Contributors

Noty o autorac

Sanctions, Accommodation, and Defiance. A Long Track of US Sanctions Targeted at Iran. Radosław Fiedler’s Interview with Richard Nephe

InterviewsInterview

American Foreign Policy Towards Egypt under Hosni Mubarak’s Regime

American foreign policy towards Egypt during almost three decades of Mubarak’s career as first vice-president, and later president of Egypt. The material underlines the impact of Mubarak’s personality, career and political style on the overall shape of American cooperation with Egypt. Egypt is described as an inherent element of the American foreign policy-making processes. Its most notable role is that of a mediator and facilitator in the Arab-Israeli conflict – in fact, Mubarak at times ventured his country’s position in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to conduct and support peace talks, much to the US approval. In return, Egypt could count on considerable financial aid to maintain its already commendable military might, and develop civic structures. Mubarak’s power was always associated with his status as metaphorical ‘eyes and ears’ of Egyptian army – a position that brought the Egyptian president considerably appreciation on the American part. Mubarak is shown as a leader whose rein relied on cold calculation, pre-planning, unwillingness to improvise and act quickly, and ‘controlled’ risk taking

PODZIAŁ KOMPETENCJI WEWNĄTRZ WŁADZY WYKONAWCZEJ W SFERZE BEZPIECZEŃSTWA PAŃSTWA ORAZ SPRAW ZAGRANICZNYCH W ŚWIETLE KONSTYTUCJI RP Z 1997 ROKU

Pursuant to Article 10 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, executive power is vested in the President of the Republic of Poland and the Council of Ministers. Implemented in Poland, the dualism of the executive branch creates a problem with the division of duties and competence between the cabinet and the head of state.  This paper analyses the division of powers within the executive branch in the areas of state security and foreign policy. The analysis of the constitutional provisions and the political practice indicates that the model of cooperation between the President and the cabinet as adopted in the Constitution of 1997 is ineffective and leads to political conflicts. In view of the Polish political conditions, it is advisable to amend the Constitution in order to move away from the mixed model towards either the presidential model or the parliamentary-cabinet model of the executive branch of government.Prezydent Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej oraz Rada Ministrów zgodnie z art. 10 Konstytucji RP stanowią władze wykonawczą w Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej. Występujący w Polsce dualizm egzekutywy stwarza problem podziału zadań i kompetencji między rządem a głową państwa. Publikacja poddaje analizie podział kompetencji wewnątrz władzy wykonawczej w sferze bezpieczeństwa państwa oraz w sferze prowadzenia polityki zagranicznej. Analiza przepisów konstytucyjnych oraz praktyka ustrojowa skłaniają do konkluzji, że przyjęty w Konstytucji z 1997 roku model kooperacji Prezydenta i rządu w sferze wykonawczej jest nieefektywny i prowadzi do konfliktów politycznych. Biorąc pod uwagę polskie warunki polityczne wskazanym jest przeprowadzenie nowelizacji konstytucji, w wyniku którego odejdziemy od mieszanego modelu i opowiemy się za prezydenckim lub parlamentarno-gabinetowym modelem egzekutywy

Europe Within the World of Regionalisms

The surge of diversified forms of regionalism and regional integration within the past few decades has stimulated the reappraisal of the conceptual tools traditionally designed to bench-mark and monitor region-building processes across the world. More recently, the Brexit negotiations have become a reminder that the EU remains an unfolding experience. This article argues that the study of African regionalisms constitutes a timely invitation to revisit the experience of the EU and its contribution to the world of regionalisms. After a brief survey of the classic definition of the region, we will discuss the ongoing relevance of European integration and the implications of the analytical distinction between regionalism, regionalisation and regional integration, before drawing from the study of Africa five threads which set the basis for a comparative study of regions and regionalisms beyond the classic emphasis on the EU or the world of regions

Dlaczego nie ma filozofii nauki o stosunkach międzynarodowych?

Why is there no philosophy of International Relations? Why, despite the significant intellectual and institutional development of International Relations after World War II, has IR failed to generate any ‘grand ideas’ that would influence the broadly understood humanities? None of the theories of international relations indicates the exceptional features of interna- tionality as its foundation. None of these theories formulates a fundamental claim to its subject matter in International Relations the way geography, history or sociology do. This leads to the conviction that international relations do not have to be formed by aspects of the social world that are specific to them, and can be interpreted in terms of ideas imported from the disciplines that deal with examining aspects relevant to them. The basic disadvantage of this openness of International Relations to other disciplines is the lack of reflection on its own ‘deep ontology.’ This seems to be the most important reason for the lack of a philosophy of International Rela- tions. The author accomplishes two basic goals in his text. Firstly, he undermines the legitimacy of the three attitudes prevailing in IR on understanding internationality, which he calls internal- ism, externalism and correlationism. Secondly, he presents the essence and consequences of the negative character of IR, which involves the absence of the philosophy of IR and studying internationality in the same manner as political science does. The author argues that understanding this ‘strange orthodoxy’ can be a means to overcom- ing it, thereby opening up the possibility of conceiving the ontology of IR, or outlining the path leading to the philosophy of International Relations. Finally, the author refers to the proposal of Justin Rosenberg, to then present an idea for an ontology on which the philosophy of Interna- tional Relations could be founded.Dlaczego nie ma filozofii nauki o stosunkach międzynarodowych? Dlaczego pomimo istotnego intelektualnego i instytucjonalnego rozwoju nauki o stosunkach międzynarodowych po II wojnie światowej, nie wygenerowała ona żadnych „wielkich idei”, które wywarłyby wpływ na szeroko rozumiane nauki humanistyczne? Żadna z teorii stosunków międzynarodowych nie wskazuje jako swojego fundamentu wyjątkowych własności międzynarodowości. Żadna z tych teorii nie formułuje fundacyjnego rosz- czenia do własnego przedmiotu w nauce o stosunkach międzynarodowych na sposób w jaki robią to geografia, historia czy socjologia. Prowadzi to do przekonania, że stosunki międzynarodowe nie muszą być kształtowane przez swoiste dla nich aspekty świata społecznego i można je interpretować za pomocą idei importowanych z dyscyplin, które zajmują się badaniem właściwych dla nich aspektów. Podstawową wadą tej otwartości nauki o stosunkach międzynarodowych na inne dyscypliny jest brak namysłu nad własną „głęboką ontologią”. W tym wydaje się tkwić najważniejsza przyczyna braku filozofii nauki o stosunkach międzynarodowych. Autor realizuje w swoim tekście dwa podstawowe cele. Po pierwsze, podważa zasadność dominujących w NSM stanowisk w kwestii rozumienia międzynarodowości, które nazywa internalizmem, eksternalizmem i korelacjonizmem. Po drugie, przedstawia istotę i konsekwencje negatywnego charakteru NSM polegającego na braku filozofii dyscypliny i badaniu międzynarodowości na wzór nauk politycznych. Autor przekonuje, że zrozumienie tej „dziwnej ortodoksji” może otworzyć drogę do jej przezwyciężenia. Jej pokonanie zaś otworzyć możliwość pomyślenia ontologii NSM, czyli zarysować drogę prowadzącą do filozofii nauki o stosunkach międzynarodowych. Ostatecznie, odwołując się do propozycji J. Rosenberga, przedstawia ideę ontologii, na której można budować filozofię nauki o stosunkach międzynarodowych

South Caucasus in the Foregin Policy of the Russian Federation. Do Doctrinal Assumptions Translate into Reality?

Russian policy in South Caucasus is not a fully effective policy, as Russia’s actions towards Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are dominated by bilateral relations rather than a single, coherent strategy towards the region. The policy towards these countries also bears the hallmarks of an imperial policy, since it boils down to rewards (in the political, economic or military sphere) for cooperation, or punishments for any action against Russian interests. In addition to enhancing bilateral relations, Russia makes efforts (in accordance with documents issued by official bodies) to integrate the CIS area, of course including the Trans-Caucasus, under its leadership. But it comes up short in these efforts, because not all the Caucasus countries are interested in Russian-led economic integration (within the Eurasian Economic Union), or political and military integration (within CIS, CSTO)

Public health security in crisis situations. Basic Premises and strategic objectives

In recent years the approach to public health has changed, making the adoption of a uniform definition difficult. This is forced by the growing number of extraordinary dangers: terrorist attacks, natural disasters, dangerous invading microbial and virus diseases, bioterrorist, chemical and radiation threats, transport accidents and disasters. These threats create crisis situations which are very complicated and define new challenges for the authorities and public health leaders as well as for officials and health inspectors. In the speculation below, an attempt has been made to present a new pyramid of leadership in the public health sector in crisis situations, the assumptions and strategic objectives of a health security strategy are stated

The Terrorism Virus: Contemporary Traits and Mechanisms

In order to present and understand the nature of modern terrorism it is important to realize its key properties as well the mechanisms that shape terrorism. Selected properties and mechanisms shaping modern terrorism which can be exemplified by the following: evolutionary nature of terrorism, asymmetry of terrorism, interferentiality of terrorism, multitude of components of terrorism, diffusion of terrorism, duality of terrorism, positive dimension of terrorism, terrorist as the system, diversity of terrorist activity goals, changeability of terrorist threat, the broad and narrow dimension of terrorism, counter-anti-terrorism, the confrontational and cooperational character of relations, calculation and operational strategy, disintegrational nature of terrorism, multidisciplinarity of terrorism, horizontal and vertical dimension of terrorism and a the few other traits or mechanisms