![Report on the Status of Implementation of UNSC Resolution 1325 in the Western Balkans](/api/image/getbookcoverimage?id=document_cover-page-image_476747.jpg)
We kindly inform you that, as long as the subject affiliation of our 300.000+ articles is in progress, you might get unsufficient or no results on your third level or second level search. In this case, please broaden your search criteria.
Police organizations present a unique paradox in modern democracies: they are guarantors of security and protectors of fundamental freedoms; and, at the same time, they are a potent threat to those same liberties. Perhaps no other servants of the state carry so much responsibility and require so much public trust. The police must be able to exercise a wide range of lawful powers - including the use of deadly force - in order to protect citizens and ensure law and order; and, at the same time, they must act in a manner that fully respects the law, civil liberties and basic human rights. The extent to which the police get the balance right is a recognized indicator of true democracy in a society. That indicator of true democracy is often measured by the level of public trust in the police. The publication of this IDM research report is both welcome and timely, as a means of measuring public trust in the Albanian State Police (ASP) and indicating the strength of democracy in this country. A wealth of data has been provided which will assist in understanding public perceptions of the police in greater depth and detail than in any previous period of Albania’s history. This data will provide a much-needed factual basis for debate about integrity within the ranks of the ASP, and inform the process of police reform and restructuring. The IDM information will also provide added impetus to the revised Code of Ethics and the growing desire within the Government to eradicate police corruption through an uncompromising adherence to moral and ethical principles.
More...
The moral obligation of solidarity – present in every religion – and the wayit functions in the relations between states, nations and people belongingto foreign ethnic, national and religious groups, have been discussed in theinternational arena for several years.The rule of solidarity is an ethical imperative that gives the right and imposesthe obligation to act whenever a human being experiences harm thataffects his mental and physical well-being or threatens his life. Accordingto John Paul II, “Solidarity is (…) a firm and persevering determination tocommit oneself to the common good; that is to say to the good of all and ofeach individual, because we are all really responsible for all”1. Tenzin Gjaco,the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet says that when people demand the rights andfreedoms they cherish, they should not also forget about responsibilitiesthey have towards other people. “If we accept that others have an equal rightto peace and happiness as ourselves do we not have a responsibility to helpthose in need?”2. He claims that if we close our eyes to the suffering of othersto enjoy our freedom and success, we reject the responsibility. That is why it isabsolutely necessary to develop interest in the problems of others - individualsand entire nations3.
More...
Podstawowym celem monografii jest ocena wpływu unijnej polityki regionalnej na zrównoważony rozwój euroregionów zachodniego pogranicza Polski. W publikacji podjęto problematykę rozwoju regionalnego oraz opisano zadania polityki regionalnej Unii Europejskiej w niwelowaniu dysproporcji w rozwoju poszczególnych regionów. Następnie omówiono zagadnienia związane ze współpracą transgraniczną i rolą euroregionów w rozwoju peryferyjnych obszarów transgranicznych. Końcowe rozważania dotyczą statystycznej oceny wpływu funduszy unijnych na zrównoważony rozwój euroregionów. W tym celu stworzono wskaźnik zrównoważonego rozwoju euroregionów, a także przeprowadzono statystyczną analizę wpływu zmiennych cząstkowych na jego poziom z wykorzystaniem wskaźnika korelacji Pearsona i statystycznej analizy regresji.
More...
Czy NATO, istniejące już ponad 60 lat, pozostaje nadal fundamentalną strukturą polityczno-wojskową gwarantującą bezpieczeństwo i stabilizację w Europie - jak było to przez minione dziesięciolecia? W jakim stopniu Pakt powinien być elementem i czynnikiem bezpieczeństwa w skali globalnej - czego wymagają wyzwania współczesności? Czy w obecnych warunkach i wobec nowych zagrożeń NATO może jeszcze skutecznie działać, być wiarygodnym aliansem? Między innymi takie pytania należy postawić, zanim przystąpi się do opracowania nowej doktryny strategicznej Sojuszu. Ta z kolei musi rozstrzygnąć kilka zasadniczych kwestii, ważnych dla zdynamizowania NATO i wyprowadzenia go z krytycznego punktu.
More...
The research objective undertaken in the present work is the analysis of the most important issues regarding the main reasons and manifestations of the crises occurring in the EU in the second decade of the 21st century, together with indicating the possibilities of their overcoming, and discussing their most important implications as far as the further realization of the integration project is concerned. It should be mentioned that only some of the consequences of the EU crises which have occurred in the second decade of the 21st century can be successfully diagnosed. Others will surely set in, only in a shorter or a longer term. Moreover, there is the difficulty with a precise separation of some reasons (sources) from the symptoms of the crises (e.g. the deficit of democracy in the EU). It remains a fact that further process of European integration has become much less predictable than it was a couple of years ago. There emerge various, more or less probable, scenarios of the functioning or disintegration of the EU and its main consequences for the UE member countries, as well as for both the European and the global international system. In the present work, the expressions “the EU crisis” and “the crises in the EU” are used interchangeably. Typically, in literature on the subject these terms are used with different scopes of meaning. The authors of the studies devoted to this problem, including the authors of some of the texts printed in the present volume, draw attention to the fact that a crisis or crises in the EU may be of fragmentary nature, concerning some levels or dimensions of integration within the EU. They claim that the crises in the EU do not have negative influence on the functioning of the Union as a whole. The EU crisis, on the other hand, refers to the crisis of the entire system, the crisis that is spatial and structural, and which poses a threat to the very existence of the EU. It should be kept in mind, though, that the multiplicity and the intensity of the crises, as well as the fact that there have been numerous crises overlapping in a relatively short time in the second decade of the 21st century, have resulted in the situation where the crises in the EU transform, as it were, into the crisis of the EU. Therefore, we have to do with the situation when the crises in the EU in consequence become the EU crisis. The present volume contains 24 articles divided into four parts. The allocation of some articles to a given part of the volume is fairly arbitrary due to the fact that the authors of some texts printed in the present work discuss the issues that concern both the reasons or symptoms, as well as the consequences of the crises under consideration. Because of this, several articles might as well belong to other parts of the volume as well. In the first part, entitled “The theoretical aspects of the crises in the European Union”, there can be found articles written by Zbigniew D. Czachór, Janusz Ruszkowski, Józef M. Fiszer, and Piotr Tosiek. Part Two, entitled “The determinants of crises in the European Union”, contains the studies in which the authors have exposed some internal (intra‑Union) as well as external determinants of the crises occurring in the EU. In this part of the volume there are articles by Dariusz Milczarek and Olga Barburska, Rafał Riedel, Jerzy Jaskiernia, Katarzyna Czornik, and Agnieszka Miarka. The most extensive part of the volume is Part Three, “The symptoms of the crises in the European Union”. Here, one can find texts written by Jacek Pietrucha, Sławomir Czech, Andrzej Podrazy, Michał Dulak, Bogdan Góralczyk, Ryszard Zięba, Mieczysław Stolarczyk, Joanna Ciesielska‑Klikowska, and Anna Pacześniak. In the final part of the present work there are articles by Agnieszka Nitszke, Justyna Zając, Artur Adamczyk, Monika Szynol, Magdalena Tusińska, and Tomasz Kubin. The present study is addressed to a wide range of readers. The editors of the volume hope that the articles contained in the present publication will contribute to the enhancement of the knowledge concerning the main reasons, symptoms, and implications of the crises occurring in the European Union in the second decade of the 21st century. They wish for the present book to become a significant form of scholarly participation from various academic centres of our country in the on‑going discussion devoted to this problem and the voice in the discourse concerning not only the fundamental issues of integration politics of Poland and other EU member countries, but also the matters of preliminary importance for the politics of the security of Poland and other countries, as well as international security in Europe and the world. Because further regression, and all the more the disintegration of the EU, would have difficult to overestimate implications not only for the European international system, but also for the international system globally.
More...
Good manners and ethical conduct are extremely important in interpersonal relationships in general, but they gain special significance in international and interstate relations at various levels. An example, especially on the professional level, can be diplomatic behaviour, which constitutes a specific compilation of historical traditions and contemporary good practices, based on legal and customary norms. // The book „Professional Etiquette & Diplomatic Protocol” by Andrzej Szteliga in an accessible way presents and discusses classical principles of savoir-vivre, professional and social etiquette as well as basic issues of diplomatic protocol and foreign service. Therefore, many of its pages contain such terms as ethics, professional etiquette, savoirvivre, diplomatic protocol, foreign service - explained theoretically and discussed in practice. The book, due to its character as an academic textbook, has a unique cognitive and educational value, not only for students, but also for politicians (especially young), local government officials and managers. The text of the publication is enriched by numerous photographs and situational drawings. // The work presents in detail the classic principles of savoir-vivre, i.e. issues related to greetings and farewells, getting to know one another and establishing contacts and the role of business cards in this process, conducting private talks and official speeches, the mastery of diplomatic, official and private correspondence, precedence (seniority) in professional and social relations, and traditional forms of address in various environments. // Further thematic blocks are related to the issues of the diplomatic protocol, i.e. to the basic elements of diplomatic and consular law, the characteristics of the rules governing foreign contacts (not only diplomatic and consular), the organisation of visits and meetings, the preparation and dispatch of invitations, participation in official and accompanying programmes, conducting negotiations and concluding agreements, a diplomatic ceremony, a flag protocol, placement of officials and guests and the order of speeches, organisation and operation of the foreign service in Poland and abroad (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and bilateral and multilateral posts), awards and distinctions.// The substantive part of the work ends with a presentation of typical improper behaviour and gaffes, as well as advice on how to avoid them.
More...
Die vorliegende Monografie über ein neues Paradigma für lokale und regionale Entwicklung in Polen und Deutschland widmet sich einem Problem, das viele lokale und regionale Gebietskörperschaften in Polen und Deutschland gemeinsam haben. Es gilt, Lösungen für die Aufgabe zu finden, die eigene Wettbewerbsfähigkeit zu steigern und sich attraktiv für Investoren und Bewohner zu machen. Die Schrift enthält neuartige Vorschläge, die sich unabhängig von den grundlegenden Differenzen des Staatsaufbaus (Zentral- bzw. Bundesstaat) in die Praxis umsetzen lassen. Hauptziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war es, eine Art und Weise zu zeigen, wie sich die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit von Regionen von unten aufbauen lässt. Als Grundlage dieser Wettbewerbsfähigkeit von Regionen wurde für die Bedürfnisse der Gemeindeselbstverwaltung in Polen und Deutschland ein neues Paradigma lokaler Entwicklung geschaffen, das sich auf eine bessere Qualität öffentlicher Dienstleistungen stützt. Der Weg hierzu ist, in das Management organisatorisch-rechtlicher Formen die Theorie der Transaktionskosten als Element einzuführen. Vor diesem Hintergrund wurde ein neues Paradigma regionaler Entwicklung geschaffen, das auf der Zusammenarbeit der lokalen und regionalen Selbstverwaltung mit den öffentlich-rechtlichen Industrie- und Handelskammern beruht. Der erste Abschnitt bringt einen eigenen Vorschlag für ein neues Paradigma lokaler Entwicklung, das sich auf die erwerbswirtschaftliche Tätigkeit der öffentlichen Hand auf kommunaler Ebene stützt. Bei der Analyse der Rahmenbedingungen für die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit kommunaler Selbstverwaltung war es auch erforderlich zu untersuchen, auf welche Weise die Politik lokaler Entwicklung auf diese Wettbewerbsfähigkeit zurückwirkt. Durch die Bestimmung ihrer Rolle, ihrer Voraussetzungen und ihrer Funktionen im institutionellen Umfeld und auf Grundlage einer Managementstrategie auf mehreren Ebenen (multi-level governance) wurde ein neues Paradigma lokaler Entwicklung geschaffen, das auf der Vernetzung polnischer und deutscher Gemeinden beruht, denen es gelungen ist, die Transaktionskosten zu senken. Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt die Hypothese auf, dass das Betreiben erwerbswirtschaftlicher Tätigkeit der öffentlichen Hand, auch außerhalb kommunaler Dienststellen, durch lokale und regionale Gebietskörperschaften lokale Entwicklung bewirken kann. Es käme dann darauf an, die entsprechende Rechts- und Organisationsform zu wählen, um öffentliche Aufgaben im Rahmen erwerbswirtschaftlicher Tätigkeit zu erfüllen und so eine institutionelle Umgebung der zu realisierenden öffentlichen Aufgabe zu schaffen. Um die aufgestellte Hypothese zu verifizieren, werden im zweiten Abschnitt organisatorisch-rechtliche Formen auf ihre organisatorisch-rechtliche Struktur und deren Einfluss auf die Qualität der Erfüllung öffentlicher Aufgaben hin untersucht. Gegenstand der komparativen Analyse war die Tätigkeit der kommunalen Selbstverwaltung auf der Ebene urbaner Ballungsgebiete, in denen verschiedene Kommunen im Rahmen von Zweckverbänden, Vereinbarungen oder Vereinen zusammenwirken. Im zweiten Abschnitt liegt das Hauptaugenmerk auf Regionalpolitik und ihren Voraussetzungen. Sie wird als Faktor behandelt, der zwischen unzureichend entwickelten Teilen des Staatsgebiets für Chancengleichheit sorgt. Die Komplexität, Kontinuität und Dynamik der Prozesse zur Erhöhung der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit erforderte die Darstellung, worin Wettbewerbsfähigkeit von Regionen besteht, welche Modelle es von ihr gibt und welche Indizes zu ihrer Messung dienen können. Wenn eine Region attraktiv sein soll, setzt dies auf der lokalen Ebene das Vorhandensein bestimmter strategischer Ressourcen voraus, die einer Region erlauben, im nationalen oder internationalen Kontext eine herausgehobene Position zu erreichen. Als Ressource einer Region gilt dabei alles, was die lokalen und regionalen Gebietskörperschaften sowie die wirtschaftlichen Selbstverwaltungsorgane besitzen oder wissen, und was ihnen ermöglicht, Strategien zur Verbesserung der wirtschaftlichen Ergebnisse der gegebenen Region zu erstellen und in die Praxis umzusetzen. Auf dieser Grundlage wurde das neue Paradigma regionaler Entwicklung erstellt.
More...
During the Soviet era, the lands of contemporary Central Asia were largely terra incognito for the outside world. Located deep within the Soviet Union, the region was isolated for much of the 20th century. During this period, Soviet Central Asia (the Uzbek, Tajik, Turkmen and Kyrgyz republics) and Kazakhstan (which was seen as administratively separate from the other four republics) were to an extraordinary degree controlled by Moscow and the institutions of Communist power. The sudden and dramatic collapse of the USSR under Mikhail Gorbachev at the end of 1991 thus marked an historic moment for Central Asia for it exposed the region almost overnight to the international community.In July 2007, the European Union initiated a fundamentally new approach to the countries of Central Asia. The launch of the EU Strategy for Central Asia signals a qualitative shift in the Union’s relations with a region of the world that is of growing importance as a supplier of energy, is geographically situated in a politically sensitive area – between China, Russia, Iran, Afghanistan and the south Caucasus – and contains some of the most authoritarian political regimes in the world. In this volume, leading specialists from Europe, the United States and Central Asia explore the key challenges facing the European Union as it seeks to balance its policies between enhancing the Union’s energy, business and security interests in the region while strengthening social justice, democratisation efforts and the protection of human rights. With chapters devoted to the Union’s bilateral relations with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan and to the vital issues of security and democratisation, ‘Engaging Central Asia’ provides the first comprehensive analysis of the EU’s strategic initiative in a part of the world that is fast emerging as one of the key regions of the 21st century.
More...
Regulatory agencies such as Europol, Frontex, Eurojust, CEPOL as well as bodies such as OLAF, have over the past decade become increasingly active within the institutional architecture constituting the EU’s Area of Freedom, Security and Justice and are now placed at the forefront of implementing and developing the EU’s internal security model. A prominent feature of agency activity is the large-scale proliferation of‘knowledge’ on security threats via the production of policy tools such as threat assessments, risk analyses, periodic and situation reports. These instruments now play a critical role in providing the evidence-base that supports EU policy making,with agency-generated ‘knowledge’ feeding political priority settingand decision-making within the EU’s new Internal Security Strategy (ISS).
More...
Third-country nationals seeking protection have no EU-wide legal channels at present for entering EU territory and triggering protection mechanisms under the Common European Asylum System. As a result, many embark on hazardous journeys, with concomitant risks and loss of human life. The absence of ‘protection-sensitive’ mechanisms for accessing EU territory, along with EU external and extraterritorial border and migration management and control, undermine Member States' refugeeand human rights obligations. Humanitarian visas may offer a remedy in this regard by enabling third-country nationals to apply in situ for entry to EU territory on humanitarian grounds or becauseof international obligations. This study asks whether the existing Visa Code actually obliges Member States to issue humanitarian visas.
More...
This paper examines key developments in the field of European border surveillance in the Mediterranean. By asking,‘Whose Mare?’, we focus on rule of law challenges stemming from these developments in a post-Lisbon EU. The developments examined are the Italian Navy-led Mare Nostrum operation, the debates over European ‘exit strategies’ for this operation and the ensuing launch of the Frontex Triton joint operation (JO). The recently adopted Regulation on Frontex sea border surveillance operations is also presented as a key development to understand the rule of law challenges. Moreover, the adoption of the European Union Maritime Security Strategy (MSS) and the development of several maritime surveillance systems in the EU highlight that a wide range of actors seeks authority over this field.
More...
This study provides a comparative analysis of the national legal regimes and practices governing the use of intelligence information as evidence in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden. It explores notably how national security can be invoked to determine the classification of information and evidence as 'state secrets' in court proceedings and whether such laws and practices are fundamental rights and rule of law-compliant. The study finds that, in the majority of Member States under investigation, the judiciary is significantly hindered in effectively adjudicating justice and guaranteeing the rights of the defence in ‘national security’ cases. The research also illustrates that the very term ‘national security’ is nebulously defined across the Member States analysed, with no national definition meeting legal certainty and “in accordance with the law” standards and a clear risk that the executive and secret services may act arbitrarily.
More...
In the wake of the disclosures surrounding PRISM and other US surveillance programmes, this paper assesses the large-scale surveillance practices by a selection of EU member states: the UK, Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Given the large-scale nature of these practices, which represent a reconfiguration of traditional intelligence gathering, the paper contends that an analysis of European surveillance programmes cannot be reduced to a question of the balance between data protection versus national security, but has to be framed in terms of collective freedoms and democracy. It finds that four of the five EU member states selected for in-depth examination are engaging in some form of large-scale interception and surveillance of communication data, and identifies parallels and discrepancies between these programmes and the NSA-run operations.
More...
The summer of 2010 will long be remembered in Europe for what has become known as “l’affaire des Roms” inFrance. The case has revealed profound institutional tensions at EU level between the French government and the European Commission and the European Parliament. The political spectacle that has unfolded has only complicated and added confusion to the actual nature and relevance of the affair from an EU perspective. In particular, it has obscured the legality of the eviction and expulsion of Romanian and Bulgarian nationals of Roma origin from France in light of that country’s obligations in the context of EU citizenship and free movement law, as well as its profound implications for fundamental rights protection. The Roma affair has constituted a severe test of the legitimacy of the EU’s AFSJ and the overall effectiveness of the EU’s legal landscape. The developments in France have demonstrated the limits ofcurrent EU enforcement mechanisms in providing a swift and depoliticized answer to contested national measures whose compliance with EU law and fundamental rights remains questionable.
More...
The digital environment is an increasingly important dimension of the contemporary battle space. While we have been focusing our attention on cyber-threats and systemic resilience, less attention has been paid to challenges arising from the malicious use of openly available digital information regarding military organisations. An adversary does not need significant resources or advanced cyber capabilities to pose a threat in the digital domain, when social media and digital technologies are easily accessible, providing information and infrastructure that can be exploited by anyone with access to a computer and an internet connection. For example, open-source methods can be used to geolocate military units, social media can be used to augment influence activities, and social data can be scraped for valuable intelligence.
More...
This publication is the first in a series of four publications that present the findings of the research project “Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine and Cross-border Cooperation between Slovakia and Ukraine: Implications and Opportunities”. The research project was implemented by the Institute of Political Science at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Prešov with the support of the Slovak Research and Development Agency over the period of 2016 ‒ 2019 (project no. APVV-15-0369).
More...
This publication is the second of a series of four publications that present the findings of the research project “Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine and Cross-border Cooperation between Slovakia and Ukraine: Implications and Opportunities”. The research project was implemented by the Institute of Political Sciences at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Prešov and supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency overthe period of 2016 ‒ 2019 (project no. APVV-15-0369).This publication includes a set of studies that presents the findings of theresearch into the impact of intergovernmental relations between Slovakia and Ukraine, including national actors in both countries, on the development of cross-border cooperation between regional and local actors at a common border. The aim of the research was to find out how bilateral intergovernmental relations between Slovakia and Ukraine have been developing in terms of creating opportunities and/or obstacles for the development of cross-border cooperation at regional and local level.
More...
This publication represents the third of a series of four publications that present the findings of the research project “The Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine and Cross-border Cooperation between Slovakia and Ukraine: Implications and Opportunities”. The research project was implemented by the Institute of Political Science at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Prešov and supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency over the period of 2016 ‒ 2019 (project no. APVV-15-0369). The set of studies presented in these publications offers analysis of the policies and preferences of regional and local actors who are putting questions of cross border cooperation into practice. Through this analysis, targeted specifically on the regional and local levels, it will be possible to identify, in addition toclear obstacles, the specific opportunities or challenges for Slovak-Ukrainian cross-border cooperation in accordance with the institutional framework of relations between Slovakia and Ukraine on the intergovernmental level and EU-Ukrainian relations on the supranational level. We have attempted to find answers to the question of whether regional actors at the level of the Prešov Self-Governing Region, the Košice Self-Governing Region and the Transcarpathian Region of Ukraine, as well as actors at local level (towns and municipalities, including institutions, businesses and non-governmentalagencies), are able, in terms of their capacities and capabilities, to fully utilize the structure of the political opportunity created by exogenous factors (onthe supranational and national level of relations of the EU and Slovakia with Ukraine) in order to establish mechanisms for cross-border cooperation along the common border. Research into this subject issue also includes (among other things) the essential need to assess existing experience and practice inthe area of cross-border cooperation on the part of regional and local actors on both sides of the border and to examine their perceptions, motivations orstrategies in more detail. Starting from this framework, the project’s research goal was focused on understanding the individual associations between how regional and local actors perceive cross-border cooperation and the border per se. In addition, it is important to know and understand how institutions and individual subjects on the third level mutually and separately prioritize the importance of cross-border cooperation, what influences their perceptions of cross-border cooperation and the border itself, as well as their perceptions of the inhabitants on the other side of the common border. At the same time this is a mapping of those strategies that actors on the regional and local level set for developing cross-border cooperation with partners across the border, as well as towards their own national governments with the aim of achieving the most favourable conditions for the development of cross-border cooperation on the Slovak-Ukrainian border.
More...