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Copyright of Economic & Political Thought / Myśl Ekonomiczna & Polityczna is the property of Lazarski University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Scientific Papers of Silesian University of Technology. Organization & Management / Zeszyty Naukowe Politechniki Slaskiej. Seria Organizacji i Zarzadzanie is the property of Silesian Technical University, Organisation & Management Faculty and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper examines the right to health care. Various expressions of this right may be distinguished. These include both individual rights and social rights which could be based upon international treaties and constitutional rights. They may be found in national health legislation and, in some cases, in jurisprudence. To analyze the consequences of limiting the right to health care, a framework for judicial review has been developed which encompasses these expressions of the right to health care. The framework was used to examine legal and health policy developments in three Western and two Eastern European countries. In Italy and the Netherlands the right to health care is protected constitutionally (but on differing legal bases) while the United Kingdom does not have a written constitution. In contrast, Hungary and Poland have for many years seen the state take responsible for the provision, administration and allocation of health care services and the right to health care was guaranteed theoretically but not in practice because of the lack of (financial) means. However, the Polish Constitution explicitly anticipates possible limitations of the right to health care. What all these countries have in common is a cost containment perspective where the future will bring even tighter limits on what resources patients may consume. Despite differences in legal structure between these countries, where they seem to converge is on the consequences of putting limitations on the right to health care. The courts in Italy, the Netherlands and the UK have formulated conditions drawn from the acceptance that this right has to be judged within the context of limited resources. It may be concluded that finding a compromise between the right to health care and cost containment policies could also be an issue, Eastern European countries will have to face in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do national institutional contexts mediate the global? This article aims to answer this question by analyzing screen translation—the translation of audiovisual materials like movies and television programs—in four European countries: France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Poland. A cross-national, multi-method research project combining interviews, ethnography, and a small survey found considerable cross-national differences in translation norms and practices, sometimes leading to very different translated versions of the same product. The analysis shows how differences between national translation fields are produced and perpetuated by the interplay of institutional factors on four interdependent levels: technology, and the organizational, national, and transnational fields. On each level, various institutions are influential in shaping nationally specific translation norms and practices by producing institutional constraints or imposing specific meanings. I propose a model that explains the persistence of national translation systems—not only from the logics of specific institutions, fields, or levels—but by the feedback loops and interdependencies between institutions on various levels. This analysis has implications for the sociological understanding of globalization, the production of culture and media, cross-national comparative research, as well as institutional theory and the role of translation in sociological practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary Poland and Romania are closely connected countries, both being members in the EU and NATO and situated on the eastern flank of the Euro-Atlantic world. Most Romanians have a favorable vision of Poland and Polish people and there is a historic tradition of friendship and cooperation. The diplomatic bilateral relations were established in 1919, at the level of „legation" and later in 1938 at the level of Embassy. Now they are both EU and NATO states, situated on the eastern flank of these organizations. They are disturbed by Russia's territorial revisionism and would like to see a coherent West protecting the Helsinki status quo. Romania and Poland want to develop the political, economic, securoty and cultural cooperation but they must overcome some bureaucratic, mentality and material obstacles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proclamation of the Charter for Fundamental Rights of the European Union, in December 2000 at Nice, France, followed by its inclusion within the failed Constitutional Treaty and its current status as a legally binding document under the Treaty of Lisbon, charts the changing fortunes of European Union politics dealing with fundamental rights protection. This article outlines the main rationales and hopes behind the enactment of the Charter and notes that through the process of political conditionality it may have been devalued from its very conception. The article suggests that, following their accession, Poland, and later the Czech Republic, used the Charter and Lisbon Treaty negotiations, including their opt-outs from the Charter, to engage in a game of power politics that had both domestic and European undertones. This politics of power game-play reflected a need by both states, and Poland in particular, to respond to both the political conditionality that they had been required to sign up to as part of the accession process and to emphasise how membership had improved their negotiating power. The article suggests that the consequence of this action by both states has not only further devalued the Charter but potentially undermined the rights of Polish and Czech citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germany, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic have always been loyal members of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP). Yet they have never shown enthusiasm for it or displayed noteworthy activism within a co-operation framework that is perceived by their foreign policy elite as a necessary concession to southern EU member states in order to secure the latter's support for continuing pro-active EU engagement in eastern Europe. With this in mind, this study provides a comparative analysis of the foreign policy of Germany, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic toward the southern Mediterranean and discusses in particular the different responses of their governing, economic and societal elites to plans to create a Mediterranean Union (UM). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking a constructivist approach to foreign policy analysis and using German policy vis-à-vis Poland and Czechoslovakia/the Czech Republic as an example, we examine Ostpolitik since the 1960s as a case of a norm-driven foreign policy. We argue that the content of Ostpolitik, including changes over time, can be explained by reference to a prevailing norm consensus in Germany about the country’s foreign policy toward Central and Eastern Europe, which began to develop in the 1960s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the influence of Europe on the Polish idea of democratic freedom, normalcy and economic rationality despite being exiled by Soviet dictatorship. Pope John Paul II's historic pronouncement that there could be no stability for Europe without an independent Poland on its map; Political aspects on Poland's enlisting to the European Union; Search for social equilibrium that preoccupies questions concerning national identity and the nature of citizenship.

Presents a survey of Polish perceptions and attitudes about Europe. Assumptions and ideas about the relevance or meaning of Europeanness to Poles; Kinship and cultural identity with Europe; Evolution of attitudes toward Europeanism; Analysis of pilot interviews.