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.

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.

Based on the assumption that cultural orientations affect interpersonal conflicts, the study examined conflict styles across two national cultures of neighboring European countries, i.e. Lithuania and Poland. Whereas Poland and Lithuania score relatively high in terms of individualism, they differ in terms of power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity-femininity. For the research purposes, a conflict resolving style questionnaire was applied, which was prepared by T. Wach according to the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument. The questionnaire was administered to 520 participants aged 13–15. Conflict style comparisons demonstrated that the Lithuanians chose dominating and accommodating styles more often than the Polish did, and the Polish chose integrating more often than the Lithuanians. The research findings can be a valuable source in predicting conflict resolution patterns.

The work discusses using digital media in the processes of communicating and developing interests by the contemporary Polish and Korean youth. The youth’s typical behaviour in cyberspace is described together with an interpretation of their behaviour on the basis of selected theories of influence of the mass media on viewers and listeners.

The LGBT rights are one of the most crucial aspects of a social and political discourse in Poland and in the Russian Federation. Although in both countries there is a different system of power, and, what follows, human rights and their realization are perceived in a different way, in these two states the right of LGBT people become an instrument of politics. In the following article the authors present a comparative analysis of the way in which the rights of LGBT people are perceived in Poland and in the Russian Federation. They will depict the similarities and differences between these two countries which result from historical conditions, and will provide an analysis of the current perception of non-heterosexual people in Poland and in Russia.

The development of the civil society in Poland post-1989 has put the LGBT movement on the map of the country’s social landscape. As a corollary, it has also led to a greater social engagement of the non-heterosexual community striving for recognition of its demands. The establishment of the Campaign Against Homophobia (KPH) and the spread of the Internet in Poland have raised the Polish society’s awareness of the LGBT movement and made it part of the country’s political discourse. On the other hand, the perceived threat to the established conservative values of the Polish society has galvanised the opponents of the non-heterosexual community and its demands. The resulting dispute between the supporters and opponents of the LGBT movement and its professed ideas has placed the issue on the agenda of the Polish political parties.

Eastern European immigrants coming to the UK since 2004 (in 2/3 from Poland) by their amount of work have concurred to serious growth of the GDP. But simultaneously they have been burden for British welfare system (among others by taking benefits for family members living outside the UK) and taking job even for minimum salary what have caused growth of native British unemployment. In this situation Conservative-Liberal Government leading by David Cameron have decided to limit an access to the UK labour market by language knowledge tests and tightening social benefits policy to job seekers. With informal support of main opposition parties (i.e. the Labour Party and the UKIP) D. Cameron have taken risky game showing he has been able to fight for his nation’s interests even in spite of huge protests of Polish and other Eastern European countries politicians and against the European Parliament resolution of 16 January 2014. But when turning out into a defender of Britons’ rights he also has showed that there have been deep divisions between “old” and “new” Europe still after 10 years of the EU’s biggest enlargement in 2004.

Celem artykułu jest określenie oddziaływania Kościoła katolickiego na system polityczny w Polsce odwołanie się do case study – form sprzeciwu Kościoła wobec legalizacji metody zapłodnienia pozaustrojowego in vitro. W nauce o polityce Kościół jest określany jako organizacja wyznaniowa, grupa interesu, aktor polityczny. Autor definiuje Kościół (jako) podmiot, który oddziałuje na system polityczny i jego otoczenie w formie bezpośredniej, pośredniej i sankcji moralnych. Biskupi katoliccy sprzeciwiali się regulacji in vitro, ingerując między innymi w przebieg procesu legislacyjnego. Świadczy to o doniosłym wpływie Kościoła w Polsce na sferę publiczną.

The article is dedicated to the Muslims in Poland, with a special focus on their institutional representation. This religious minority encircles a diverse populace in terms of the path in Islam they adhere to, ethnicity, country of origin, but also the legal status they have in Poland. It includes Muslim Tatars, former students from Arab countries who have been living in this country for decades, as well as transient groups war refugees from Chechnya, Afghanistan or the Balkans, esp. Bosnia and Herzegovina. The author argues that institutionalized entities of religious character which associate Muslims in the country, organize their presence in religious terms and represent them, reflect major divisions within the Muslim populace in the country. A key factor is the duration of their settlement – it is concomitant to, if not more important than, tensions between the Sunnis and Shiites.

The tragic years of World War II, followed by the unfriendly communist policy in Poland towards the Jewish community, changed the country from a multicultural into the most homogeneous state in the European Union nowadays. At the same time, Israel, as a meeting place for various cultures, enjoys the influence of inhabitants from nearly all over the world. The dissimilar experiences and problems faced by the governing bodies should influence different approaches to dual citizenship in Poland and Israel. In view of the above, in the presented work the author would like to analyze the issue of the legal approach to dual citizenship both in Poland and in Israel. The main goal of the paper, beyond comparison of the effectiveness of the legislation, is finding the answer to the question: what is the state’s attitude towards the issue of the dual citizenship of their citizens? The hypothesis that the article will verify states, that due to the small number of people with dual citizenship in Poland, Polish legislation devoted to this topic is not extensive and has dissimilarities to the law in Israel, which, in contrast, is more complex and better response to the needs of society. The reason for comparing Poland and Israel is the fact that Polish citizenship has been very popular among the citizens of the Jewish state, especially since 2004 when Poland became a member of the European Union. This issue, in the long run, may be one of the key determinants of Polish-Israeli and Polish-Jewish relations.

How to be a Polish Jew and supporter of Zionism-revisionist after 1939? The thing about Jakub Perelman’s fate

Jakub Perelman, the author of memoirs, was born on 20 December 1902 in Warsaw. He was politically linked to the Zionist revisionists. This movement was created after the First World War thanks to the activity of Vladimir Jabotinsky. He was a poet, a soldier and a politician. Perelman’s memoirs concern his political activity, Polish-Jewish relations during the Second Polish Republic, events from the Second World War, and his views on life in People’s Poland. The last fragment of the memoir is related to Israel, where Perelman was in the early 1960s.

Early Medieval strongholds on the Chodelka River and their settlement base

The article discusses issues related to four early mediaeval strongholds functioning in 8–12th c. in the valley of the Chodelka River. This river is the tributary of the Vistula River located in the west part of the Lublin region. The article discusses the characteristics of strongholds, surrounding settlements and mutual relationship between them.

Strongholds as power institutions in the early-Piast monarchy (in written sources)

Paper summarizes selected source information concerning strongholds as power institutions of Polish monarchy in 10th–12th c. AD: forged foundation diploma for Mogilno Benedictine abbey (with date 1065), papal bullae for Gniezno, Włocławek, Wrocław and Kraków dioceses, and relevant fragments of Gallus Anonymus and Magister Vincentius chronicles.

The impact of Hussites’ wagon forts on the Polish military art in the 15th–17th centuries. Background information

The introduction of the paper discusses the purposes, thesis statement and the present state of research. The main body analyses the influence of the Hussite wagon fort on the Polish warfare of the 15th–17th century. The summary contains conclusions concerning the use of the wagon fort on the battlefield by the Polish army.

Requisition or robbery? A case study of usurpation of property by the Red Army – resorting to the example of Września county in 1945

The text revolves around the Red Army’s activity in Greater Poland since the liberation to the dismantling of the Soviet administration in Poznan province. This text deals with requisitions and robberies committed by the Red Army around Września.

Poland and the West. THE DIARY by Witold Gombrowicz

For generations the basic problem of the Polish culture has been the issue concerning the answer to the question about the relation: Poland and the West. The two opposing standpoints have been established. According to the first one, Poland perceived as the gentry culture, compared to the modern West differs in a positive way. According to the second one – just the opposite – in a negative way. W. Gombrowicz in the Diary presented the third point of view. According to him the civilizational backwardness of Poland as compared with the modern Europe which has lost its “humanity” poses a chance. One should make the most of this opportunity.

Poland is a country of the so-called “young democracy” type. As provided for in art. 2 of The Constitution of the Republic of Poland dated 2 April 1997, “The Republic of Poland is a democratic state of law, fulfilling the principles of social justice”. Art. 4 of The Constitution of the Republic of Poland gives superior authority to the Nation. This authority can be exercised “through representatives or directly”. But Poland does not have much experience with the institution of a people’s initiative, nor with other forms of direct democracy. The Polish national law provides for two types of people’s initiative. One type is a people’s initiative of putting a bill before the parliament as provided for in art. 118 subpar. 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and the Act dated 24 June 1999 on the use of a legislative initiative by citizens. The second type is a people’s initiative of putting forward a motion to hold a legislative referendum regulated by the Act dated 14 March 2003 on holding a national referendum. The legislature did not provide for, however, a people’s initiative for the purpose of amending the constitution or its abrogation. The subject of this paper is the institution of a people’s initiative of putting forward a motion to hold a legislative referendum.

Celem artykułu jest analiza zależności pomiędzy procesami migracyjnymi zachodzącymi na obszarze państwa a jego „otwartością”. Poziom „otwartości” zostaje zdeterminowany, w zaproponowanym ujęciu, ściśle określonym układem relacji zachodzących na linii religia – społeczeństwo – państwo, które prowadzą do ukształtowania jednego z trzech porządków: asymetrycznego (Polska), pozasymetrycznego (Czechy) i symetrycznego (Niemcy). Zestawienie oraz porównanie trzech sąsiadujących ze sobą krajów członkowskich Unii Europejskiej (metoda komparatystyczna i systemowa) pozwala na uchwycenie i potwierdzenie obustronnych zależności. Pokazuje, że skala i dynamika procesów migracyjnych staje się predyktorem „otwartości” współczesnych systemów demokratycznych. Zdecydowanie najwyższym poziomem tak definiowanej „otwartości” cechują się Niemcy, będące, z jednej strony, przykładem symetrycznego układu relacji religia – społeczeństwo –państwo, a z drugiej, architektem europejskiej polityki wobec masowych ruchów ludności z Bliskiego Wschodu i Afryki Północnej.

Digital government became synonymous with modern, innovative state structures in which information and communications technologies play a key role – both in the realm of public and commercial services. However, the process of digitization is not free of disturbances. Oftentimes, the source of the latter is the so-called human factor. That is why, what is vital is the social research diagnosing how e-services are received, with the research assessing the level of knowledge on the dangers connected therewith or else, describing the expectations towards the services provided online. Neglecting such research usually leads up to the misallocation of public resources. This paper presents the results of the research conducted among the inhabitants of Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, with the research testing their attitudes towards public e-services.

In December 2017 and January 2018, the Sejm and Senate, thanks to the votes of the deputies of ruling party Law and Justice, passed hugely controversial law amending inter alia Polish Electoral Code. Its adoption was opposed by the parliamentary opposition, by the electoral administration bodies and by many experts, however unsuccessfully. The enactment of this law destabilises the electoral system without a clear or evident need and treats the electoral code as a political instrument. Secondly, it does not provide the sufficient time for adaptation (vacatio legis), which may jeopardise free and fair local elections and the stability of the political system. Thirdly, the bill contains numerous unclear provisions and is in many parts written in a careless and contradictory way. Such amendments do not correspond with the European standards, described in the Venice Commission’s Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters.