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11. Activities of the Catholic Church in Poland Against Pedophilia in 2018

Author:
Kamila Rezmer-Płotka
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
The aim of the article is to determine the type of activities undertaken by the Catholic Church towards clergymen committing sexual offenses, and more specifically: pedophilia. The research problem is a question: what actions does the Catholic Church take against pedophilia? In order to realize a research project, it was first determined how the offense is defined in the doctrine of church criminal law. Then, there was made an analysis of the activities undertaken by the hierarchs of the Catholic Church. On its basis, a typology of the forms of the Church’s influence at various levels was reconstructed in the field of both preventive and sanctioning actions against the clergy. In the article there was adopted a time restriction covering only 2018. It can be described as a breakthrough, first of all due to the verdict that was made in Poznań (MS, 2018), the accusations that appeared at the end of the year against the deceased chaplain of Solidarity, Fr. Henryk Jankowski and initiatives taken by both citizens and politicians, such as the first anti-clerical happening of Baby Shoes Remember in Poland or the creation of a pedophile map. In the cinemas, a movie entitled “Kler” showed up. It moved the topic of pedophilia in the Church. Results: the Catholic Church in Poland, apart from symbolic activities, i.e. oral and written declarations, assurances, and prayers, undertakes also substantial actions, such as personal changes, cooperation with the state or the meetings of hierarchs centered around pedophilia
Topic:
International Political Economy and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

12. A New Method to Calculate Power of International Actors

Author:
Abdullah Metin Durmuş
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
This article is based on the idea that it is necessary to develop a quantitative method to calculate power of international actors, which will enable scholars to analyse international conflicts. The Global Potential Power Distribution Chart, which is calculated based on three main characteristics of international actors, namely population, territory and economic power, shows “potential power of states and international organisations”. It may be called “Durmuş Scale of Power (DSoP)”. The chart is a comprehensive indicator with considerable accuracy and 100 % objectivity. In this article, potential powers of international actors have been calculated for years 1987, 2004 and 2015, which gives a clear overview of the potential power distribution (balance of power) of the World regarding states and as well as international organisations. Potential military powers of some states and international organisation in year 2015 have also been calculated. This research proves by means of a contemporary approach applied and a quantitative method developed that, the World is multipolar since 2004, and China is, potentially, the most powerful state of the World since 2015. The method introduced in this article were sufficient enough to explain the effects of the enlargement of NATO and EU, EU after BREXIT, reform of the Security Council of the United Nations and instrumental enough to provide a peaceful understanding for the self-determination issue of Kosova. There are three conclusions to this research: 1) The method “Durmuş Scale of Power” is calculated is reliable because everybody with a scientific calculator or a computer can easily calculate potential power of a state provided that he or she has reliable data for territory, population and GDP. 2) “Global Potential Power Distribution Chart” is a comprehensive Chart which shows “balance of power” at a specific year. It enables us to compare power of states and international organisations in different years. 3) It is convenient to use “Durmuş Scale of Power” while analysing issues of international relations
Topic:
International Political Economy and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

13. Is the Modernization Process Becoming a Challenge or a Threat to the Security Policy and the Armed Forces?

Author:
Jarosław Piątek
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
In spite of defining the role of various measures of security policy implementation the weight of one has been quite unequivocally assessed for the current policy. The main position for contemporary Poland is to be taken by the armed forces. Under these conditions, the Polish Army has become a basic element of the defense system of Poland not only in terms of image. It is not surprising then that currently the armed forces have received a wide range of tasks regarding security – both internal and external. President Duda and the government of Law and Justice proudly show the 2 percent of GDP spent on defense and an even higher target, at the latest in 2030. However, this does not create a perspective that would allow “hurray” optimism. The key to describing the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland seems to be their ability to respond to the revolution in the field of military and the ability to modernize. Despite the plans of the Ministry of National Defense and declarations given in media, this process faces a number of difficulties. Not only do we create “abstract” visions of needs for the current policy, but we also offend our partners and those that are still our allies. The arms policy, so important from the point of view of this “self-sufficiency”, was brought to the accusations of lobbying, corruption, and fraud; not only do we not pay attention to our own needs, but we also create innovative concepts for the current policy that cause us to wander in dilettantism. It seems that the shape of the implementation of the modernization of the Armed Forces is affected not only by the current policy. To a large extent, the condition of the Polish arms industry is also a decisive factor in the absorption of modernization
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

14. About Women in Conflicts and Wars: Theories of Violence and Collective Memory

Author:
Inga B. Kuźma and Edyta Pietrzak
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
The article deals with the subject of relations between theories of violence and the category of collective memory in relation to women’s war stories. The text introduces the issue of war and conflict, understanding the theory of violence, the category of collective memory and female war narratives, as well as the ways of their political interpretation. The interpretation is crucial because of method used in the research, meaning hermeneutics, but also because of the, presented here, perspective of polyphony
Topic:
International Political Economy and International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

15. The Issue of Securitization of the Refugee Problem in the Polish Political Debate

Author:
Renata Podgórzańska
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
Analyzing Poland’s current activity regarding the influx of refugees and the formulated attitude towards action in the field of restriction and control of the influx undertaken by European and international institutions, one should notice increasing reluctance to accept immigrants. What is more, there is a growing trend in the public debate in Poland to identify (to correlate) the influx of refugees with the problem of security. Although Poland is neither located on the main transit routes nor a destination for immigrants (including refugees), there is a process of systematically including this issue in the public discourse and analyzing the consequences of the potential increase in the influx of immigrants in the context of state security. Relationships that arise at the interface between migration and security point to the process of securitization of immigration, which involves integrating migration issues into a catalogue of state security threats and considering them through the lens of possible threats to the receiving societies.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

16. Transitional Justice in Relationship to Public Sphere and Civil Society: Theoretical Approaches

Author:
Edyta Pietrzak
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Polish Political Science Yearbook
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
The article presents the entitled fields in the framework of their mutual influence. The notion of the public sphere is valuable for understanding the role that civil society plays in transitional justice processes. However transitional justice often reduces the idea of civil society to NGOs and ignores the social movements and civil engagement in the public realm that can be perceived as integral to the creation of new cases for understanding justice in transition. This fact results in the lack of perception of the civil society place in transitional justice processes. Thus the presented paper is based on hermeneutics, critical discourse analysis and dialogue between various theoretical approaches.
Topic:
Civil Society, Transitional Justice, Public Policy, and NGOs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

17. Western Denial and Russian Control How Russia’s National Security Strategy Threatens a WesternBased Approach to Global Security, the Rule of Law and Globalization

Author:
Håkan Gunneriusson and Sascha Dov Bachmann
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Polish Political Science Yearbook
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
The Russian National Security Strategy of 2015 aims at achieving autarky from Western influences on global security, the rule of law and global trade. Russia aims at attaining this by applying a holistic mix of military, political and economic means to weaken the West and to strengthen its own role as a global player. The Russian approach builds on a strategy of reflexive control which as such is an old method, but the outcome of the application of this approach results in hybrid warfare which as such is a new emerging concept of warfighting. This short article looks at one particular aspect of this Russian strategy, namely using Hybrid, or non-linear, Warfare against its Western direct neighbours in particular and the West in general. We will discuss the underlying cultural logic in Russia’s actions and will reflect on the impact of Russia’s utilization of the existing cultural asymmetry as a form of warfare in regard to the West. The examples used in this text are taken from the context of the conflicts of Ukraine and Syria, but have to be seen as constituting a part of an on-going global conflict aimed at NATO and the EU. The text builds on years of research within the hybrid threat, warfare respectively, context by both authors.
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

18. The Perceptron of Security in the Programs of Czech Political Parties

Author:
Marcin Czyżniewski
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Polish Political Science Yearbook
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
Author analyzed the programs of all Czech political parties which have their representatives in the Chamber of Deputies in the parliamentary term 2013–2017, assuming that political programs are a reflection of the public discourse, and of the public eye. Security is one of the most important categories in the programs of Czech political parties, in some literally the most important, however, this importance is determined through quantitative, not qualitative, perspective. Diagnosis and solutions are similar in all cases, what allows to conclude that security is not a factor differentiating the Czech political scene
Topic:
International Affairs
Political Geography:
Global Focus

19. Transitional Justice Models and Analytic Philosophy: Towards Theory

Author:
Michał Krotoszyński
Publication Date:
06-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Polish Political Science Yearbook
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
As an interdisciplinary field of scholarship, transitional justice is still in its pre-theoretical stage, focusing mainly on the case and comparative studies, supported by general considerations concerning justice in the times of transition. To entrench the field as a distinct area of studies, a theory of transitional justice needs to be formulated. The article explores the possibility of making a step towards such a theoretical basis with the use of the tools of analytical philosophy, methodology and legal theory. First, drawing on Leszek Nowak’s procedure of idealisation, three basic models of responses to a painful past are formulated. Then, distinct transitional justice values are attributed to each of the models. Finally, with the use of Jerzy Kmita’s concept of humanistic interpretation, the article seeks to conceptualize the way in which these values – among other factors, such as the need to uphold the rule of law or to preserve the stability of a democratic system – influence the choice of a model of transitional justice response. Thus, the aim of the presented models – which I described in more detail elsewhere (Krotoszyński 2017) – is to provide a sound theoretical basis for some of the fundamental claims formulated in the field of transitional justice.
Topic:
International Law
Political Geography:
Global Focus