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The paper considers the appearance and meaning of city walls on ducal and municipal seals in 13th-century Poland. Despite the great popularity of the motif, actual stone or brick fortifications, both of towns and castles, were rare in Poland at the time. It is especially striking that in the area of Kuyavia, where local dukes introduced the motif onto their seals at an early stage, such architectonic structures were almost entirely absent. Several towns also employed images of stone walls on their seals before they gained the real fortifications. The motif of fortification is examined here as a symbol of civilization in a wider sense, and particularly that of the communal town. The final section the paper explores ways in which Polish society might have come to understand this symbolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roadside memorials are made up of objects, usually flowers, candles and crosses, placed at the roadside to mark the sites of fatal accidents. The paper introduces the potential of Lefebvre's concept of rhythmanalysis and geography of rhythms in exploring roadside memorials. The aim of the paper is to investigate rituals and rhythms at roadside memorials in Poland. Data were collected during two-year field observations of 12 roadside memorials and from 10 semi-structured interviews. Polish roadside memorials are part of widespread rituals which either generate material changes to roadside memorials, like cleaning up works, leaving candles and flowers at memorials or which do not generate such changes, like saying prayers or reminiscing about the deceased. The specifics of roadside memorialisation in Poland are expressed in prayers being said and no personal belongings being left at the sites. We found that the coexistence of individual and social rhythms at roadside memorials was deeply rooted in Catholic liturgy and commonly accepted cemetery rituals in Poland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sheds light on the feelings of exclusion and insecurity among female members of Catholic groups in contemporary Poland. It is based on data gathered in the years 2019–2020 within the research project Resistance and Subordination. Religious Agency of Roman Catholic Women in Poland, which involved 48 in-depth interviews with university-educated Catholic women living in large Polish cities and engaged in various religious groups. The conducted analysis indicates that the interviewees resorted to defensive actions, representing a cultural backlash. Taking into consideration the numerical and institutional dominance of Roman Catholicism in Poland, the overarching question of the paper is: why do the interviewed women feel excluded and at what or at whom is their resentment directed? The analysis draws upon a wider discussion on the ongoing ideological polarisation of contemporary societies, showing the case of a country that is religiously homogenous. The interviewed women recognise some external threats, such as liberal culture and feminism, but also internal ones, namely ritualised, habitual, 'mainstream' Catholicism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the long-term trajectory and the recent acceleration of the conflict over the rule of law in the EU. It focusses on the motivation of the two governments in Hungary and Poland to challenge European core values increasingly aggressively even directly at EU level despite the threat of significant material costs to both countries. Putting forward a Gramscian understanding, we argue that this radicalization is the result of a counter-hegemonic strategy that aims at replacing the liberal order with a new, nationalist, ultraconservative, Christian order on domestic and European levels. The paper traces core elements of this strategy which are either disputed or underestimated in existing literature, most importantly the pursuit of a core ideology and the massive and long-term investment into winning moral and cultural leadership through the penetration of civil society which precedes and complements electoral strategies and autocratic institution building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper utilises a systematic review of 110 Polish corporate histories to explore the question of how the genre of corporate history has evolved over time in a country that has undergone multiple transitions. The corporate histories subjected to review were published in three different historical periods: prior to World War II, during the socialist period and following the transition to capitalism. The analysis is focussed on both formal and thematic features of Polish corporate history as a genre. This paper contributes to the business history literature in three ways. First, it showcases some unique features of relatively unknown corporate histories in the Polish context. Second, it provides an empirical illustration of the process of genre evolution by analysing continuity and change in corporate histories published over three different historical periods. Third, it offers methodological insight into the analysis of the corporate history genre in countries where it is not recognised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether religion as an important feature of culture affects the formation of personal and social resilience, thus becoming a developmental factor. A questionnaire surveying a sample of 100 rural residents in the Łowicz Diocese in Poland showed that religion was still 'going strong', being an enduring element of national and local culture. The results from this Polish Catholic region undermine prevailing secularisation theories. The research shows that faith provides a significantly positive strength needed to cope with daily life, as well as during crisis situations. It enables people not only to 'survive' but also to 'live well and creatively'. It supplies needed continuity and enhances community solidarities. By consolidating resilience, religion gives people's lives meaning, and augments subjective senses of wellbeing. As a source of social capital, religion mobilises people into joint activities for the parish and local community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conceptual framework of this paper is based on the concept of bounded rationality. During the decision-making process, the consumer uses images as mental shortcuts. The occurrence of the spillover effect has been confirmed in the literature. To this date, the effect of tourism advertising on the respondents' attitudes towards products originating from a particular country and the issue of whether it affects both dimensions of a country's image (cognitive and affective) have not been studied. The present study responds to these two gaps by developing an extended model of the spillover effect. A sample of 138 Japanese students participated in a pre-post experiment to provide feedback before and after exposure to advertising. Research results indicate that the commercial have created a more positive attitude among respondents in all areas measured. The current study adds to the growing body of cross-disciplinary literature on country image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we use administrative tabulations from occupation-based income tax (class tax) to estimate income inequality in the Duchy of Warsaw. We start off by estimating income inequality in the Department of Kalisz, and then use the decomposability of the Theil index to estimate national income inequality based on a sample of Theil indices corresponding to different settlement types. According to our results, income inequality in the Duchy was at a moderate level, although in the biggest cities it was relatively high. Income inequality at county level was positively correlated with the mean income of the county. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new Polish military branch, the Territorial Defense Force (TDF), has been described both as a defensive tool against Russian hybrid warfare and as a private paramilitary force of the incumbent Law and Justice Party. This paper examines the strategic, political, and military purposes of the Territorial Defense Force using two theoretical models. One is designed for analyzing units intended to protect against external threats, the second for units targeting internal threats. Comparing these models with the officially declared objectives of the TDF, our results indicate a stronger correlation of the new branch with the second model and reveal distinct political motivations for its creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, Israel Studies have been gaining momentum in Europe, especially in the Central and Eastern parts of the continent. The aim of this paper is to scrutinize the genesis and evolutionary developments of Israel Studies as a separate study field in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Germany. The authors tackle the following aspects: the dominant intellectual traditions, historiographic approaches, and disciplinary frameworks; the teaching and research environment for Israel Studies in each examined country; potential entanglement of the discipline with political ties to the State of Israel and its consequences. The paper employs the qualitative research approach and relies on the case study methodology. However, an essential part of the study utilizes a comparative perspective and offers certain prospects for Israel Studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the push to strengthen European defence cooperation, the topic of whether a European strategic culture is emerging has become widely contested. Since convergence between member states is the key that would unlock the way to a European strategic culture, this paper examines how they perceive crucial aspects of strategic culture and in what aspects they have converged and diverged. This study selected Germany, Poland, and Ireland as cases of the EU-27 member states. It compared the three national strategic cultures in three aspects: strategic environment, cooperation patterns, and strategic goals and means, by conducting a computer-based content analysis of strategic documents and official speeches of high-level national policymakers between 2000 and 2020. This study found that despite the persistent divergence in strategic goals and means, the three countries have shown greater convergence in their perceptions of the strategic environment and that while their preferences on cooperation patterns are largely unchanged, they seem to be accepting the EU as a legitimate and favourable platform for security and defence cooperation. These findings suggest that the prospects for the emergence of a European strategic culture and further developments of the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy are both challenging and promising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies determinants of international mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in Poland using the predictions of the knowledge capital model of multinational enterprise. The empirical implementation of the theory is based on the negative binomial model and the bilateral dataset covering 143 countries over the period 1995–2015. Our estimation results indicate that M&As in Poland are explained by both differences in relative factor endowments and in market size which confirms the importance of both market seeking and efficiency seeking motives. Moreover, the efficiency seeking motive is losing its importance over time while the market seeking motive becomes more important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting government support affected the financial performance of Polish firms at the aggregate, regional, and sectoral levels. The results of our dynamic econometric model showed that firm performance at the aggregate level declined in 2020Q1 but recovered in 2021Q1. The pandemic negatively affected western firms but not eastern ones. Manufacturing and transport & logistics firms suffered temporarily in early 2020 but recovered in 2021Q1. Construction and trade & repair firms remained resilient. Overall, the pandemic and government support affected the sectors and regions differently, with varied policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the debate on the varieties of national manifestations of the public good(s) in higher education. Drawing on a set of 33 semi-structured interviews (with politicians, university managers and faculty), it addresses the three following research questions: How do the actors in the field define the public good(s)? To what extent does the global public good play a role in their views? What are the specificities of the national system that shape understandings of the public dimension of higher education in Poland? The three definitions of the public good are proposed. The findings are discussed alongside the following four themes: higher education as a public good, higher education and the state, tuition fees, and the global public good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented event which is transforming societies and strengthening the bond between human and technology. However, less attention is paid to nonusers of the Internet. To combat the pandemic, the Polish government introduced, in June 2020, a new policy that made it possible for citizens who had lost their job as a consequence of the crisis to obtain financial support. The application for this allowance was, however, possible only via an online platform. The paper discusses how this violated the right of the unemployed to stay offline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes that the emotion of shame is key to understanding the appeal of Poland's ruling populist right-wing party, Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, or PiS). PiS employs shame in its strategy of emotion regulation in mediated party communication in pro-government media outlets. We suggest that there are two pillars of shame that underpin support for PiS: (1) the collective shame that originates from the perceived cultural inferiority of Poland in relation to the West/Europe, and (2) the individual shame of failing to achieve material prosperity in the context of the post-communist economic transformation. We examine how shame and pride have been instrumentalised in the coverage of the 2019 European Parliament elections by the right-wing media outlet wPolityce.pl. The paper demonstrates how wPolityce.pl consistently invoked both economic and cultural shame and highlighted the antagonism between PiS and the opposition by identifying the latter with a 'pedagogy of shame.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poland was the second-to-last country in the Soviet bloc to establish official relations with the PLO – only doing this in March 1976. However, mutual contacts date back to the late 1960s, when Polish military intelligence forged a top-secret relationship with the PLO based around the arms trade. Using a variety of archival sources, this paper seeks to re-assess the relationship between Warsaw and the PLO within the broader framework of Polish policy towards the Middle East from the time of the Six-Day War to the time of opening of the PLO Office in Warsaw in 1976. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the evolution of intergenerational educational mobility in Poland since 1920. We use a novel empirical method allowing for the measurement of mobility at a constant rank in the education distribution, not among education levels. This paper finds that intergenerational mobility increased after WWII. This increase was only temporary. When the new social system stabilized, intergenerational mobility decreased. The transition to a free market economy decreased intergenerational mobility but it recovered after the first 15 years of the transition. Despite these identified fluctuations, intergenerational mobility has been rather stable over time [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interest of this paper is in the gender roles and social expectations concerning femininity and masculinity as perceived and reported on by the Polish female and male psychotherapists of two generations. This is discussed in the context of socio-cultural changes in Poland that took place in the twentieth century and their consequences and implications for issues around gender roles. To this end, reflexive thematic analysis was applied to a corpus of statements on gender-related family messages offered by 121 male and female Polish psychotherapists of two different age groups. The aim was to identify and examine psychotherapists' gender-related transgenerational scripts. The analysis revealed the construction of the Polish men and women in terms of binary oppositions regardless of the age of the participants. Although the findings generally reflect more global concepts of essentialist femininity and masculinity, their local significance to the changing gender roles and relations in Poland is discussed. The implications of transgenerational gender assumptions to the work of therapists are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to reconstruct differences between the paleotopography and contemporary topography of the historic centre of Krakow city, Poland, during the last millennium. The paleotopography was reconstructed using published contour-line maps based on archaeological and geoengineering investigations and showing the roof of in situ fossil soil. The preliminary contour-line map represented a digital elevation model (DEM) base map. A DEM from aerial laser scanning (ALS DEM) shows the contemporary topography of Krakow city centre. The application of selected morphometric indices makes it possible to quantitatively describe changes in the spatial dimension with regard to altitude, relative heights, slope, and aspect classes. The analysis of the changes in the values of the elements of topography studied shows that, at the scale of the whole study area, a trend to flattening occurs, however this trend is locally balanced or overridden by an increase of surface unevenness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Three Seas Initiative was launched in 2015 by Croatia and Poland; today, it brings together 12 European states located in the Adriatic, Baltic, and Black Seas basins. To understand the rationale behind this seemingly precarious regional project, this paper employs the optics of critical geopolitics, which shifts the focus away from the exclusive concerns of great powers machinations, counters the dominant narrative by emphasising the multiplicity of voices in the geopolitical spectrum and stresses the emancipatory nature of the whole project balanced by its heterarchical characteristic. This angle allows us to capture the full complexity of this geopolitical design characterised by two phenomena: 'being in between' (monolithic powers, areas of domination, or at least domination, one religion and one language) and 'fragmentation and multinationality'. The analysis demonstrates that Intermarium is an attempt to break away from everything that prevents the region 'between Berlin and Moscow' from being a subject, not an object of political affairs, and shows how Central and Eastern Europe fits into the post-liberal international order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participation of a country in the European Union and hence the participation in the European single market, have obvious consequences for capital flows, including those in the most advanced form, i.e. foreign direct investment. Foreign direct investment is considered one of the major incentives of economic integration. Thus, this study reflects on the impact of EU membership on FDI inflows to Poland as an EU member and signals key priorities for further integration. The theoretical foundation of the study resides in the theses of the new theory of economic integration and the investment development path theory. The paper employs the descriptive approach and inductive reasoning. We highlight the benefits resulting from the position of Poland on the investment development path and indicate possible associated threats. Moreover, we discuss retrospective reflections, some of the prospects, and possible directions of action recommended to optimise the future benefits of hosting foreign investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to examine the issue of ski resort development in Poland from the perspective of its limitations. In the study, we consider the uncertainty of snow and temperature conditions, along with governmental regulations, social and institutional conflicts, as well as the impact of other local and non-local factors on ski tourism businesses. The research was conducted in the form of a survey of 33 domestic tourist entities managing ski resorts. The following development barriers were identified and discussed: cost of new investments and modernization of existing facilities, cost of adaptation to changing climate conditions, time-consuming and complicated legal proceedings related to the investment process, unordered in law issues of land ownership used for ski tourism. Strongly endogenous in nature, the domestic ski-tourism market is still evolving and transforming. The model of ski resort development employed in Poland fosters multidimensional linkages in destination systems between the ski resort sector and other tourism services and local communities. Due to the fact that revenue streams cannot be predicted, operational stability and a solid competitive advantage will be gained in the long term by ski resorts and ski-related tourist destinations capable of offering a number of services complementary to skiing itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the Solidarity movement narratives, focusing on church representatives, religious issues, and symbols in the Polish history textbooks for upper secondary schools between 1991 and 2018. The analysed textbooks prove to reinforce Poland's national and religious identities, with John Paul II and the priest Popiełuszko being the primary national heroes of the Solidarity movement. The Catholic Church is presented as a protector of national values during the Solidarity period. The study also reveals the gradual reduction and simplification of the textbooks' content. This tendency is a trigger for the polarisation of the historical discourse, posing a weapon for secular policies to misuse the ideological and symbolic roles of the Church in reproducing the Pole-Catholic pattern in history textbooks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper aims to capture a given spatio-temporal fix in the regional and metropolitan formation processes within two Polish regions: Lubelskie and Silesia. The strategic-relational approach (SRA) to the state analysis was adopted to discern the key elements of regional and metropolitan discourses. The wide SRA framework allows us to situate these discourses within formal and substantive dimensions of both scales, and then - using the territory-place-scale-networks (TPSN) framework - to connect them to the other aspects of socio-spatial relations. The selected regions occupy a special place within regional policy in Poland and discourse at a national level due to structural problems within their territories. Therefore, different actors have identified the need for thorough regional transformations. In turn, they should be analysed in the context of the state transformation, which began in Poland in 1989, with its currently unknown direction when it comes to the modes of regional and metropolitan policies. The results of the research prove that specific actors adopt regionally different strategies, aiming at pursuing their own goals as well as supporting regional raison d'états. At the same time, however, it is difficult to indicate evidence of political rescaling concerning the transfer of tasks and resources to the regional scale, except for its strengthening resulting from the implementation of European Union funds, which can be considered in terms of governance or meta-governance failure. The 'stewards of hope' image has been assigned in this context to new metropolitan-scale institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in the intergenerational family relationships are typically seen through the prism of contemporary parents supporting their children long into adulthood, offering their households as 'feathered nests' during extended transitions to adulthood. However, the majority of research in this realm comes from established welfare states of Western Europe and the Commonwealth and less explicitly addresses inequalities that mark these processes. Drawing on qualitative longitudinal research on transitions to adulthood in Poland, we use a data set of 127 interviews with university students and graduates to illustrate the process of leaving home in the Central and Easter European context. The paper accounts for both the objective (extensive/limited economic capital or resources) and subjective (fast/slow pace) dimensions crucial for how young people move out from parental homes. Our main contribution is a typology of Temporizers, Gymnasts, Runaways and Protectors as ideal types of pathways to leaving home in Poland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many legislations and cultures undergo liberalization regarding cannabis use, and users in Poland make constant references to, and are part of, a burgeoning global cannabis culture. Still they have to relate to conservative drug discourses and legal frameworks. This paper explores this discrepancy between users' experience on the micro level and the macro context in which they live. The aim is to explore the boundary making processes cannabis users engage in to detach themselves from punitive legislation and conservative social reactions. The concept of social worlds is used to theorize and better understand their situation. The boundaries between the users' social worlds are analyzed with regard to conservative legal and social contexts, other progressive legislations and cultures, and the allegedly regressive Polish society. The study integrates qualitative data from three national studies of cannabis users and their environments. The boundary making around the users' social worlds is used to maintain the safety and comfort of use, to get a sense of control over it, and it helps users continue their consumption of cannabis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to analyze class divisions and exclusions limiting the potential of Polish Alternative Food Networks (AFNs). The authors discuss the tensions arising from the continuing class division in Polish society. Elements determining class stratification -- such as values, motivations, capitals, space of relations, and imaginaries are considered. This paper is based on a qualitative research conducted in 2019 in six various types of AFNs in Poland. The authors conclude that alternative networks operating in Poland are currently separating and polarizing. Given their increasing diversification in terms of the economic capital and other resources, their class-related cultural practices and specific imaginary, a clear distinction emerges between what can be recognized as élite (exclusive) initiatives and mass-scale (albeit less evident) alternative food practices. The well-embedded and largely invisible networks based on seemingly trivial daily practices are revealed as a distinctive category of AFNs marked by the lowest potential to generate class exclusion [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the recent decade Polish universities have undergone a series of reforms limiting their independence from the state. This provoked protests from the humanities faculty and led to establishing organizations that actively opposed the reform. The purpose of this paper is to present a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of press articles describing a process of organizing resistance to the reform of the higher education and science system in Poland. The 'revolt of the humanities' is examined in the perspective of Bob Jessop's theory of social crises. The outcome of the study is a description of the discursive reduction of the complexity of political actors' demands. The result of complexity reduction was creation of a better organized and more politically effective forms of opposition to the reform agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The case study presented here relates to Ursus – one of the world's oldest makers of agriculture tractors. Founded in the late 19th century, and nationalised in the inter-War period, Ursus became one of the success stories of communist-era Poland. This denoted that, when the transition to a market economy took place, the enterprise came to typify state-owned 'dinosaurs'. However, once Poland had acceded to the European Union, Ursus was acquired by a family firm and began to increase its international presence rapidly once again. This paper therefore revisits the processes whereby the state firms of post-communist economies underwent organisational transformation; and sheds light on the non-linear nature of its subject's development process, unfolding in the context of radical institutional change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on migration and racism usually focuses on Western, highly skilled migrants working in global cities who reproduce racial postcolonial hierarchies or on less-privileged, low-skilled migrants and refugees, whose situation is analysed in terms of experienced racial prejudices. Our article aims to fill the gap related to the in-between category of middling migrants and to analyse their relations with neoliberalism and racism. By drawing on qualitative research, the paper examines racial neoliberalism and the question of how racism operates in the everyday life of middling migrants. In contrast to the nascent literature on middling migrants, we focus less on their experiences of racism as how migrants' neoliberal subjectivity contributes to the strengthening of racism. Our analysis demonstrates that middling migrants not only evoke the neoliberal hierarchy of desirable and undesirable migrants but also, through neoliberal subjectivity, reproduce the neoliberal logic of silencing and marginalising racism as a social problem. We argue that, paradoxically, although middling migrants are not openly racist and often become victims of racism themselves, they nevertheless contribute to maintaining the conditions for racism to exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poland has one of the strictest abortion laws in Europe, and anti-abortion discourse shapes the debate and social attitudes towards the issue. The paper aims to reconstruct the way in which this discourse, as exemplified in the Polish right-wing press, constructs negative views about abortion and to identify the legitimation mechanisms it employs to sustain its interpretations. Based on our findings, resulting from a content analysis of articles from two right-wing weekly magazines, we distinguish three interrelated frames organising Polish anti-abortion discourse, centred on 'defending the unborn', 'protecting women', and 'preserving culture and nation'. While the first two have occurred in the liberal contexts of Anglophone countries, with one replacing the other, in Polish anti-abortion discourse they co-exist. The construction of abortion as a threat to culture and nation is specific to Poland. We argue that by blending together community-related and individualistic arguments, Polish anti-abortion discourse adapts to wider societal changes observable in the country, thereby sustaining its power to define debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to explore the phenomenon of birthdate misregistration, using birth data from 45,226,875 Polish citizens, that is, all those born 1900–2000 and registered in Poland's Universal Electronic System for Registration of the Population (PESEL). I transformed the data into a daily series of births, detrended by dividing each value by the daily average for the relevant year. Next, I selected the dates with the highest deviations based on the coefficients of the linear regression model with dummy variables. Finally, I estimated the size of the phenomenon in subsequent years by comparing the numbers of births on selected dates to their expected values. This paper is the first to document the specificity, scale, duration, and probable causes of birthdate misregistration in Poland in the twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The historical notion of Inter-Marium captured Poland's centuries-old concept of integrating, in a form of confederation, the new states that appeared on the map between the Baltic and Black Seas after 1918. Reincarnated as the contemporary narrative of Tri-Marium, this notion is gaining new momentum and has been most visible in Poland, the largest state of the European Union's Eastern semi-periphery. This article examines Inter-Marium as one of the most clearly articulated counter-narratives to the mainstream European integration project. Drawing on original research rooted primarily in critical discourse analysis, the article uses framing as an interpretative tool. It analyses the narrative entrepreneurs who are constructing the political message, as well as the resulting narrative itself and how it is employed in contemporary discourse. Unpacking this emancipatory framing, the paper makes three inter-connected arguments. First, it shows that the Inter-Marium concept narratively challenges Western domination (framed as post-colonial constellation) and re-constructs the connected emancipation narratives. Second, the article highlights that the Inter-Marium concept acts as acounter-narrative to the mainstream European integration. Third, it explores the ways in which the Inter-Marium narrative serves the ambitions of the Polish ruling party which aims to regain Poland's historical status as aregional power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a strong impact on the tourism market worldwide. The aim of the paper was to present the tourism plans of Poles during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research conducted showed that the prevailing pandemic had a significant impact on touristic travel plans. However, the vast majority (over 75%) of the respondents plan at least one tourist trip, which will last from 5 to 7 days. During a tourist trip, the respondents plan to use different forms of accommodation. They considered their own cottage /second house and camping site to be the safest facilities, while hotels or resorts were indicated as the least safe facilities. In order to ensure safety during the stay, the respondents expect specific actions to be taken by the operators of the accommodation facilities, i.e.: availability of hand sanitizers, disinfection of rooms and generally available equipment in the facility as well as compliance with restrictions concerning social distance and the wearing of masks. This article contributes to the evolving literature on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on development of tourism sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the European Union (EU)'s actions regarding the rule of law (RoL) crisis in Hungary and Poland. As alignment among three EU institutions – European Parliament, European Commission and European Council – is required for the enforcement of the punitive measures under Article 7 of the Treaty on EU, existing studies, to a great extent, rely on the conflict between the intergovernmental and supranational levels to account for the EU's failure to sanction the RoL offenders. This article argues that EU's failure to implement Article 7 cannot be explained by only one dimension of the internal power struggle in the EU. By exploring the complex politics underlying the RoL crisis, this article reveals four competing – Thin, Thick, Parochial and Global – visions of Europe supported by various EU institutions, member states, and extra-EU actors. Based on the EU's official documents and media reports from the member states (more notable from Hungary since 2010 and Poland after 2015), the article suggests that cooperation and conflict between Thin, Thick, Parochial and Global Europe can better explain the 'EU's actions without sanctions' approach towards the RoL crisis which has paradoxically provoked further public support for the RoL offenders instead of weakening them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates changes in the spatial structure and explores the link between the initial shape and other characteristics of city-regions of Poland and heterogeneity in the changes of urban structure. Shifting attention to the former socialist country offers an opportunity to illuminate the link between a rapid and systemic political–economic transition and the development of city-regions. The results suggest that increasing polycentricity is not the main trend in Poland, and show that the context and initial stage of spatial structure indeed matter in shaping trajectories of urban change. Irrespective of the systemic transition, the spatial structure of city-regions is relatively slow to change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to analyse capital structure and its dynamics for farms in Poland, a leading European Union producer. The theoretical framework is based on the trade-off and pecking order theories of capital structure. We use data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN), which is representative of Polish professional farms during the period 2009–2018. We adopt a dynamic partial adjustment model using the generalized method of moments in order to explain the financing of farms through debt. The results show that Polish farms exhibit low target levels of debt, which they adjust dynamically, thus partially validating the trade-off theory. While size and growth opportunities positively influence the indebtedness of farms, profitability and land have the opposite effect. Polish farmers therefore use available internal funds, especially retained earnings, as a substitute for debt, in line with the pecking order theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most national symbols – the flag, the coat of arms, the anthem, the pantheon of historical figures – belong to the common symbolic space. However, there are also those which divide the society: controversial figures or historical events which are difficult to assess and vulnerable to contradictory interpretations. In Poland, one case in point are the Cursed Soldiers. This paper discusses a specific mode of patriotism of football fans influenced by the figures of Cursed Soldiers. The first part provides a theoretical frame for further arguments. The second draws the relation between Polish football fans and nationalism. The third introduces the figure of Cursed Soldiers: their history, political context and social perceptions. The fourth part analyses fans' guerrilla patriotism. It revolves around performative content produced within football fandom, mainly by ultras groups. The article concludes with a discussion of specifics and universals of the proposed model of guerrilla patriotism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article shows how the hierarchised nature of the EU mobility regime is underpinned by member states' policies in a major country of emigration such as Poland. Drawing on historical institutionalism, this paper documents the path-dependent approach regarding policies that have contributed to the outflow of Polish workers and simultaneously to meet the demand for labour at home. While concerns about the consequences of emigration were raised already in 2005, Polish governments have kept defending the EU policies that underpin this outflow and its hierarchised nature. Rather than to improve the rights of Polish mobile workers, Polish governments have defended companies' rights to use 'wage competitiveness' as a method of increasing mobility. In response to the increasing demand in the domestic labour market, governments first tried return campaigns, but they have since turned to importing labour, especially from Ukraine. In this way, the policies of the Polish state have helped reaffirm the hierarchised nature of the EU mobility regime by exporting workers to be subjected to poor conditions abroad while importing Ukrainian workers to experience poor conditions at home. Thus, Poland occupies an unusual place in the 'migration chain', being, simultaneously, a source of as well as a destination for migrant workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Platform work in general requires workers to apply specific strategies to stay afloat. In Poland, platform work is a complex system of mutual relations and interdependencies between transnational corporations, national regulators, service providers, intermediaries and platform workers. Based on thirty-one in-depth interviews with Uber drivers in Poland and two expert interviews with fleet partners, this article presents the working strategies adopted by platform workers and looks at how the historical experience of communism may shape responses to twenty-first-century global capitalism. The analysis shows that an adequate remuneration can only be made by adopting the strategy called kombinowanie, a combination of small cheating, fiddling and exploiting loopholes in the law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ruling right-wing populist parties in Europe have significantly changed foreign policies and advanced criticism against core values of liberal democracy, including dismissive stances vis-à-vis the European Union. This paper argues that the reorientation of foreign policies in Hungary and Poland is consistent with ideas developed by incumbent populist right-wing parties and intellectuals of statecraft in the wider conservative movement supporting them. The contribution studies the foreign policy conceptions of right-wing forces and builds on critical geopolitics to trace these back to ideas shaped in broader right-wing networks that have played leading roles in developing a right-wing ideological alternative to liberalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to explore the identification choices of highly skilled migrants employed by companies in the Wałbrzych Special Economic Zone in south-west Poland in order to discuss how their identity is constructed and performed, especially how conflictual identifications are managed. Analysis of qualitative data shows the migrants call both their place of origin and their new place of life home. They identify as inhabitants of their new city and talk about gaining some traits of Polish national identity but they stress strong national identity related to their home country. Conflicts of loyalties in these hybrid identities are solved through a label game. Migrants identify with groups at different scales, from local groups, through city and national, to supranational. By playing with the scale of groups they can avoid conflicting identifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public pension wealth is an important component of a household’s wealth portfolio. However, due to data scarcity, it is usually omitted in the research on household wealth. The literature on augmented wealth is limited to developed economies. We use a novel data source to estimate the distribution of public pension wealth and augmented wealth in Poland. We assess the impact of education-related mortality differential on the value of public pension wealth. Our research sample includes pensioners and workers near retirement. Therefore, we measure the impact of public pension wealth on wealth distribution among those who already profit from their public pension wealth, or will profit from it soon. Moreover, the value of their public pension wealth is stable and robust, while the value of public pension entitlements of the working-age population may change rapidly due to pension system reforms. The public pension system significantly decreases wealth inequality. The Gini index equals 0.5007 for private wealth distribution and 0.3472 for augmented wealth distribution. Decomposition techniques confirm an equalizing impact of public pension wealth on the pension system. The impact of education-related mortality differential on the value of public pension wealth exists at the individual level, but it diminishes at the household level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the short stories by the Guatemalan author Eduardo Halfon, a third-generation Holocaust > writer; these stories are analyzed as a particular case of "world literature" as defined by David Damrosch. Halfon's travel writings to Poland are thus interpreted according to the host (Polish) culture's values and needs. First, the study concentrates on how Halfon's travel accounts to Warsaw question and interact with the changing historical narratives about the Poles as "implicated subjects", witnesses and accomplices in the Shoah. Secondly, the analysis deals with the Halfon's narrative experiences in the provincial city of Lodz, his grandfather's birthplace, where the crystalized discourses about the past are altered by inverting roles of victims and perpetrators and introducing other possible interpretative approaches (based on cultural implication of emotions and theories of the gaze). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the link between resource misallocation resulting from central planning and subsequent long-term economic growth under a market-based system. We construct two novel data sets for Poland. We show that misalignment of resources under central planning coincides with lower subsequent economic growth, despite the fact that market mechanisms are reinstated. This result is robust even three decades after the collapse of central planning. We provide several explanations for these patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the studies on the invertebrate fauna of the subterranean part of the "Wieliczka" Salt Mine in Wieliczka, Poland, the presence of many specimens of the dipteran species Meoneura obscurella (Fallén 1823) was observed. Organic remains and faeces related to the presence of mice (Mus musculus) were indicated as a potential food source for the insects. M. obscurella displays lecithotrophic viviparity (ovoviviparity), which has developed due to extremely harsh abiotic conditions and a lack of food. This is the first documented case of lecithotrophic viviparity within the fly family Carnidae. Based on the ability of this species to inhabit and reproduce in the conditions of the subterranean part of the "Wieliczka" Salt Mine, it is proposed to classify the species as a troglophile. The occurrence of Niptus hololeucus (Faldermann 1835), a species of beetle representing the family Ptinidae, was also confirmed in the subterranean part of the "Wieliczka" Salt Mine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to analyse the process of equipping the Polish Air Force with the F-16 aircraft. The Polish F-16 programme serves as an essential source of knowledge for avoiding errors that may occur when introducing new weapon systems in Poland, or other post-communist countries that are still reliant on Soviet-designed military technologies. Due to various external and internal factors, not all elements of the F-16 programme are suitable for replication in the acquisition of new weapon systems; however, some solutions have been applied in Poland's F-35 and WISŁA air defence programmes. The authors examined selected aspects of the F-16 programme, including its historical background, legal and organisational framework, personnel training, infrastructure, logistics, and the economic implications of the offset agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, governing parties in Central and Eastern Europe have dismantled liberal democracy, violating the rule of law and limiting the power of judges. This article examines the opposition to these transformations, focusing on the role of judges in Poland, Hungary, and Romania. Drawing on an original survey, as well as a set of interviews with judges, the article shows that while in Poland judges have developed a unified opposition to the government in defending their independence, in Romania, in contrast, governmental measures have polarized judges into a divided opposition, while their mobilization has been rather non-existent in Hungary. Why do judges oppose governmental action limiting judicial independence in some contexts but not in others? The article shows that the nature and the sequencing of domestic transformations, coupled with ideational factors and interests-based calculations, explain judges' opposition at the collective and individual levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]