Spis treści

Amending a constitution or replacing it with a new one is never easy. Even if politicians usually have a lot of ideas how it should be done, the real problem is to put these ideas into practice. If the President Duda’s initiative is to succeed, so in other words – if such a referendum is to be held, the consent of the Senate of the Republic of Poland, i.e. the second chamber of the Polish parliament is needed. According to the Article 125 of the current Constitution the consent of the Senate is given “by an absolute majority vote taken in the presence of at least half of the statutory number of Senators”. And while Law and Justice has such an absolute majority of seats in the Senate, it is difficult to say with certainty whether today, in the face of a rather tight relationship between President Duda and the Law and Justice’s leadership, Senators of this party will support the president’s initiative. And even if the referendum is held, it will only be the first step. The change of the constitution itself requires either the so-called ‘constitutional majority’ or a bipartisan consent, that is the agreement between the ruling party and at least part of the opposition. For the moment Law and Justice does not have such a constitutional majority, even if it joins forces with Kukiz ’15 parliamentary faction – the only political group that welcomed President Duda’s initiative with great enthusiasm. Other Polish political parties do not want to hear about any constitutional change accusing both Law and Justice and President Duda of repeatedly violating the constitution that is currently in force. Of course, it may change after the next parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for 2019 and 2020 respectively, especially if Law and Justice gets even better results, what – at least today – is suggested in the opinion polls. Maybe then, to change the constitution, they will not need agreement with any other political party, just like the Hungarian Fidesz after the 2010 elections. However, there is no doubt that disputes on the competences and powers of the President of the Republic of Poland, especially (but not only) in the context of the way he/she is elected, will return regularly in the discussions on potential constitutional changes. The possible evolution of the Polish parliamentarism into the presidential or semi-presidential regime would force a significant increase in the powers of the head of state, still elected directly by the people. Staying within the framework of the parliamentary regime would require a more precise definition of the constitutional position of the President of the Republic of Poland, leaving open the issue of the way he/she is elected.

British political practice has played a key role in shaping the political and legal systems of the nations of the Commonwealth. Among the Commonwealth member states are Kiribati, which became the subject of interest in the British Empire in the second half of the 18th century. White colonizers at the end of the 19th century took over the protectorate over the islands, which in 1916 was converted into a British colony. In the mid-1970s, the colonies split into two parts. Independent status of Kiribati was proclaimed definitively in 1979. Considering the international aspect, it has been a sovereign member of the United Nations since 1999. On the other hand, on the basis of constitutional solutions, like many other states that were once part of the British colonial Empire, Kiribati adopted and implemented the foundations of the Westminster model of democracy. Through the evolution of the system, gradually moved away from the traditional pattern, giving way to other concepts of government and politics. However, there is no justification for Kiribati’s complete denial of the original assumptions of the Westminster model of governance for other constitutional solutions. It will be more convincing to conclude that Kiribati now has a mixed system of government: it has got the elements drawn on the British tradition as well as taken from the presidential system.

Analyzes of individual election campaigns in which the Solidarna Polska party took part showed the dominant position of Law and Justice on the right side of the political scene. Jarosław Kaczyński’s party, receiving 37.58% of votes in the parliamentary elections in 2015, as the first after 1989, independently took over the governments. Zbigniew Ziobro’s party undertook program activities and initiatives that would distinguish it from the PiS and contribute to the fact that it would become an alternative to right-wing voters. Unfortunately, she did it without much success. Solidarna Polska managed to win a small electorate, and support not exceeding 5% did not make it a strong party dominating the right and threatening Law and Justice.

This text focuses on the issue of the functioning of the individual in the state. The main issues analysed in the text are: autonomy and privacy units, the influence of the individual on political decisions, legitimization of political power, the universal protection of human rights. An attempt to answer the question about the scope of the possibility of entering the state into the sphere of human rights, rights of individual.

In 2006 Dimitry Trenin stated that Russia left the West and began to work on creation of her own sphere on influence. The area of Russian activity in particular was the post-Soviet zone where Moscow wanted to rebuild their dominant position. Sergey Karaganow added: “Moscow has realized that she neither wants to nor she can afford to integrate with the West on the conditions proposed by the West – the type of integration without the right of veto”38. Alexander Dugin, an Euro-Asian ideologist claimed: “We proved that we did not give a damn about NATO and we were not afraid of it. We have the nuclear weapon and we are ready to use it. Russia crossed the line from which she can not withdraw anymore. This is a course for the revival of Russian sovereignty and the position of regional power – in practice, not just in words”39. The above quotations reflect the Russian attitude to the NATO and show the role of this organization for Russia. Undoubtedly, the Alliance is perceived by Russia as a threat and a rival. The reasons of such perception are primarily the Alliance’s claims to play the role of a “guardian” of global peace, attempts to interfere in the area recognized by Russia as her sphere of influence, strengthening the position of NATO in Eastern Europe and project of development new defence technologies such as missile defence. Since the 90s Russia consistently has been trying to undermine the importance of NATO and to put it into the frame of international structures of security governance. In 2010 minister Sergey Lavrov argued that NATO is a relic of a bygone era and should be subjugated to the principles of the UN Security Council.

The article discusses the volume of trade between the countries of Central Asia and the EU and the FR with the degree of dependence. In the years 2000–2016 the foreign trade of the Central Asian states was affected by the shift from the Russian Federation market to the European Union market. This trend may be reinforced in the coming years due to the conditions of trade cooperation between the Central Asian region and the European Union, on the one hand, and between the region and the Russian Federation, on the other

Nowadays hacker attacks on computers or smartphones of everyday users have become commonplace. Unfortunately, increasing number of sophisticated attacks are being targeted against critical infrastructure or banking systems. The threat from hackers is very serious. As a result, institutions exposed to the attacks are obliged to take action to repulse them, because the consequences of intrusions into internal systems can be far-reaching. Numerous cases of effective hacker activities are not rare, as shown by cases from recent years.

Imperialism is the foundation of the Russian mentality and nation. Researchers are considering if the Russian Federation is a continuation of the imperial traditions of previous forms of Russian state. There is no unambiguous assessment whether the Russian Federation can be described as an empire. The aim of the article is to answer the question about the imperiality of modern Russia, through the use of the analysis of sources, history and social environment. The result of the analysis is a cross-sectional view of the issue of the Federation’s superpower. The imperial tradition, the ideological expansion of the Soviet Union, the Russian mentality and imperial nostalgia, and now foreign policy and the need for a strong leader, speak for recognizing Russia as a kind of empire. At the same time, economic weakness, declining influence in post-Soviet areas and the uncertain situation on the international arena prove that imperialism is only the past of the Russian nation. The evaluation of Russian imperialism depends on the perspective, because taking into account the determination to be perceived as in the time of the Russian Empire, their mentality and the fact that the “empire” is one of the few common elements for the entire nation – despite the undisputed weaknesses – The Russian Federation is a specific form of the modern empire.

An important standpoint in national branding discourse is to draw attention to the fact that the international public, as well as each individual member, has certain associations connected with the countries, its inhabitants and national products. Connotations received over the years, which are strongly related to the upbringing in social groups, give us the opportunity to establish order, hierarchy, categorization and thus easier understanding of the world. The subjective interpretation of the mentioned factors and many others defined by Simon Anholt as “one million of private convictions” create country image which can be managed by the implementation of nation branding strategy.

Improving management in the public finance sector unit – the importance and role of the integrated management system in the opinion of employees due to seniority

Quality management is the task of all managers to perform management functions in relation to the quality of the managed system and the quality of its components. At present, effective management of public administration requires defining the strategy of the office’s objectives, aimed at an efficient system of work organization and shaping a positive image. The aim of the article is to present the management of the quality policy in administration, including the integrated management system (IMS) in the organization and its impact on the implementation of the office’s tasks. The goal was achieved by means of literature studies, analysis of source documentation and empirical research in which the operating environment of IMS in the office was analyzed. The article presents the opinions of the employees of the office, taking into account their seniority on the subject of their knowledge, competence and commitment to implementing an integrated management system in the organization. It also takes into account the conditions for the implementation of this system in the office. The conclusions from the research indicate that a common understanding of quality problems, its common definition and creation of a friendly environment is key – through a pro-quality organizational culture, which will allow to build a pro-quality orientation of work.

This article presented an activity of government midwives in the Free City of Cracow (1815–1846), including the proffesional qualifications of the midwife, their salary and rules of proffesional liability. A detalied analysis of the competence of midwives has been made, also therein rules of receiving childbirth, ways of responding to the threat to health and life of mother and child, equipping with obstetric tools etc. The principles of government supervision (Protomedic, City Physicist, District Physicist) over midwives are also discussed. Fundamental importance for the study were the documents kept at the National Archives in Cracow, official journals and also studies of the history of medicine on Polish lands.

Throughout the centuries the legal situation of aliens was regulated in diverse ways. In the beginning, at the time when a state as a sovereign decided who may enter its territory, it was controlled by internal law. Circumstances in which the possibility to legalize residence in foreign territory was allowed evolved very slowly in time. The first human rights treaties provided for creation of a new paradigm in which states are no longer allowed to unencumbered decision making with respect to aliens. Poland’s EU accession in May 2004 was a cause for the increase of economic migration. Most of the economic migrants come to Poland from the territory of the former Soviet Union seeking seasonal work. However, there are also economic migrants for other non-EU member states. After Poland’s accession to Schengen in 2007, it became the border of the European Union as well as from UE member states. Aliens, who want to enter Republic of Poland’s territory, have to hold a valid visa or other document allowing for their entry and stay in Poland. In the Aliens Act, legislator envisaged several types of residence permits: temporary permit, permanent permit and a resident permit for EU citizens. The provincial governor (voivod) issues all types of permits. The proceedings are lengthy. In the last years it takes approximately even 6–7 months. After thorough analysis of all available data it might be concluded with high probability, that the Ukrainians are the largest group of aliens within Malopolska territory.

In many health space analysis of the relationship between the State of health and the environmental factors that may be in many ways. As a rule, this issue, as in the scientific literature and in the form of various legal acts, is presented in the light of environmental threats to health. Beyond the research nature shot as a factor stimulating health, typically no direct references to health in documents that contain various aspects of nature protection law. In the article it was decided to discuss the health of the legal and administrative context of environmental policy tools and the scale of their impact on the level of awareness of the ecological and health societies. Confirm you can fact complementary perception of the relationship between ecology and health, when in fact a range of environmental health legislation without threads binding health with nature.

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