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The essence of politics is not the struggle for power, the game of influence between parties, the art of governing (as in the “crato-centric” approach), but the conflicting interests, views and aspirations of large collectivities, social communities, the articulation and representation of interests, the pressure on political forces from the collectivities pushing their demands and expectations (this is the “sociocentric” approach). The rulers remain under constant and overwhelming pressure of various, especially widespread beliefs and demands in society, and their attempts to impose their will on the ruled, to enforce the decisions made, always cause – on one scale or another, in a certain intensity – resistance, on the part of the ruled, as well as in their own inner circle. Resistance in both organized groups and communities and resistance in spontaneously synchronized behavior, mass reactions. It has the hallmarks of social resistance if it is characterized by widespread outreach and significance for maintaining the social balance, confirming or changing the balance of power. All influence – as social or strictly political impact – is about exerting pressure, which in turn means overcoming resistance. This conclusion follows from the praxeological theory of human action. The article discusses the concepts of pressure and resistance, social pressure and resistance, and typical forms of this pressure and resistance.
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The article is devoted to the draft law on defence financing, which aims to oblige the government to allocate an amount of at least 2% of GDP to defence in every draft law on the state budget. During the inter-ministerial comment procedure, the Supreme Audit Office expressed doubts whether the draft means anything more than an unenforceable political commitment in relation to the Chamber of Deputies". The article convincingly demonstrates, with the help of legal argumentation and interpretation of the Constitution of the Czech Republic, the Rules of Procedure of the Chamber of Deputies, as well as the established case law of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic, that if approved, the Chamber of Deputies will also be bound by the Defence Financing Act when approving the state budget. To do otherwise would violate constitutionality.
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This article is devoted to a legal analysis of the events of 23 May 2021 involving a Polish Boeing 737-800 with registration number SP-RSM, performing a flight from Athens to Vilnius, specifically the actions of the Belarusian authorities (air traffic services and special services) that led to the forced landing of this aircraft in Minsk, which allowed the arrest of Roman Protasevich and his partner. The basis of the considerations in the first part of the article is the interpretation of the relevant international and Belarusian law in the context of the revealed circumstances surrounding the incident under investigation. The author’s aim was to answer the question of whether the actions of the Belarusian authorities were legal. Ultimately, it was shown that on 23 May 2021, a number of legal rules governing air navigation were violated in relation to the Polish aircraft, which raises the question of who should bear responsibility for it and on the basis of which legal norms. The second part of the article is devoted to this issue. The conclusion is that under international law, the responsibility for the illegal forced landing of Boeing 737-800 should be borne by the Belarusian state, and under internal criminal law regulations - by individual Belarusian officials.
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In the current legal status, during the organisation in Poland of conferences, events, ceremonies or other events, significant due to their scale or rank, especially those of international character, security activities are carried out on the basis of general provisions - primarily pragmatic acts of services and other institutions carrying out these activities or episodic acts. Polish legislation, however, has not introduced regulations permanently defining detailed principles of conduct and the subject and object scope of responsibility for the preparation and security of such events, unless they are qualified as mass events. This article is an attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of the specific legal instruments used in the case of securing this type of events. Based on the analysis carried out, de lege ferenda conclusions have been formulated, including the introduction of a new legal institution permanently into the Polish legal order, referred to for the purposes of this article as a ‘special event’. As a result of granting a given event or celebration the status of a special event, it would be possible to apply legal instruments hitherto found only in episodic acts, but which are of significant importance from the perspective of ensuring a security standard adequate to the threat.
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This article is devoted to a legal analysis of the events of 23 May 2021 involving a Polish Boeing 737-800 with registration number SP-RSM, performing a flight from Athens to Vilnius, specifically the actions of the Belarusian authorities (air traffic services and special services) that led to the forced landing of this aircraft in Minsk, which allowed the arrest of Roman Protasevich and his partner. The basis of the considerations in the first part of the article is the interpretation of the relevant international and Belarusian law in the context of the revealed circumstances surrounding the incident under investigation. The author’s aim was to answer the question of whether the actions of the Belarusian authorities were legal. Ultimately, it was shown that on 23 May 2021, a number of legal rules governing air navigation were violated in relation to the Polish aircraft, which raises the question of who should bear responsibility for it and on the basis of which legal norms. The second part of the article is devoted to this issue. The conclusion is that under international law, the responsibility for the illegal forced landing of Boeing 737-800 should be borne by the Belarusian state, and under internal criminal law regulations - by individual Belarusian officials.
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In the current legal status, during the organisation in Poland of conferences, events, ceremonies or other events, significant due to their scale or rank, especially those of international character, security activities are carried out on the basis of general provisions - primarily pragmatic acts of services and other institutions carrying out these activities or episodic acts. Polish legislation, however, has not introduced regulations permanently defining detailed principles of conduct and the subject and object scope of responsibility for the preparation and security of such events, unless they are qualified as mass events. This article is an attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of the specific legal instruments used in the case of securing this type of events. Based on the analysis carried out, de lege ferenda conclusions have been formulated, including the introduction of a new legal institution permanently into the Polish legal order, referred to for the purposes of this article as a ‘special event’. As a result of granting a given event or celebration the status of a special event, it would be possible to apply legal instruments hitherto found only in episodic acts, but which are of significant importance from the perspective of ensuring a security standard adequate to the threat.
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In the second part of the article on the case of Anders Behring Breivik, the author answers the questions of whether the attack could have been prevented and what impact it had on public sentiment, the nature of the changes to internal security policy in Norway and the performance of the country’s security services. In addition, he analyses Breivik’s actions in terms of whether he meets the criteria of a lone wolf terrorist, as well as describing terrorist attacks prepared or carried out by his imitators.
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The article addresses the issue of the use of images generated with the use of artificial intelligence as part of disinformation in the first year of the Russian invasion of Ukraine (24.02.2022–24.02.2023). Based on the review of the literature, reports and media coverage in Polish, English, Ukrainian and Russian, examples of the use of deepfake in Russian disinformation were highlighted and how such technology was used and what was its significance in a theoretical context.
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The article presents a television image of the migration crisis that took place on the Polish section of the border between the EU and the Republic of Belarus at the turn of August and September 2021, with a particular focus on the phenomenon of polarization in Polish audiovisual media. The study analyses the news coverage of the news services of the three largest Polish television broadcasters: Wiadomości TVP, Wydarzenia Polsat and Fakty TVN. The following methods were used in the analysis of the content of television news: qualitative, quantitative and comparative. The study made it possible to identify (using the framing theory and agenda setting) fundamental differences in the information provided by the most critical tv broadcasters in Poland devoted to this issue. The differences identified by the author were revealed primarily in the editors’ approach to the order in which selected content was presented, in the verbal and visual layer Monika Kożdoń-Dębecka 162 of news about migrants, and in the manner of commenting on the materials of competing stations by individual competing editorial offices. The results of the content analysis provide also insight into the type of polarizing processes in the audiovisual media in Poland.
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The issues discussed in this article refer to the normative status of operational and investigative activities in the context of the Police Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure. Namely, an attempt was made to demonstrate the conditions that affect the legal nature of surveillance, and thus the effective use of operational material in a criminal trial. For this purpose, the covert activity of the Police has been characterized by listing acceptable operational methods and defining operational and reconnaissance activities in the light of the literature on the subject. Therefore, in order to fully illustrate the issues discussed, an analysis was conducted of the legal relationship between the illegal evidence referred to in Art. 168a of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the evidence from operational and reconnaissance activities, on the example of an ordered operational control. The practical dimension of these considerations is discussed from the point of view of evidence proceedings, taking into account the procedural roles and responsibilities of the prosecutor and the court.
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The 2015 immigration crisis became a driving force for movements and parties that negate the current political order, including those that do not conceal their xenophobic slogans and ideas. In retrospect, there are more and more signs that the decision to accept the uncontrolled refugee influx was more an expression of wishful thinking than a rational decision, taking into account the actual political situation. Thus, Europe finds itself in a dangerous situation with far-right movements on the one hand, and radical Islam on the other. Each of these formations legitimises its existence and methods of operation by the existence of the other side, trying to polarise society and create a situation that will somehow force citizens to opt for one of the two options. Paradoxically, Chancellor Merkel’s decision to admit immigrants significantly increased the risk of such a scenario, hence the perception of Islamic and right-wing extremism by the German authorities as posing an equal threat to state security. However, it was only the recent terrorist attacks in October and November 2020 in France and Germany that changed the political narrative.
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The main objective of the article is to present the interdisciplinarity of research on campaign slogans and posters. Initial considerations include presenting the current state of research – it is evident that such efforts have been undertaken since the 1960s, in the context of multiple disciplines such as linguistics, political and communication sciences, as well as market and advertising psychology. The most important aim of the article is to showcase methods which can be used to analyse election campaigns and describe them through the lens of “performance studies.” Various performativity strategies are listed and briefly explained. The author concludes that theatrical analysis can also be applied in a non-theatrical context, especially in campaign research. The subject demands more detailed inquiry, since the election campaign and the political performance must be considered as an essential condition for the existence of a democratic government.
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The authors of this sketch are drawing a panorama of the potential interpretational aspects of understanding the category of freedom in the societies of the post-communist part of Europe. At the same time, they attempt to define the horizon for finding the answer to the identity-forming question that is key for this georegion, i.e. about the essence and the specificity of processes, phenomena and mechanisms of emancipation of culture and societies of post-totalitarian European countries from the legacy of World War II, and particularly its post-Yalta consequences which embedded the countries and nations of Central, East and South-East Europe in the sphere of imperial subordination of Soviet dominance for nearly another half a century.
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The purpose of this paper is to discuss a problem of applicability of postcolonial studies/postcolonial perspective to history of Polish society and wider — East Central Europe, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries. In the first part, the main standpoints in Polish discussion are identified and the certain attempt of an application of categories of postcolonial studies are critically analyzed and discussed. Furthermore, in part two, the typology of social dominations (political, economic and cultural and variants of external subordinations) based on non-Marxian historical materialism is constructed in order in the chapter fourth to interpret the developmental trajectory of East-Central European societies. In the light of the presented interpretation, the ‘resolving ability’ of postcolonial perspective is too weak to be applied without essential modification to the history of societies living in this region of Europe, where the mosaic of different configurations of class domination shaped and evolved.
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The study on social media platforms and challenges to democracy, the rule of law andfundamental rights addresses a number of issues relevant in the current context, namelyhate speech, disinformation and media pluralism. These play a key role in the functioning ofdemocracy, as they affect the participation of rights holders in decision-making. Individuals who are marginalised, disinformed and who do not have access to relevant sources of information will not be able to truly engage in society, and their fundamental rights as well as democracy and the rule of law will suffer. The study refers to a wide range of studies, research and legislation in the field and makes a number of recommendations to combat hate speech, disinformation and lack of media pluralism. As the study was carried out at the request of the Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs of the European Parliament, it takes into account the existing legislative framework at EU level.
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Article published in our magazine No. 6/1923. This is the contribution of Captain Rudolf Dejmek "Remembrance of the Battle of Zborov". You can view, read or download this and other historical articles on the website of our magazine www.vojenskerozhledy.cz in the archive menu.
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The aim of this study was to identify the circumstances in which the Common Agricultural Policy, once the most centralised policy in the EU, changed, after 2013, into one which is the most decentralised and diversified. The following hypothesis was put forward that the introduction of significant flexibility in the CAP reflects the search by Member States for the most effective ways to identify and implement their own preferences on the EU forum. The research was conducted from the perspective of the liberal intergovernmentalism theory based on a critical analysis of the respective literature and the applicable strategic documents and regulations. In the study, a large heterogeneity of agricultural sectors in the EU has been shown, resulting from several enlargements of the EU. Consequently, it has led to an increasing diversification of national preferences, signifi cantly affecting the shape of the CAP reforms proposed on the EU forum. Other important drivers influencing the changes in the CAP were the introduction of a co¬decision procedure in the area of agriculture, along with the increasing impact of Member States on the decision-making process since the economic crisis of 2008–2009. As a consequence, EU budget negotiations have been dominated by narrowly-defined sectoral and national interests. The concentration of Member States on an acceptable net position contributes to maintaining the status quo in terms of the expenditure part of the EU budget or its reduction. Thus, there is a risk that the deficit of European integration in areas assuming the distribution of costs and benefi ts between Member States may have a negative impact on the future of the EU.
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An attempt to shake the established world order of Western society, based on International Law, by the waging of war, has reached its peak. This is evidenced not only by Russia’s war in Ukraine, but also by Russia’s political attempts to destabilise Moldova’s approach to Western values, along with the recent unrest in Georgia, where there is a risk of restricting individual freedom of expression, and the constant threats against the Baltic States. Conflicts of values have existed throughout world history, but the events we are witnessing now are not an accident, but a systematic reiteration of Russia’s influence, with the aim of maintaining its influence and, perhaps, increasing its power in the region. The aim of this article is to show the clash of contemporary values in the current socio-political situation from the perspectives of theory and practice. Russian political leaders had long used alarming language in their rhetoric, up to and including the moment of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In Europe and throughout the Western world there was a belief in universal values with peaceful/stable global institutions, a belief which has proved to be misguided. On the other hand, military aggression against a free and independent country can be interpreted as a direct and clear attempt to destabilise the values of Western civilisation, without which no democratic society can exist. The timing of the military aggression was chosen after a decline in civic confidence from the perspective of the COVID-19 crisis; European countries were experiencing a reduction in political activity among their citizens, dissatisfaction with the political elite, and a certain decline in confidence in the EU institutions. The course of the pandemic reflected the lack of critical thinking in societies, as individuals were also at risk of manipulation in the information sphere. The Russian invasion of Ukraine caused some indignation in the Western world and a failure to react quickly to the rapid turn of events. After the first year of the war, the EU Member States managed not only to change their position but also to give unwavering and unequivocal support to the victim of the war, namely, Ukraine. So far, the EU slogan “United in Diversity” has become “United in Solidarity”, helping Ukraine to hold on and possibly win the war against the aggressor state, because no war, especially a war of values, ends on the front lines. As a result of current events, EU and transatlantic cooperation has undergone a major transformation involving extensive cooperation, a clear position on international law, and a desire to preserve and strengthen Western values.
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