education are introduced, and against this background, an answer is sought to the question of who they serve, who is interested in this multi-layered effort, who is or can be a beneficiary and who is a loser in this process. The central part of the text is a presentation of types of the reform. Then, the effects of reforming education are indicated. The conclusion underlines the importance of research in the process of reform, in the action, as a professional practice of integrating cognition and change.

Institutional and legal conditions of local elections in Ukraine in 2015

In this article the author analyzes the institutional and legal conditions of local “government” elections in Ukraine in 2015. Special attention is given to the determinants of formal elections to local government bodies. Indicates the specific nature of the local elections in 2015 (up today). The local elections in Ukraine in 2015 were held under the conditions of reforming local self-government. The main goal of the reform is the socalled decentralization. Local government reforms ensure the creation of associations of territorial communities of villages (cities, settlements). For the first time in the elections they took part association of territorial communities. In addition, the Ukrainian authorities have failed to conduct elections on the entire territory of the country. No votes were cast in Autonomous Republic of Crimea, due to the annexation of the peninsula by the Russian Federation in 2014. Elections to local self-government bodies were also not carried out in part of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, due to the ongoing armed conflict in Donbass since 2014.

The considerations in the article focus on the role of territorial local government in two important spheres of welfare state – in providing access to education, and health care. The authors characterize the situation in Poland after the parliamentary elections won in 2015 by the Law and Justice (PiS). The first part of the study analyses the reforms undertaken in the education system and their consequences for territorial local government, in particular increasing the compulsory education age as well as changing the school system. The second part contains a description of planned and implemented changes in health care.

In 2018, a mandatory funded pension model (second pillar) was introduced in Georgia. At present, the Georgian pension system has three pillars, but the reform does not apply to current pensioners. If society does not trust all three pillars, the chances of reversing the pension reform will rise for two reasons. First, the replacement rate from the first pillar (state redistributive pension) is much lower than in any of the OECD member states. Second, for the majority of participants of the second pillar, pension payments will start in 20-25 years’ time. Such a long period creates uncertainty for many about whether long-term economic growth will be achieved, which in turn would make possible an adequate level of retirement income. This paper attempts to identify means of increasing replacement rates for the state redistributive pension and coverage of the voluntary funded third pillar. The research provides recommendations to enhance the Georgian pension system.

Education as an Subject of Interest of Polish Political Parties in the Second Decade of the 21st Century. Analysis of Selected Election Programmes

The aim of this article is to reflect on the pluralism of plans and projects of the school education system in Poland at the end of the second decade of the 21st century and the positions of political parties regarding reforms of children’s and youth education. The hypothesis of the research in the article is the assumption that the electoral programmes of Polish political parties are characterized by a plurality of educational visions. They often are proposals for reforms adapting education to the tasks of the modern economy, market and social changes. The research method used in the article is the analysis of source documents, i.e. political party programmes, as well as their comparative analysis. The programmes of 14 political parties, valid in the second decade of the 21st century, were analyzed. These were in the order: Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), Labor Union (UP), Polish Labor Party – August 80 (PPP-S’80), Party Together, Spring, Green Party, Polish People’s Party (PSL), Democratic Party (SD), Civic Platform (PO), Modern Party, Law and Justice (PiS), Coalition of the Restoration of the Republic Freedom and Hope (KORWiN), Right Wing of the Republic, National Movement (RN).

Problems and ways of optimization of the intellectual migratory transformations

The article describes the role and influence of intellectual migration in the socio-economic development of the Kyrgyz Republic.

The Reform of the Chinese State Security System

With Xi Jinping’s assumption of power in China, large-scale reforms of the entire state system have begun in this country, especially those related to broadly understood security. The aim is to improve the functioning of the Chinese state in the 21st century and ensure its position as a world leader. It is also important that in the reform of the national security system, the Chinese state leadership paid attention not only to this system’s basic elements, i.e., the army and the police, but also to the rule of law and social and environmental security. Such a broad approach to the issue of national security proves strategic thinking as well as understanding and considering the processes taking place in the contemporary world.