Impact of the Lisbon Treaty on European political parties

The subject of the article is to analyze the relevant provisions of the Lisbon Treaty in order to show the changes they have introduced for Europarties. The main thesis of the article is that even if the direct influence of the said Treaty on Europarties was negligible, its indirect impact could be significantly greater. The article has been divided into three parts. The first recalled the genesis of the Europarties and outlined the legal framework for their activities until the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon. In the second one - the provisions of the Treaty directly devoted to the Europarties were analyzed. The third part depicted the areas in which - by adopting a specific interpretation of the Treaty provisions - the Europarties may try to exert an indirect influence on the EU decision-making process, especially a new way of selecting the President of the European Commission

External factors determining the electoral strategies of political parties in multi-level systems

This article identifies the factors which determine the electoral strategies of political parties in multi-level systems and describes how they can influence these strategies. It particularly focuses on the two aspects: regionalisation and “nationalisation” (centralisation) of the strategies. In the first case, state-wide parties allow their regional branches to develop their own strategies, in the second one – the regional strategies are dominated by the strategies of state-wide parties. The article shows the features of political systems that foster each of these cases, especially the way in which a multi-layered system is created (bottom-up, top-down), the relations between the state authorities at central and regional levels (connected, separated), electoral systems and cycles

Are the Europarties real political parties? : national parties' involvement in multi-level structures of European political parties

Europartie są rozpatrywane jako organizacje wielopoziomowe, podobne do partii działających w państwach federalnych lub przechodzących procesy dewolucji. W artykule rozważano, czy mogą one w ogóle być analizowane jako partie polityczne sensu stricto i czy koncepcje stosowane do badania relacji pomiędzy regionalnymi i krajowymi strukturami partyjnymi (integracja wertykalna, wpływ) mogą być używane do studiowania relacji pomiędzy strukturami krajowymi i europejskimi. Zwrócono uwagę, że europartie mogą być rozpatrywane zarówno jako dodatkowe płaszczyzny aktywności partii krajowych, jak i niezależni aktorzy polityczni, w skład których wchodzą partie krajowe (partie wielopoziomowe). Ta druga perspektywa została wykorzystana do badania 13 istniejących europartii. W rezultacie udało się wykazać podobieństwa pomiędzy PES oraz PEL oraz różnice pomiędzy EPP o PES pod względem poziomu integracji wertykalnej i wpływu. Dzięki temu w artykule udowodniono, że nie ma jednego modelu relacji pomiędzy krajowymi i europejskimi strukturami partii oraz, że europartie różnią się między sobą pod względem ich wewnętrznej struktury organizacyjnej czy ich relacji z partiami krajowymi.Europarties are regarded as multi-level organizations, like parties operating in federal or devolved states. Examined is whether they can even be treated as political parties sensu stricto and whether the concepts used to test the relations between the national and regional party structures (vertical integration, influence) could be used to study relationships between the national and European structures. It was indicated that Europarties can be considered both as the additional arenas of national parties' activity and independent political actors consisted of national parties (multi-level parties). The second perspective was used to research 13 existing Europarties. In result, the similarities between the PES and PEL, but differences between the EPP and PES in term of vertical integration and influence were shown.Hence, in the article was proven that there is no one model of relations between the national and European party structures and the parties differ from each other as far as their internal structures are concerned

Valuation of energy security for natural gas : European example

Recently there has been an ongoing discussion about energy security. This has been caused by tensions affecting international relations, and the emergence of new geopolitical threats. As one of the main sources of primary energy, natural gas is an obvious subject of interest in this discussion. In Europe, the natural gas market is rapidly evolving, which has resulted in a lack of clarity regarding who is responsible for the security of the gas supply. It is not clear now how to measure the security of the gas supply in economic estimates and by whom that security should be financed. In this paper, the authors present an approach which can be used for valuation of energy security concerning the security of natural gas storage using stochastic modelling based on the mathematical model of the “Newsvendor problem”. The valuation is made from the point of view of countries and considers their individual attitudes to the risk of disruption of deliveries, which is a novel approach to the problem. The authors believe that the current level of storage capacities, as compared to the demand for natural gas, can show the attitude of each country to the risk and potential cost of stockout. In line with this belief, the target value in the model is not the optimal level of inventory, but the cost of stockout. The results show significant variations in the assessment of the risk. The future of natural gas as an important fuel and source of primary energy in Europe is not clear and unfavorable changes have been sped up by the COVID-19 pandemic. Gas (energy) companies in Europe are turning to decarbonization and green energy, and the pandemic has accelerated these changes. European energy companies used to see the use of natural gas as a transition fuel and a key component of their long-term decarbonization strategies, but now they are switching to multi-energy models through massive investments in renewables and hydrogen. Experts expect that gas will remain an important part of Europe’s energy supply, but it may be gradually replaced by hydrogen and renewable

Energy security of hydropower producing countries : the cases of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan

Energy security, as one of the most important components of state security, is a permanent element of academic debates and political discussions. Owing to the multidimensional and multifaceted nature of energy security, defining it is a complex process, requiring the consideration of a wide range of factors straddling economics, geology, ecology and geopolitics which decide whether we are dealing with the state of energy security or the lack of it. Energy security is usually equated with the security of supply. Another group of definitions of energy security focuses on the concept of security of services. A different approach to energy security issues is presented by energy exporting countries, whose objective is to ensure sufficiently high and stable income from sales of energy resource exports (security of demand). The subject of this paper is an analysis of the energy security of hydropower-producing countries-Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Energy security has been analyzed in the context of security of supply, services, and demand on the basis of the approach proposed by Llamosas and Sovacool. So far, no work has been carried out to analyse the hydropower sectors of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in the context of the energy security comparison of both countries. It is worth emphasising that their energy security and mutual relations are important from the point of view of the stability of the entire Central Asian region. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have large hydropower potential, which, if properly used, could cover their domestic electricity demand and the surplus can be exported to neighbouring countries. Unfortunately, both countries are not utilising this potential for the time being. The main difficulty in the area of security of supply and services is the seasonality and low reliability of electricity supplies. Among the reasons for this are the poor technical and economic conditions of energy companies as a result of maintaining low tariffs, the irrecoverability of consumers’ energy bills, electricity theft, significant transmission loses and a high level of corruption. Although both countries aspire to the role of an energy exporters, they are themselves forced to import electricity from neighboring countries

New political entrepreneurs in Poland

Parties launched by political entrepreneurs are usually newcomers into more or less established party systems. Their "founding fathers" act without specific external group support and the literature on new parties predicts that there is a low survival rate for entrepreneurial parties. In the case of Poland, the party system had been relatively stable from the 2001 until the 2011 parliamentary elections and subsequently some new parties entered into politics, tried to gain electoral support as well as political relevance. The most recent groupings in the Polish political system which are closest to the theoretical concept of entrepreneurial parties are the Palikot's Movement (Ruch Palikota), Kukiz'15 and the Modern Party (Nowoczesna). The aim of the paper is to examine to what extent the leaders of these parties can be seen as political entrepreneurs and the parties as "entrepreneurial parties". Another point we discuss is in which aspects the leaders of the parties examined are similar in their role of political entrepreneurs and in which they differ. In order to answer these questions, the previous careers of the leaders, the ways they entered politics and the strategies they used to achieve their goals will also be analyzed

Does novelty necessarily mean change? : new political parties within the Polish party system

The aim of the paper is to assess new political parties in Poland and to examine the question of their perceived novelty and influence on the party system. We employ Barnea and Rahat’s analytical framework to evaluate the newness of Polish parties in three party facets: party ‑in ‑the ‑electorate, party ‑as ‑organisation, party ‑in‑government. This multi ‑dimensional analysis allows one to identify those fields in which any novelty may occur. Among the analysed factors is the new parties’ electoral base that enables one to assess whether the parties managed to mobilise a new electorate or rather attracted supporters from existing parties instead. Last but not least, we study the changes caused by these parties within the whole party system. In our research we include parties that entered the parliament for the first time after the last two elections: in 2011 and 2015. Before that time the parliamentary scene in Poland seemed to be firmly closed with a nearly constant set of actors. Both in the 2005 and 2007 elections no new parties entered parliament. Hence the 2011 election is considered to be an opening for new parties, but does not necessarily bring about a significant change in the Polish party system in terms of the electoral support for the two largest parties or within patterns of electoral competition

Economic Security of the Russian Federation in the Light of Russo-Iranian Cooperation in the Face of Sanctions. Selected Aspects

The paper sheds new light on the Russian Federation’s economic security problem in the face of sanctions and changing geopolitical balance in Central Asia. The novelty of the research perspective and, subsequently, the results and conclusions are expressed by combining an economic perspective with a cultural-political and media-centered approach. There were analysed the range of Russo-Iranian economic cooperation, the factors that make Iran a prospective partner for Russia and the role of the Russian media in shaping the picture of friendly future in bilateral relations. The conclusions are that the Russian “turn to the South” – towards Iran – was provoked not only by the sanctions imposed which decreased the economic security level but it also resulted from the previously established patterns of the Russian foreign policy

Primary energy consumption patterns in selected European countries from 1990 to 2021 : a cluster analysis approach

This study delves into the structure of primary energy consumption in European countries, utilizing data from the Eurostat database, and focuses on the years 1990 and 2021. Through cluster analysis, countries were categorized based on their consumption patterns, revealing significant insights into energy security. The findings indicate a discernible shift away from solid fossil fuels, with renewable energy sources witnessing the most substantial growth. Natural gas, serving as a transitional fuel, has seen a rise in consumption, while nuclear energy’s development remained relatively stagnant. Oil, despite its declining share, remains a crucial component in the European energy mix. The study also highlights the challenges and implications of over-reliance on a single energy source, emphasizing the need for a diversified energy strategy. The analysis underscores the importance of diversifying primary energy sources to ensure energy security. While renewable sources are environmentally favorable, their inherent instability necessitates backup from other energy sources. Solid fossil fuels, despite their availability, face challenges due to environmental concerns. Natural gas, while flexible, requires extensive infrastructure and is highly politicized. Nuclear energy, despite its potential as an ideal complement to renewables, faces barriers in terms of investment and public perception. Oil, though convenient, is a fossil source with associated CO2 emissions and largely needs to be imported. In conclusion, the study advocates for a well-diversified set of energy sources tailored to individual country-specific situations, emphasizing the importance of strategic planning in energy consumption to ensure long-term energy security