Around the Bloc: Moscow Pushes Back in Wake of ‘Panama Papers’ Leak
Putin spokesman accuses CIA, State Department of organizing massive leak of company documents.
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Putin spokesman accuses CIA, State Department of organizing massive leak of company documents.
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Individual, community and public administration institutions responsible for disaster management usually facing various types of threats: natural, technological and willful. Disasters occur due to evidence of threats an their consequences can destroy and damage property, cause cultural, social, economic and psychological effects on society, injure or kill humans, disrupt community activities in different ways. The competent authorities in every phases of the disaster management cycle use certain universally recognized measures in order to reduce the potential impact of disasters, to prepare for responding and to recover after disaster. The effectiveness of application of such measures is determined by one of the existing and widely known in the world approach – community based disaster management. Unfortunately, its application remains an open question how far authorities responsible for disaster management can involve communities into the disaster management cycle activities? Authors of the article on the basis of „public participation levels” classification proposed by Sher r y R. Arnstein (1969) and taking into account restrictions for publicity of existing information on different hazards and management phases provide the theoretical model for community involvement into the disaster management cycle activities.
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Worried about influence of Russia and other states on the local media scene, the Czech government has announced plans to set up a special team to pay closer attention.
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Now a Ukrainian citizen, the ex-president says the decision exposes the authorities as ‘scared and failed.’
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The aim of this paper is to find an answer to the question: is the voivodeship status a factor which influences economic growth of the Polish cities? The author of the article intends to check the role of the status taking into account three assumptions. Firstly, the amount of financial support which is transferred from regional public institutions to the voivodeship cities may be bigger than transfers to the province capitals. Secondly, the voivodeship capitals, due to the presence of the regional public institutions, may be more attractive for entrepreneurs than the province capitals. Thirdly, the voivodeship capitals are treated as the most important urban centers in various national strategies, and their formal position may lead to the greater support from the state. The author intends to verify these assumptions using selected indicators of economic growth which show the socio-economic condition of two voivodeship capitals (Opole, Zielona Gora) and two province capitals (Kalisz, Legnica). The results of the analysis suggest that the voviodeship capitals are more attractive for business but the administrative status of these cities does not affect the amount of financial support received from regional and national public institutions.
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Police models are designed to improve safety in society. Although Estonia has not deliberately used any (combination of) police models for developing its policies of safety and its police reforms since the country regained independence, its safety has improved considerably during the last couple of decades. The scholarly discussions about police models are overwhelmingly about the possible effects of different models on safety management and about their application to particular countries. However, countries like Estonia with no consistent conceptions of police have received little attention in academic literature. We aim to fill this gap by analysing the developments of the Estonian police in its philosophical, strategic, tactical and organisational dimensions over the period between 1991 and 2013. The analysed materials include the official police development plans, legislation, statutes, training programs and statistics about the police. Our analysis shows that although safety in Estonia has improved considerably, developments of the Estonian police are characterised by internal discrepancies and inconsistencies. In view of this, we put forth some hypotheses for further studies regarding policy development in a situation where policy is not explicitly stated or where organisational reforms are seen not as “simple” or “complex” problems, but as “wicked” problems.
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This article discusses the development of regional policies in two countries, Latvia and Norway. The aim is to present how these policies have evolved and can be understood with the application of complexity theory as a common theoretical framework for analysis. Even though Latvia and Norway have quite different experiences in regional development policy, both have tried to react to modern challenges of globalization and demographic changes by using general theories and concepts of economic and social development. Differences and similarities between the two countries are high-lighted by a review of studies from Latvia and Norway that describes the variety of policies that can be applied for regional development.Regional policy in both countries has coalesced around support for local initiative and entrepreneurship.
More...EXPLORING UK POLICY RESPONSES TO ROMANIAN AND BULGARIAN MIGRATION
Since 2004, the UK has enjoyed a decade of experience in managing migration from EU8 countries. This time around, how well founded are the fears that 2014 will see another ‘flood’ of migrants, on par with levels experienced in 2004? This essay argues that EU2 migration, from Romania and Bulgaria, will not be a repeat of 2004. To begin, this paper will examine the reasons why there was a twenty-fold discrepancy between official estimates of expected migrants following the 2004 enlargement. Then, by using Poland as a case study of typical migration flows after the 2004 migration period, this paper will show that— contrary to predictions based on standard migration theory— mass migration outflows in 2004 is not a good predictor of events to come in 2014. Among other factors, given that those who wanted to migrate to the UK from Romania and Bulgaria already have migrated pre-accession and more countries opened their labour markets in 2014 than they did in 2004, the UK is not likely to see a mass influx of Romanian and Bulgarian migrants as it did with those of Polish origin in 2004. However, like Polish migration, Romanian and Bulgarian migration will tend to be more circular and ‘fluid’.
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Pakt na rzecz ekonomii społecznej jest propozycją umowy z rządem, którą chcieliby zawrzeć przedstawiciele środowiska polskiej ekonomii społecznej. Wśród części z nich, w tym autora, panuje silne przekonanie, że konieczna jest zmiana nastawienia administracji do problemów związanych z działalnością społeczną i stosowania instrumentów gospodarczych do rozwiązywania problemów społecznych. Dotychczasowe interwencje publiczne nie wykorzystały szansy, jaką dawały spore środki z funduszy europejskich. Kontynuacja dotychczasowej polityki publicznej w tym obszarze nie wróży nic dobrego. Dlatego pakt jest testem – zarówno dla samego środowiska ekonomii społecznej, jak i administracji. W tekście opisano nadzieje, z jakimi wiąże się praca nad zapisami paktu, pokazano rozwiązania, które mogą spowodować, że pakt przyczyni się do rzeczywistej zmiany. Czy to się uda nie zależy jedynie od tego, czy pakt zostanie zawarty. Jednak jego podpisanie mogłoby się znacząco do tej zmiany przyczynić.
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Artykuł jest podsumowaniem analizy dotyczącej wsparcia sektora ekonomii społecznej w ramach Programu Operacyjnego Kapitał Ludzki na lata 2007-2013 (Poddziałanie 7.2.2 Wsparcie ekonomii społecznej). Analiza została przeprowadzona na czterech poziomach: I – strategicznym: Program Operacyjny Kapitał Ludzki, II – strategiczno wdrożeniowym: Szczegółowy Opis Priorytetów PO KL; System Realizacji PO KL, III – wdrożeniowym: Plany Działań, IV – projektowym: Dokumentacja konkursowa, projekty. W opracowaniu opisano warunki dotyczące wsparcia ekonomii społecznej, które stworzono w ramach PO KL na etapie programowania poprzez zapisy PO KL oraz Szczegółowego Opisu Priorytetów PO KL. Analiza dotyczy także procesu implementacji programu w zakresie planów działania, dokumentacji konkursowych, kryteriów wyboru, a także przykładowych projektów. Autor wskazuje, że dotychczas wydatkowane środki pozwoliły na zrealizowanie szeregu indywidualnych projektów, jednak nie przyczyniły się do stworzenia funkcjonalnego systemu wsparcia ekonomii społecznej. Podkreśla także zasadność – z punktu widzenia efektywności wydatkowania środków publicznych – zbudowania, wdrożenia i wypromowania takiego systemu wsparcia ekonomii społecznej, który na terenie całego kraju pozwoli na korzystanie ze zbliżonego katalogu usług przy zachowaniu minimalnych standardów.
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Crisis management has a great importance: in functioning of the state apparatuses for the peace, the balance, the stability and the safety of citizens. Counteraction to natural risks and those triggered by human activity belongs to tasks to the civil service and the state apparatus forces (Police, Border Guard, Fire Service, etc.). State, as an organization, should plan how to organize and react in the moment of danger appearance.
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Public administration efficiency is essential for any country in the world. Economic literature offers a variety of methods and criteria for assessing the quality of governance. The article deals with regional policy tools as a way to improve the efficiency of public administration in general. In regional policy, there can be distinguished administrative, legal, economic, social and psychological methods and integrated management method as well. In this work, the author focuses on the analysis of the main economic and legal methods of state regional management of the economy. As an example, the author chose the Latgale region of the Republic of Latvia as the most backward region and identified the main ways of its development. The author used the methods of Sociological research, statistical analysis and method of expert evaluations. In the concluding part, the author showed that the housing energy efficiency programs are an effective tool for the development of backward regions and can serve as a basis for alignment of the socio-economic potential of various regions.
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The relations between the sovereign courts and the intendants contain a tormented and unsuccessful history, marked since the Grand Siècle by the difficult passage from the traditional jurisdictional management of the kingdom, considered inefficient, to an organisation that supports the triumph of the absolute and administrative monarchy. In these southern lands of the kingdom of France, torn apart by the Protestant reformation and the wars, the institutional upheaval which prepared the modern state and the Napoleonic granite masses, was carried out through strong embarrassments which opposed the intendant of the generality to the court of aids in Montauban. As soon as they were created, the magistrates of the jurisdictional company multiplied the manoeuvres against the intendant to safeguard their contentious attributions and the control of the municipal funds. Their particularistic actions were denounced by the intendant, who was there to make the king present everywhere in the kingdom and was zealous in his service. Since then, all the elements were in place for the outbreak of a noisy quarrel – the lawsuit against the intendant Gaspard Lescalopier – which worried the government at the turn of the reign of Louis XV, in the middle of the tax war in 1749, when King Louis XV, whom the subjects looked upon as a charming prince, became „Louis the Unloved”. These tumults prevented the modernisation of the French monarchy and led to the troubles of the Revolution.
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Commissioning certain state functions — which consist in transferring the competences held by the state administration to non-state actors (e.g. social organizations) while allowing them to exercise some means of governance while performing said functions — was common practice in socialist states. This led to a shift in the social and political position of organizations of that kind, which in turn strengthened the policital base of a socialist society and ensured the further develop- ment of socialist democracy.
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The security apparatus in People’s Poland played one of the main roles in the installation of communist power, its consolidation and organization of the repressive system. The security apparatus was created by the communists to perpetuate the power they introduced. The events of 1989 became a symbol of the breakthrough that was carried out in important segments of Poland’s functioning. The reform of secret services in 1989–1990 was one of the main challenges for Poland in the period of systemic transformation. The reform of the special services was to be one of the most important challenges, because the security apparatus of the People’s Republic of Poland functioned under the control of the USSR and was largely used to fight the opposition or the Church. The systemic transformation in Poland in 1989–1990 was a significant turning point in the further development of Polish secret services. One of the main tasks of the political and political transformation in Poland in the years 1989–1990 was the dissolution of the old services and the appointment of new ones. These services were to be politically neutral. Parallel to the development of democracy in Poland, it was important that the shaping of the tasks and powers of the new services took into account the ongoing political and social changes, both in the external and internal dimensions. In Poland after 1989, a process of significant changes was initiated consisting in the transition from a socialist society to a democratic society. At the beginning of the 1990s, it was believed that the changes were modernizing and were an attempt to move to proven Western variants.
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The text is devoted to the role played by local government in the political and social life of Poland after 1989. The article presents the main assumptions of the local government reforms of 1990 and 1999 and their impact on society and the state. This is achieved by analyzing the historical events accompanying the introduction of reforms and the legal acts constituting it, in particular the Constitution and Polish local government laws. There were also indicated solutions which, in the author's opinion, largely contributed to shaping the local government as one of the most important institutions of public life in Poland.
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Governance is a concept that has been attracting sustained interest for many years. The interest in this idea stems from disillusionment with the ineffectiveness of both the state and the market in overcoming difficulties arising in various areas of social and economic life. In this context, governance aims to be a kind of remedy, allowing to increase the effectiveness of solving contemporary problems. Beyond the national level, the concept is also gaining popularity in the area of city management (local governance). This article aims to analyse the opinions of the representatives of selected non-governmental organisations in Łódź on the role and influence of their associations and foundations on the shaping of urban policies. The empirical basis is individual in-depth interviews. The interviews were conducted as part of the project "Co-created and co-managed Łódź - City Governance I" carried out by the Łódź Foundation.
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The aim of the article is to show the importance of social security, in particular the way it is perceived and what role it plays in strategic documents in the field of national security of the Republic of Poland. At the same time, it was decided to focus on four strategic studies and indicate the main similarities and differences. In general, the importance of social security can be seen in all documents, it is present, but the components and main projects, directions of support are different. The social model dominates, focusing on social security, although other aspects are also present, i.e. community and development. In addition, the analyzed, non- military field of social security is most often recognized with economic potential, and, as can be seen in the latest National Security Strategy of the Republic of Poland from 2020, it is treated together with other, non- military fields of security.
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The purpose of this article is to discuss a spectrum of topics pertaining to the cassation decision andits extraordinary verification in administrative proceedings, as well as to presents the impact of theapplication of extraordinary verification on decisions issued as a result of the cassation decision.
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The purpose of this article was to analyze the separate opinions submitted to judgments of administrative courts in cases of social security benefits issued in the years 2004–2021. As a result ofresearch activities, material was collected in the form of 71 judgments of voivodeship administrative courts (hereinafter: the Voivodeship Administrative Court) and 34 judgments of the SupremeAdministrative Court of Poland (hereinafter: the Supreme Administrative Court). This led to thefollowing research results: the VAC judges very rarely submit dissenting opinions to judgmentsin social security cases (dissenting opinions were submitted to <1% of judgments in 2004–2021);frequency of dissenting opinion should be described as low (≈ 4 times per year); the greatest numberof dissenting opinions were submitted by the VAC judges in cases of social assistance (59% of theexamined judgments); the dispute among the judges of the VAC most often concerned the inter-pretation of the law (61% of the examined judgments); only 34 of the examined VAC judgmentswere subject to substantive review by the SAC, which issued a judgment consistent with the viewexpressed in a dissenting opinion in only 10 cases (29%).
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