Politeja

Front Matter

2024-03-08T13:12:04+01:00

Idealized Influence of President Volodymyr Zelensky

2024-03-14T13:28:13+01:00

This article examines the leadership of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. It applies three features of Bernard M. Bass’s concept of idealized influence of transformational leadership: high ethical conduct, collective sense of mission, and perception of confidence. The author considers the results of the analysis and explains why these findings are important. While the study covers the political-scientific analysis of President Zelensky’s leadership, its particular novelty lies in the use of Bass’s theory of transformational leadership, formulated on the basis of management and organization science.

Can Memory and Truth Be Tailored by Law? Memory Law and the Right to the Truth in Rwanda

2024-03-14T13:28:10+01:00

The concept of memory laws has been gaining attention for the past few years. It is commonly defined as legal provisions governing history, including repressive measures against the denial of past crimes. Memory laws also include stateapprovedinterpretations of crucial historical events, the law establishing state holidays and commemoration of victims of past atrocities. The laws have a big part in transition and reconciliation, however, they may also lead to a distortion of historical truth. The main purpose of the paper is to analyse the coexistence between memory laws and the right to the truth in the context of human rights violations and international crimes. For that reason, firstly, the legal nature of the truth and memory under international law is evaluated. Secondly, the Rwandan legal provisions on genocide are analysed and comments are made on the elements of the Rwandan traditions concerning the past. That example serves to show the danger of the politicization of memory laws. Finally, the paper is an attempt to answer the question whether the conjunction of the right to the truth and memory laws is necessary.

Liberal-constitutional Backsliding of Democracy and the Threat of the Pandemic

2024-03-14T13:28:07+01:00

In this article we argue that what is called today a ‘democratic backsliding’ or de-consolidation should be analysed, at least in some cases, as a liberal-constitutional backsliding for which the pandemic of Covid-19 adds a new impetus and creates the situation where violation of constitutionality of law might become a norm. In our theoretical considerations, we propose to examine this problem from two interconnected perspectives: the tension between the liberal and the democratic components of liberal democracy, often overlooked by the dominant democratic theory, and constitutionalism as the major safeguard of individual rights and liberties that limits democratic sovereignty, or the will of the people expressed by democratic representation. To better understand the nature of the current crisis of liberal-constitutional backsliding, we refer to Carl Schmitt’s concept of ‘the administrative state’ where the dominant legal act is an administrative decree which does not require constitutional legitimacy or even the guarantee that it expresses the will of the majority. Our empirical considerations focus on the case of the liberal-constitutional backsliding in Poland exacerbated by the pandemic, which provides a good illustration of how the tensions within the liberal-democratic model itself can be used to justify democratic sovereignty as the only source of political legitimacy.

Model podmiotowego rozwoju miast. Analiza politologiczno-prawna

2024-03-14T13:28:05+01:00

THE MODEL OF SUBJECTIVE DEVELOPMENT OF CITIES: POLITICAL AND LEGAL ANALYSIS

The development policy of the cities is analyzed and studied mainly with the help of concepts typical of geography, spatial economy and sociology. The article proposes to look at this issue through the prism of political science. The epistemology of the concept of political subjectivity, the theory of rational choice, the new institutionalism and system analysis will be used. Based on the conclusions from the theoretical part, the authors distinguish four criteria for the political analysis of the position of cities in Poland. They are: the criterion of resources and interests, the criterion of efficiency, the criterion of relations, and the criterion of coordination. Those criteria relate to, i.a. activities of political authorities in relation to cities, the influence they have on implementation of functions assigned to them, as well as the way in which the role of cities in the state’s political system changes. Based on the analysis of the four criteria, it is possible to determine whether cities are to a greater extent subjects or objects of activities of the central center of political power in the state. Using a schematic matrix of city development models proposed by the author, it is then possible to determine whether, in political terms, we are dealing with a subjective development of cities in Poland.

Upolitycznione dziedzictwo – wyzwania XXI wieku

2024-03-14T13:28:51+01:00

No abstract is avaliable in this article.

Dekolonialność a nuklearne dziedzictwo Czarnobyla

2024-03-14T13:28:49+01:00

DECOLONIALITY AND THE NUCLEAR HERITAGE OF CHORNOBYL

In the early spring of 2022, images from the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone circulated around the world, awakening a dormant fear of the nuclear threat in Western societies. The reality of the unpredictability of the consequences of military action in the Zone unveiled new perspectives for interpreting the Chornobyl legacy in the context of causality – from the strategies of physical protection to deconstruction of existing narrations. The article aims to conceptualise the dissonances of the Chornobyl nuclear heritage in the optics of the postcolonial perspective. The discussion begins with a presentation of the main assumptions of critical heritage studies as a framework for a presentation of Chornobyl as a cultural nuclear heritage. The analysis of a case study offers an insight into the process of revisiting heritage in relation to changing socio-political conditions. It also contributes to the wider discussion on decoloniality of the post-soviet
world.

Między potępieniem a (n)ostalgią

2024-03-14T13:28:47+01:00

BETWEEN CONDEMNATION AND (N)OSTALGIA: ON THE POLITISATION OF THE LEGACY OF GDR IN REUNIFIED GERMANY

Reunified Germany emerged on the map of Europe in 1990. At first, settling an account with the communist Germany proceeded in a simplified way – everything about them seemed evil. Over time, this judgement became less biased and more comprehensive. At the beginning of the 21st century, the “trend for the East”, which was called Ostalgie, prevailed. From that point forward, dealing with their past balances between a sentimental journey to the time of the German Democratic Republic and a harsh assessment of that reality. Until this day, modern Germany constitutes two unequal parts, as the polls confirm. They continue to be divided by a mental barrier — an invisible ‘wall in people’s heads’, and many residents of the new lands still feel foreign in their own country. Their dissatisfaction is consciously and effectively exploited by the populist Alternative for Germany party. How the East German heritage becomes an instrument of political influence is the leading question of this article. The sources, mainly German, consist primarily of subject literature, documents, statistical reports and analysis of public opinion research centres, as well as comments of experts and press.

Dyskursy historyczne państw bałtyckich jako instrument ochrony młodych demokracji po rozpadzie ZSRR

2024-03-14T13:28:43+01:00

HISTORICAL DISCOURSES OF THE BALTIC STATES AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR THE PROTECTION OF YOUNG DEMOCRACIES AFTER THE COLLAPSE OF THE USSR: SELECTED ASPECTS

The aim of the article is to discuss selected elements of the historical policy of the Baltic states, tracing the process of shaping their official historical discourse – from post-Soviet nationalist narratives and the glorification of interwar independence to the pro-Western freedom narrative. The starting point of the research is the hypothesis that the top-down memorisation processes of the Baltic states, the centre of which were anti-Sovietism and nationalism, were an effective instrument for protecting the young democratic systems in the Baltic Sea against both the neo-imperial attempts of Putin’s Russia and the autocratic inclinations characteristic of other countries created after the collapse of the USSR.

Progresywny cykl peruwiańskiej polityki kulturowej

2024-03-14T13:28:40+01:00

PROGRESSIVE CYCLE OF PERUVIAN CULTURAL POLICY: PARTICIPATION AND THE RIGHT OF PRIOR CONSULTATION REGARDING THE CULTURAL HERITAGE OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

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.

„Oddziedziczanie” dziedzictwa

2024-03-14T13:28:37+01:00

“INHERITING” HERITAGE: REMOVAL OF SOVIET MONUMENTS IN THE BALTIC STATES

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.

Back Matter

2024-03-11T09:37:19+01:00

„Plan Marshalla” dla Ukrainy

2024-03-14T13:28:35+01:00

„MARSHALL PLAN” FOR UKRAINE

Russia’s horrific aggressive war against Ukraine is causing immense human suffering, destruction of critical infrastructure, and hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. The international community stands by Ukraine and is determined to support its reconstruction and modernisation towards a sustainable, democratic and prosperous future, in line with its European path. The new Marshall Plan will fundamentally transform post-Soviet Ukraine and will allow for a new Ukraine to be built, forever moving away from the outdated technologies inherited from the ‘Soviet’ era.

Protest jako forma ruchu obywatelskiego w społeczeństwie pokonfliktowym na przykładzie Republiki Serbii

2024-03-14T13:28:33+01:00

PROTEST AS A FORM OF CIVIC MOVEMENT IN POST-CONFLICT SOCIETY WITH THE EXAMPLE OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

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.

Estońska wizja obrony cywilnej jako istotny element koncepcji bezpieczeństwa całościowego w odpowiedzi na potencjalny kryzys polityczny

2024-03-14T13:28:30+01:00

THE ESTONIAN VISION OF CIVIL DEFENCE AS AN IMPORTANT ELEMENT OF OVERALL SECURITY IN RESPONSE TO A POTENTIAL POLITICAL CRISIS

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.

Działalność społeczności międzynarodowej na rzecz tworzenia społeczeństwa obywatelskiego w Kosowie

2024-03-14T13:28:27+01:00

ACTIVITIES OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO CREATE CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS IN KOSOVO

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.

Szukając niezależności

2024-03-14T13:28:25+01:00

SEEKING INDEPENDENCE: DE FACTO ETHNIC AUTONOMIES IN THE POST-YUGOSLAV SPACE

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.

Chorwackie spory o pamięć w Vukovarze

2024-03-14T13:28:22+01:00

CROATIAN DISPUTES OVER THE MEMORY OF VUKOVAR

The Battle of Vukovar is one of the main accords of the Croatian war 1991- 1995. As a result of the 87-day siege, most of the buildings were destroyed. To this day, different narratives about those events and contrary concepts of commemorating the victims clash in Croatia. Nationalists want it to remain a symbol of martyrdom, while liberal circles call for making it a center of dialogue and tolerance. Unfortunately, so far the first of these options is winning, and poor, under-invested Vukovar is constantly depopulating.

Strategiczne priorytety bezpieczeństwa Gruzji po konflikcie z Federacją Rosyjską w 2008 roku

2024-03-14T13:28:19+01:00

GEORGIA’S STRATEGIC SECURITY PRIORITIES AFTER THE 2008 CONFLICT WITH THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

The aim of the article is to present the security determinants as well as changes regarding the strategic priorities of state security of Georgia after the war with Russia in 2008. Since the beginning of the system transformation into a legal democratic state, Georgia has been developing essential reforms that involved the establishment of democratic institutions, state modernisation, the development of a free trade economy, as well as directed towards Euro-Atlantic and western institutions for co-operation and security. In the international dimension, these efforts have met the encouragement and support of the western and democratic states and institutions, especially NATO and the EU. On the other hand, Georgia had to face the huge opposition from the Russian Federation that aimed to maintainits previous area of influence and oppose the pro-western development in the region of South Caucasus. The war in 2008 (Russian aggression) slowed down these transformation processes and was the reason for the change of perceiving the security environment of Georgia and the role and attitude of Russian Federation towards the post-Soviet space. It resulted in necessary efforts to rebuild the country after the ravages of war on the one hand, and in the considerable change regarding the restoration of institutions and possibilities connected with the main security goals on the Georgian pro-democratic and pro-western way.

Od ofiary do światowego lidera. Estonia po cyberatakach z 2007 roku

2024-03-14T13:28:16+01:00

FROM VICTIM TO LEADER – ESTONIA AFTER THE 2007 CYBERATTACKS

In the spring of 2007, Estonia became the target of co-ordinated cyberattacks. The attacks were part of a wider political conflict between Estonia and Russia over the relocation of a Soviet-era monument in Tallinn. The aim of this article is to present the effects of the cyberattacks on Estonian cybersecurity. The article consists of several parts. The first deals with the main causes of the conflict. In the second part, the author presents information about the direct results of the cyberattacks on Estonia. The last part presents strategic, legal and organisational changes in Estonian cybersecurity. At present, Estonia is one of the most developed nations regarding the ubiquitous use of information and communication technology in all aspects of state functioning. The study used the following research methods: historical method, comparative analysis, literature analysis and criticism, source analysis and criticism, and case study.