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Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 began the modernisation of state security systems in the Baltic Sea region. A pioneer in the creation of comprehensive security was the Republic of Estonia, which began to implement the total defence strategy as early as 2008, after the political crisis caused by the Russian minority. The protests have disrupted the functioning of Estonian public institutions and the private sector, which are threatened by cyberattacks. The Russian Federation could use not only military but also hybrid means. Therefore, Estonia has decided to implement a completely new version of the total defence strategy. The paper seeks to assess the Estonian concept of holistic security, with particular emphasis on solutions for civil defence in crisis situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adopting the model of neoclassical realism and elements of the American-centric nationalist paradigm, the paper examines both systemic factors stemming from the Sino-American power rivalry and internal ones referring to the populist traditions of American foreign policy. The main goal of America regarding Taiwan was to use its relationship with the island in its policy of containment of China by emphasizing Taiwan’s right to decide its future and preventing China from taking over the island by force. Along with deepening bilateral cooperation, the administration used multilateral mechanisms to promote the concept of peace and security across the Taiwan Strait as an essential element of the global order, which increased the number of countries interested in maintaining the status quo. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine heightened concerns about the possibility of PRC’s attack on Taiwan, prompting the Biden administration to intensify pressure on Taipei to accelerate military reform. However, the accentuation of closer relations between Washington and Taipei was interpreted by China as a provocative crossing of more “red lines,” leading to an intensification of repressive measures against Taiwan and the consolidation of bellicose rhetoric directed against both Washington and Taipei. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows the dynamics of topical, aesthetical and political changes in the world-known contemporary dance group – Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan (Yunmen Wuji), created by Lin Hwai-min in 1973. Those metamorphoses are observed in a broad socio-political and cultural context, in the rapidly changing reality of Taiwan, Mainland China and the whole world at the turn of the 20th and 21st century. Short analyses of the most iconic dance compositions by Lin Hwai-min make it possible to trace the direction of the changes, starting from search for Chinese cultural identity, through the quest for definition of Taiwanese cultural and national identity, gaining the feeling of being rooted in traditional Chinese aesthetics and finally confirming the importance of local Taiwanese tradition as an equally meaningful source of creative inspiration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary Taiwan is one of the leading democratic countries in Asia. The authorities in Taipei, under the leadership of President Tsai Ing-wen and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party have actively conveyed this message to the international community through their foreign policy since 2016. The objective of this paper is to examine the concept of “democracy diplomacy” in Taiwan, analyzing both scholarly discourse and observing Taiwan’s foreign policy. This strategic approach greatly bolsters Taiwan’s position among other nations that uphold democratic values, especially in the face of rivalries between major powers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to present the Taiwan’s policies and actions relating to climate change. Despite the exclusion from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Taiwan has voluntarily ratified global climate conventions and has implemented a number of legislative, technical and organizational measures to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gasses and reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Tackling both climate change and minimizing its effects is a priority for Taiwan. In order to achieve the sustainable development goals Taiwan treats renewable energy as a critical solution in combating climate change and ensuring energy security by adding diversity to an overall electricity mix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A great majority of Taiwanese people declare themselves to be Taiwanese only (61% in 2022) or Taiwanese and also Chinese (additional 31%), which gives an impression of ethnic and national unity. However, the divisive factors of (sub) ethnic grouping, language diversity and historical consciousness are still present. Taiwanese nationalism, which in its civilian form is organized around present state of Republic of China (ROC) as opposed to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). However, ROC, although de facto an independent state is not de iure a Taiwanese state, as can be seen in its national symbolism. The paper analyses this enthosymbolical dimension of Taiwanese national identity, discussing four main symbolical spheres: the memory of the 2-28 Incident; memory and idealization of the Japanese colonial period; strong presence of local languages, used alongside the official northern mandarin standard; and finally, the presence of the Aborigine people and their cultures. All these spheres are important in Taiwan symbolical space, and their importance is further strengthened by the actions of the state (public commemorations, protecting the cultural relicts of Japanese period, removing the ones connected with authoritarian regime of Chiang Kai-shek etc.). However, the author remains doubtful if they have enough emotional and symbolical power to unite Taiwanese in the face of the Chinese threat. Closely related question is the future effect of the recommendations of the report of the Commision of Transitional Justice about the monuments of the KMT period, whose fate is a strongly contested issue, and which needs further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on Aleksandar Petrov’s novel Kao zlato u vatri, originally published by this Serbian author in 1998. The novel’s main characters represent diverse ethnic groups inhabiting the Balkans (Jews, Serbians, Russians), and their fortunes intertwined with the tumultuous events of 20th century history, namely WWII and the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s. The primary objective of the article is to address the question of whether it is feasible to apply Michael Rothberg’s model of multifaceted memory in a scenario involving distinct memory communities (such as Serbs, Croatians, and possibly Jews), characterized by a specific proximity (primarily territorial, historical and rooted in past coexistence within one national entity) and where relations are predominantly shaped by unresolved past grievances and mutual accusations of guilt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of the paper is to analyze the multidimensional phenomenon of crime and violence in Honduras in the context of the militarization of security. It shows mechanisms and manifestations of some activities of the transnational organized crime networks and the street gangs, emphasizing the significance of identity and a sense of belonging that are crucial to understand why some young people decide to join these criminal groups. The paper is also focused on the most important programs and initiatives implemented by the central authorities to face these challenges in the 2000s and 2010s. The main finding of this study recognizes the role of the military forces in the domestic policy and strategy against crime in Honduras and the challenges for democracy and human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper problematizes the collective dimension of social control in oral societies, focusing mostly on nomadic communities of hunters-gatherers and tribal segments. The author analyzes conditions for effective control considering the functions of existential conditions (economic co-dependence of society members, flexibility of camp groups, forms of residence, the strength of leadership) and social attitudes (communality, control and punishment acceptance). The paper also reconstructs basic instruments of social control: critique, social distancing, and executions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an attempt to clarify the relationship between the elite theory and the idea of the deep state. Both approaches address similar questions about how concentrated political power is created in the state, and both offer similar answers. An analysis of the historical context based on Italian and Turkish experiences with deep-state entities like mafia and intelligence agencies helps us understand dysfunctional elites in action. Consequently, the article explores research possibilities and theoretical solutions combining elitists view of politics with historical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to analyze contemporary symbols and signs associated with radical and extremist systems, political movements and paramilitary organizations in Ukraine, especially in the context of the events in Cracow in 2021, when the monument to Józef Piłsudski and the Legion Quartet were vandalized. The letter „N” was painted on the pedestal of the monument to Józef Piłsudski and Four legionnaires were painted yellow and blue – colors of the Ukrainian flag in reverse order. There was also a piece of cardboard left with the inscription “Poland – not only for the gentry” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to present the results of an analysis of the content of strategic documents on national security adopted by the United States and Poland between 2001 and 2020. The choice of the research field was determined by the place these documents occupy in the hierarchy of strategic texts related to state security. Due to the cooperation between both states and the Polish perception of the United States as the most important ally, the research task is to determine whether there is a convergence in the content of strategic documents issued by the Rzeczpospolita in relation to US documents. Furthermore, the paper examines to what extent the links between the two countries are reflected in the form and content of official strategic documents and in the description of threats. The text consists of three parts. The first is theoretical and focuses on describing the hierarchy of strategic documents in both countries. The second section presents a comparative analysis of the formal aspect and, therefore, how documents are adopted in the United States and in Poland. The last part of the article contains the conclusions of the analysis of the threats identified in the documents of both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The violent breakup of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union in the early 1990s meant that the link between territorial autonomy and accommodation of groups in the post-communist world has been regarded almost uncritically as an anathema and a threat to the territorial integrity of the state. Nevertheless, territorial solutions are still taken into consideration as suggested tools for regulating ethnic and national tensions – in the post-communist area, three forms of their implementation can be identified: federalism and formally existing autonomous regions; decentralisation, which can be reduced to classical self-government with a strong ethnic component (e.g., Macedonia); and de facto ethnic autonomies based either on formal structures, as in the case of Macedonia, or informal ones, as in the cases of Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Having said that, the aim of this article is to compare these three de facto ethnic autonomies, i.e. structures existing outside formal territorial arrangements, that have been developed in the post-conflict and post-Yugoslav space: Serb in Kosovo, Albanian in Macedonia and Croat in Bosnia. Moreover, I also assume that their level of autonomy depends on the policies and support of kin states connected to these entities by ethno-national ties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the following article is to analyse which subjects of international relations have been engaged in building civil society organisations in post-conflict Kosovo and what kind of actions they have been taking. The article consists of the definition of civil society organisations and their role in state building and nation building. Special attention is paid to the role of those subjects of international relations, which have had the greatest influence in building civil society organisations in Kosovo since 1999. The author sheds also some light on qualitative and quantitative changes in civil society organisations, which have been erected in Kosovo in the last several years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civic activity, the degree of development of this activity and its multifaceted relationship with the state has been one of the most expressive manifestations of mature democracy for several decades. Citizens’ trust in bottom-up initiatives is a long-term process built in the social space where systemic democracy is present. Serbs, as a society that directly or indirectly experienced armed conflicts, entered the path of democratisation after 2000 and remained on it for about 15 years, when during the rule of the Serbian Progressive Party of Aleksander Vučić, the populist character of the rule slowed down and then reversed the democratisation processes. The aim of the article is to look at the protest as one of the most common manifestations of civic movements and to analyse the subject matter of the protests, their intensity, the possibility of influencing the political and social reality, and finally the cases of its evolution, related to its transformation into other forms of activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is an analysis of the process of removing the Soviet monuments including the objects commemorating the Red Army and those glorifying the Soviet regime, which were created during the occupation of the Baltic states by the USSR. After the spontaneous process of destroying the monuments and their removal in the 1990s, many of them remained in public spaces of the sovereign states. In recent years, due to Russia’s occupation of Crimea (2014) and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine (2022), the governments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have taken active steps to dismantle monuments that are a symbol of Russian imperialism and falsification of history. The author draws attention to the process of heritage management, in which certain meanings are accepted and reinforced, while others are marginalised and rejected. Gregory Ashworth’s heritage paradigm will be used to analyse the research topic, according to which heritage is a process of selective acceptance or rejection of elements of the past in response to the current social, political and economic needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the article is to analyse the rights of Indigenous Peoples to the protection, preservation, and management of their cultural heritage. The second element of the research is the analysis of the politicisation of the cultural heritage of Indigenous Peoples in the context of their right to participation and consultation. Considerations on this subject are presented in the context of the phenomenon of ethnic revival and empowerment of indigenous communities (both in Latin America and on a global scale), which has been developing for several decades, in line with the slogans of democratisation and decolonisation. These phenomena coincided in the first decades of the 21st century with an unprecedented moment in the political history of Latin America – the so-called progressive cycle of public policies, according to which the governments of subsequent countries rejected neoliberal concepts in favour of greater involvement of the authorities in building egalitarian societies, and in the field of cultural policies, the pursuit of ‘democratisation of culture’. As a case study of the discussed phenomena, the article presents the progressive cycle of cultural policy in the Republic of Peru and an example of the activity of the interdisciplinary program Proyecto Qhapaq Ñan, established in 2001 by the authorities of the Republic for the purpose of inventory, documentation and safeguarding the remains of the Andean Qhapaq Ñan Trail. Its trajectory reflects both the variables of Peru’s cultural policy, shaped in relation to the operational guidelines and international standards of the UN system, and the evolution of Peruvian ethnopolitics toward indigenous peoples in the last two decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the contemporary condition of teaching at universities. It argues that university is endangered by losing its identity. The difference between school and university is introduced as a representative example of the problem. The main argument refers to the Gadamerian concept of conversation and it suggests that high quality education is dialogical in its tenor. Unfortunately, tertiary educational quite often differs in practice from what we understand in current European pedagogy as an educational experience. In the first part of this paper, the question on the pedagogical potential of conversation is raised. The second and third parts provide a description of university as a place where education as a dialogical experience still prevails, particularly in lecturing as a form of teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research objective of the paper is to highlight the prospects for the implementation of the main directions of the reform of the Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) of the European Union until 2025. The caesuras of the work are marked by two events: the adoption of the Global Strategy for the Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union by the European Council on 28 June 2016 and the decision of the European Council of 24 March 2022 on the adoption of the Strategic Compass for Security and Defense. First of all, the research hypothesis should be established that the full implementation of CSDP reform, which was initiated with the adoption of the Global Strategy for the Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union, and the resulting projects can significantly strengthen the position of the EU in the international arena. This will lead to the establishment of the European Security and Defense Union and the EU Rapid Reaction Force (5,000 troops) by the end of 2025. However, since many of the planned reform elements have not yet been completed or initiated, much will depend on the political will of individual member state governments, the level of spending on reform implementation by member states and the EU, and the progress of other reforms already underway (including addressing the economic and social consequences of the pandemic crisis and implementing eurozone systemic reform). The following research questions should then be asked: (1) How has the implementation process of the Global Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign and Security Policy gone so far? (2) How has the implementation of new projects (including the European Defense Fund, PESCO, and the Strategic Compass) affected EU-NATO relations? (3) How do selected EU member states assess these projects? (4) To what extent can the project to establish a European Security Council with the participation of Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Poland compete with and usefully complement the EU Strategic Compass project? The first part of the analysis presents the implementation process of the Global Strategy for the Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union until 2022. The second part analyzes the goals, priorities, and assumptions of the Strategic Compass, the implementation of which is intended to lead the EU to strategic autonomy by 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global crisis events like the coronavirus pandemic can have an effect on the media and the habits of their audience. The need to find information about the virus and imposed restrictions, as well as the intensity of the COVID-19 coverage and the need to verify the truthfulness of news, make people use many different sources of information. People use media in different ways depending on where they live and the type of political regime and model of media system in their country. This paper aims to analyze whether the model of media system affected people’s selection of sources of information on the virus in Poland, Italy, France, Czech Republic, Sweden and the United Kingdom, and if the pandemic could have changed the media consumption. Based on an online survey conducted with 9541 respondents from six countries, and reports on media use in Poland in 2019 and 2020, we argue that the model of media system did not determine the changes we observed in media use. The nature of the pandemic was more important in this respect, and, as our research shows, led to an increase in media use in the studied countries – especially websites and social media. The case of Poland also showed that the use of public service increased, which can be interpreted as the need for the public to learn about the government’s opinions and restrictions, and to verify news found online. The increase in online media and public service use are the most noticeable changes in media consumption in Poland during the pandemic compared to 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper takes up the issue of “depoliticization” through dehumanization. The starting point is the belief that phenomena of “politicization” and “political” are relatively well recognized in scientific literature, however the problem of depoliticization have not yet been adequately explored. The concept of depoliticization refers to the conditions, criteria, and mechanisms that are key to reducing or depriving a given phenomenon of its political status. Depoliticization does not mean (or at least does not have to mean) an effective removal of the phenomenon from the political sphere, but rather circumstances or actions whose political impact is not obvious. The article focuses on the issue of depoliticization through dehumanization, and more specifically, on how denial of full humanness of groups allows to reduce their status as a political subject, and thus to recognize their claims or interests as not proper or not adequate to political debate. The issues of relations between the processes of humanization and political subjectification as well as dehumanization and political objectification are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to supplement the findings made by the doctrine of constitutional law regarding the requirements of the majority of votes for amending the 1997 Constitution of Poland at the parliamentary stage of that procedure. The following issues will be analysed in particular: the significance of constitutional amendment rules in a democratic system of government and their impact on its rigidity and durability; the role of the quorum as a factor contributing to the majority of votes’ requirements and some political dilemmas associated with that matter; the reasons and consequences of adopting different levels of the majority of votes for amending the Constitution in the Sejm and the Senate and their relation to the form of the relationships between those chambers. Regulations regarding amending the 1997 Constitution of Poland will be presented against a background of contemporary constitutions of European states. The important interpretative context will be constituted by the issues of axiology of democracy, parliamentary bicameralism and legitimization of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the principle of separation of powers in Serbia has been regulated following the parliamentary model in the span of three decades, it has in practice functioned most often as a semi-presidential system. This paper analyzes two groups of factors that are the cause of presidentialization. Institutional factors that systematically create an environment suited for presidentialization include shortcomings in the constitutional design, the proportional electoral system and oligarchic tendencies in the party system. Direct election gives the President of the Republic strong legitimacy, and by retaining the position of party leader, in an electoral system with closed electoral lists and weak intra-party democracy, the head of state can easily control the parliamentary majority, the government and the parliament, thus upsetting the balance of power. Another group of factors that strongly affect the action of the aforementioned institutional aspects are a political culture with a strong authoritarian tradition and a lack of respect for the constitution and the democratic tradition. The consequences are strong authoritarian and populist tendencies and a departure from the liberal concept of democracy. The options proposed by the academic and political public as a solution to the situation blocking the consolidation of democracy in Serbia include the normativization of the incompatibility of office of the head of state and party leader, the abolition of direct elections, and a semi-presidential system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition from totalitarian to post-totalitarian type of society requires profound changes not only within institutional frames but also in the mentality of a society. In the case of Russia it is not the matter of coming back to the civil society mechanisms but creating them from anew, as the kind of citizen – state relations had not been spread to the whole society before the Soviet Union times. Intelligentsia could be an agent of the changes towards post-totalitarian state and social order. In this paper questions about the intelligentsia’s status and role in the Russian society were posed. The idea of civil society coined in the times of the Decembrist was confronted with the mobilized type of governing. Intelligentsia, as perceived by the Russian society and experts on the one hand and its self portrait on the other hand were discussed. An important question concerned the role of the Russian political opposition as the intelligentsia’s ethos continuation. The conclusions were that the intelligentsia repeats the pattern which was first developed at the beginning of the 19th century: its idealistic members are ready to struggle for the common good but without common social support. The status of intelligentsia is perceived as high if about education and morality, but it diminishes when its leadership is concerned. In the Russian post-totalitarian society the state is still an agent to be followed. It takes Russians towards totalitarianism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is devoted to the analysis of the origins and development of a social initiative, the so-called Treni della felicità (Trains of happiness) and its impact on shaping civil society and sense of national community in the post-war Italy. This project, initiated by the Union of Italian Women (Unione Donne Italiane, UDI) and then promoted mainly by the Italian Communist Party (Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) assumed the transfer of tens of thousands of children from families in need from southern Italy to relatively more developed north-central regions of the country in order to provide them better living conditions after World War II. This example of the fight against poverty and inequalities seems to be a forgotten symbol of solidarity and renewal of the idea of civil society in post-totalitarian Italy. Moreover, this action for children is not only an example of civic activity, but also an important element in the debate on the traditional division of Italy into North and South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Separated by thousands of kilometers and very different cultures, histories, and economies, Taiwan and Somaliland appear to have little in common. Like Taiwan, Somaliland was created in the aftermath of a civil war. The consequences of those conflicts continue to shape the political status of both countries. Since the declaration of independence from Somalia in 1991, Hargeisa, like Taipei, has been trying to secure its existence, because both states cannot count on international recognition, and their independence is contested by the states from which they seceded. Despite being forced to exist on the periphery of the international community, both de facto states still try to be active participants in global affairs. Relations between unrecognized states are also an element of the game between the main players in this region, the US and China. Washington, concerned about Beijing’s political and economic expansion in the Horn of Africa, is trying to limit it, and one of the elements of this policy is indirect support for the strategically located Somaliland through its ally from Taipei. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Josiah Warren is portrayed as the father of American individualist anarchism and the first American anarchist. This paper investigates his contribution to the development of educational theories and his educational practices, since for Warren, as many anarchists, education is the main path to create a new society. Warren’s educational theories and experiments originated mainly from his stay in New Harmony between 1825 and 1827, where he encountered innovative method of teaching that nurtured children’s independence, invented by Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. Therefore, the aim of this text is to trace how Warren’s philosophy of education was shaped to become an essential element of his theory of stateless political and legal order and how Warren combined concepts of extreme individualism with his economic theories, such as equitable commerce and cost the limit of price. The knowledge of Warren’s New Harmony experience where he encountered William Maclure and Pestalozzian social reformers will enable the reader to better understand the framework of his own concept of education that he practiced at the Spring Hill School in Ohio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Separatist aspirations in Europe are now a captivating issue. Regions like Scotland and Catalonia deserve special attention. The aim of the article is to show differences in the perception of both cases, due to their frequent comparing in journalistic papers. The study consists of two parts that concern Scotland and Catalonia. In each of them the institutional and legal positions of the regions were taken into the consideration. In addition, the course of events in Scotland and Catalonia in 2014 and 2017 was considered in the context of the independence referendums carried out in these regions. The summary of this article consists of comparison of the factors which show that there are no grounds for adapting analogy between Scotland and Catalonia. Factors that have been taken into account are: the legal order and the regulations used to define the legal status of the regions, and also the relations between central and subnational (regional) levels in Scotland and Catalonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the case of Bolzano as a border city situated between Italy and Austria that had to deal with the unresolved issue of “difficult history” and “difficult heritage” after World War II. A particular emphasis is placed on the fascist Victory Monument as a symbol of the antagonism between the Italian and German-speaking population of the city, and the exhibition “BZ ‘18-’45: One Monument, One City, Two Dictatorships” as an example of dealing with “difficult heritage”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decline of paganism in Late Antiquity contributed to the transformation of culture of the roman society. With the victory of Christianity, which became firstly a dominant and later the only accepted religion, the objects of the classical culture became a problematic heritage. The aim of the paper is to present the Christians’ shifting attitude towards the material remains of the pagan culture and the way in which they influenced and shaped the identity of the Christian community. These processes are analyzed on the example of Rome in the period from the 4th to the 6th century. Special attention is paid to the area of the Roman Forum, which was characterized by exceptional accumulation and density of the monuments which constituted the pagan heritage. Since it was the central and representative space, the symbolical character of the forum was very important for the leaders of the local community and its transformations reflect very well the changing attitude of the Christians towards the pagan heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is devoted to the problem of Predappio as a place of contested memory. Benito Mussolini’s hometown is presented in literature as a symbolic site of the divided memory of the fascist regime. In what follows, I will examine the process of shaping the image of Predappio from the fascist period to the present day, as well as strategies implemented by local authorities to overcome the legacy of this difficult heritage and build a positive narrative of the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities play a very important role in contemporary international relations. We introduce the concept of city diplomacy in this paper. Many important themes addressed by cities within the framework of city diplomacy are those related to history. Cities often build their promotional narratives around them. We look at selected contemporary cities and their policies in the area of cultural diversity, taking into account the historical perspective. For many cities, the building of a community of memories and the running of a coherent narrative using history are becoming very important elements in strengthening their identity and image. The article will point to museums as an example of such activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to analyse the increase of significance investment instruments in regional policy of the European Union after 2014. The reasons of this phenomenon have been pointed out in the context of the European Union structural funds. They refer to political interests, economic, social environmental challenges faced by the EU regions under conditions of limitation the EU expenditure on regional development financing. Solutions in the following areas: objectives, priorities and rules of intervention of the structural funds have been presented – those which have an investment dimension. Investment approach is going to be carried on in the next Multiannual Financial Framework after 2020. The paper has been elaborated based on using method of institutional analysis the key EU regional policy legal regulations and existing scientific literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to Dispel Them In this paper I will argue that within the decades since the Velvet Revolution of 1989, the mutual perception of the liberal and leftist political formations negatively affected the prospects of their possible cooperation. A failure of the Polish liberals to cooperate with Poland’s Left was among the main reasons for the inability to form a progressive alliance. More importantly, it left a fertile ground upon which populist and authoritarian movements were able to grow. As a result, Poland, initially presented as a role model of the transition from the conditions of the “real” socialism, has become an oppressive despotic regime, just like Turkey and Hungary. I will attempt to explain the emergence of the non-liberal democracy in Poland by stressing in particular the failure of the Polish liberals to take seriously the problems of social and economic exclusion resulting from the economic shock therapy applied during the transformative decades. Pointing to the tradition of the egalitarian liberalism, largely overlooked in Poland, I will argue that there are both doctrinal resources and practical models which could be tapped by Polish liberals in order to establish a fruitful cooperation with the Poland’s Left. Such a programme would have a chance to succeed on the condition of dispelling the phantom of neoliberalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the article is to provide a critical discussion of the USC Shoah Dimensions in Testimony project initiated and implemented by the USC Shoah Foundation. The article specifically focuses on the opportunities and threats presented by the ongoing dynamic development of the foundation’s project. Drawing on Marianne Hirsch’s concept of postmemory, which explores the spatial and temporal distance that separates successive generations from traumatic events, the article examines whether interactive biographies of survivors can be regarded as objects of postmemory that “preserve” (?) witnesses and their stories for future generations. In addition, the article analyzes how such virtual autobiographical identity narratives allow survivor to externalize their experience and transfer memory to the recipients of their testimonies. Ethical considerations regarding the “use” of near-holographic recordings of survivors are also discussed. Based on the collected research material, the article further explores how memory mediated by these objects affects the perception of past events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oligarchization of economic and political life in the countries created after the collapse of the USSR is one of the main factors determining the forms and dynamics of the transformation of post-Soviet countries. Over the past thirty years, oligarchs in the post-Soviet area have actively participated in the distribution of state property and more. Thanks to the acquired capital resources, they directly or indirectly shape the policy of the countries created on the ruins of the USSR. They participate in the political process as owners of enterprises, sponsors, leaders of political forces, often occupy official state positions, influence legal and institutional solutions, and are a system-creating factor. Significantly, they often become victims of political and economic rivalry in the countries of the former USSR. Analysing the influence of the oligarchy on the internal policy of selected postSoviet countries, the problem of a specific ‘duality of leadership’ emerges which leads not only to mutual penetration and interdependence but also to a clash between the political and economic spheres. In the individual countries of the former USSR, this clash takes different forms and produces different results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the article is to analyse the actions taken by the European Union towards the Western Balkans in the context of the migration crisis. The study assumes that the migration crisis was an important factor accelerating the accession process of the Western Balkan countries to the European Union. In order to fulfil the research goal, an analysis of sources (European Union documents) was conducted. The paper uses elements of the theory of the regional security complex as a theoretical framework. Firstly, the activities of the European Union before the migration crisis are discussed. Next, the paper focuses on presenting the course of the crisis on the Western Balkan route. The further part of the study discusses the actions taken by the EU towards the countries of the Western Balkans in response to the migration crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses post-memory narratives concerning the loss of the eastern provinces of the Reich as well as the flight and expulsion of their German inhabitants as found in the novels of German writers born in the 1950s and 1960s: Hans-Ulrich Treichel's 'Der Verlorene' (1998) and 'Anatolin' (2008), Reinhard Jirgl's 'Die Unvollendeten' (2003) and Ulrike Draesner's 'Sieben Sprünge vom Rand der Welt' (2014). These stories showing far-reaching consequences of the 'expulsion from the East' examine complex mechanisms through which traumatic knowledge about the past is handed down from generation to generation. Consequently, the paper focuses on how the German authors make use of motifs characterizing post-memory or post-traumatic discourse about mourning and loss, and the way the key figures of that discourse structure their texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author analyzes the new social movement labeled „The Inquisitives”. It apparently has its roots in political thought and in philosophy of „the right to know”. Poland adopted the Act on Access to Public Information (2001) to give citizens the formal right to inquire about the public affairs. The information society strives for information about political issues, and about political-public affairs. The author of this paper has stated two hypothesis that (1) a new social movement - the Inquisitives has been occurring in Poland and (2) access to public information has been used for political struggle. The author aims to explore aims, genesis, background, roles, functions, and political values of The Inquisitives within categories such as political scandals, corruption, interest groups, power concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a post-memory oriented analysis of the movies Bent (1997) and Paragraph 175 (2000), both referring to the so-called pink triangles—homosexual men persecuted by the Nazis. The author reverses Marianne Hirsch’s key concept in order to introduce a new one, “the generation of homosexual post-memory”. Theoretical categories of dignity, shame, and profanation are used contextually, to comment on the main themes of the movies and their common interpretations. Seen through the post-memory perspective, films under discussion become substitutes of direct, familial narratives, which for years remained inaccessible due to binding law, social taboos, “institutional homophobia”, and sustained “days of masquerade”. Even though it may not seem obvious at first, the text presents that both titles have the potential to activate the process of trauma transfer and create homosexual post-memory as such. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article remarks about the „adherence” of the past to the present in the context of the film, Demon directed by Marcin Wrona showing that the influence of fiction on memory brings about a lot of changes in the cognition of the relations between the past and the present. The author of the paper suggests that we could or should treat fiction as the cognitive frame of the relations between the past and the present. To be able to strengthen his hypothesis, he analyzes and interprets the film created in the horror genre, which shows complicated JewishPolish relations. The article is a short introduction to the theory of fiction as the cognitive frame of memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contemporary German literature, particularly in the family novels that are key to the post-memory discourse of the past, there is a marked interest in the dysfunctions and deformations of memory associated with ageing processes. Demographic changes lead researchers to consider the determinants and the existing dominant themes and categories of interdisciplinary memory studies. Ulrike Draesner’s 2014 novel, Sieben Sprünge vom Rand der Welt, the subject of this paper, probes the meanders of memory and forgetting, examining their configurations in intergenerational relations. I am interested here in the threads that have been marginalized in the popular discourse on the flight and resettlement of millions of Germans from the eastern provinces of the Reich, which emerge along with the progressive dementia of one of the novel’s main characters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is an attempt at shedding light on the unknown actions of Spanish Board for the Protection of Women. In Francoist Spain, this organization was originally founded to control and to dignify morality of “fallen women” in order to reeducate them in accordance with the National Catholicism ideology propagated by the Francoists. Although the aim of this powerful institution was to reeducate young women, many of them were hidden away in interments and suffered from different kinds of abuse. The violence applied against them was covered up and their voices silenced by authorities. The history of young women, completely unknown among Spanish society, was revealed and denounced by García del Cid Guerra. A former victim, she is the author of three political essays: Ruega por nosotras (2015), Las desterradas hijas de Eva (2012), and La niña del rincón (2018), books on which this article is based to present a different history of the Board for the Protection of Women, remembered by its young victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The material being presented in this paper is a study case – the analysis of an interview which the author conducted with a granddaughter of the Lemkos displaced to Lower Silesia in 1947 as part of Operation Vistula. The narration of the interlocutor overfilled with emotions reveals the traumatic context of her incessant search for an answer to the question: Who am I? Since she did not agree to make the entirety of her talk public, transferring in this way the obligation to protect her name onto the author, the interview became a unique personal experience for the latter at the same time. Therefore, only those fragments of the above-mentioned interview are referred to in the text, which can be juxtaposed against opinions and sentiments of other Lemkos of the third generation. The aim is to make precise the contemporary picture of the Lemkos’ family-based post-memory that is burdened with the sense of harm and humiliation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the issue of repression experienced by the Germans from Serbian Vojvodina after World War II (mostly in the period of 1944-48). The author is particularly interested in the mode in which the stories of these traumatic experiences function in the cross-generational tradition. Thus, the causes of the occurrence of such stories in German families are pinpointed. These considerations are supplemented with the excerpts of the statements made by the German minority representatives still living in Serbia. They serve to illustrate the basic theses of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the article is to analyze the impact of referenda on the increase in the popularity of anti-European sentiments in Switzerland on the example of the activity, in particular during selected referendum campaigns, of the Swiss People’s Party (Schweizerische Volkspartei, SVP). Two research hypotheses will be examined in the article: leading – H1: The Swiss People’s Party uses anti-European slogans to build its position on the political scene; and auxiliary – H2: the Swiss anti-European narrative is primarily related to migration issues. In order to verify or falsify the hypotheses, the following research questions were posed: Q1: Which dimensions of Europeanization arouse the greatest controversy and political disputes in Switzerland?; Q2: What are the programmatic and organizational specifics of the Swiss People’s Party?; Q3: What means does the Swiss People’s Party use in referendum campaigns?; Q4: Are there, and if so, what, specific features of the Swiss anti-European narrative? The answers to the research questions will be contained in the following parts of the text. In the summary, research hypotheses will be resolved and conclusions will be presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

First, the article traces the historical development of and legal regulations related to the instruments of direct democracy in the Second Republic. It details such forms of direct democracy as: the obligatory and optional referendum (Volksabstimmung), consultative referendum (Volksbefragung) and popular legislative initiative (Volksbegehren), as well as provides historical examples of their use. The latter part of the article elaborates on the positions of the main political parties in Austria and federal coalition plans for the years 2003-2020 against the backdrop of popularisation of forms of direct democracy. The research hypothesis adopted assumes that there is no agreement among the Austrian establishment as to whether direct democracy should become a permanent and significant supplement to representative democracy. The scarce interest in referendums and non-binding (consultative) referendums in Austria results from institutional and legal barriers, which make it difficult to initiate any forms of direct democracy, as well as from the huge influence of political parties that support representative democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author of the paper describes the ways in which the Polish press were informed about the Easter Rising, sources of gaining this knowledge (Reuters Agency and European daily newspapers); particularly, he makes analysis of political commentaries which were published in Warsaw, Cracow and Lvov newspapers. He shows a specific character of Polish reaction to the events in Ireland, which was rooted in the analogy of historical destiny of both nations, and gained a particularly strong resonance on the turn of April and May 1916. The author points out to the causes of this resonance of which a gradual change in the attitude of the Polish society towards Germany was the most important. The permission of German authorities-in-occupation for a great national manifestation in Warsaw on 3 May 1916 strengthened the orientation towards the central states which was evidenced by the participation of the political figuring on Germany in this event. Reports of the fall of the uprising in Ireland and the accompanying commentaries coincided with comprehensive accounts of manifestation celebrating 125th anniversary of 3rd May Constitution, which was of significant importance for the reception of the Easter Rising. Emotional stress in Warsaw, strongly stimulating patriotic feelings, created an extremely emotional attitude towards the uprising in Dublin experienced by Poles as a charter almost from their history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of the paper is to outline the concept of word as medium of intergenerational transfer of tradition in cultures of primary orality as formulated in the theory of orality since the 1960s. According to the classic anthropological approach, it emphasizes the orientation on tradition and stability of oral cultures. It also focuses on mechanisms of preserving fidelity and persistence of cultural patterns in the utterances/messages despite the lack of the written form. The basic mechanism here is to grasp messages in the form of epic poetry. Information (technical instruction and moral norms) is depicted in the narrative context, that is, descriptions of heroes’ activities as only by that the listeners’ emotions and – consequently – actions were stimulated. Combining poetry with music, singing, gestures and dancing were also used as mnemotechnical tools – messages affected listeners by rhyme, rhythm, and melody. On the verbal level, shaping messages according to mnemotechnical mechanisms have led to the origins of preservative language (elevated speech) that differed from flexible language used for everyday communication. Its main constitutive trait was dominance of formulas (formulative style) aimed at preserving those messages from critical analysis and being reshaped by the recipients. On the structural level of stories, formulas’ equivalent were typescenes and story-patterns. They were used to secure high fidelity of several performances (repetitions) of particular pieces. Other inherent traits of oral messages are: paratactic composition, redundancy, and Homeric epithets for descriptions of heroes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of climate change has started to be implemented in official strategic documents of the United States (US) in the first decade of the 21st century. This paper describes briefly the hierarchy of the US national security documents and climate change-related definitions. In the main part it makes an analysis of how climate change-related issues were introduced into the US national security strategic documents by the three 21st century American presidents. The paper comes to a conclusion, that climate change is treated as a national security threat and therefore reflected in a number of the US strategic documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]