Polish Political Science Yearbook

2

Authors: Szymon Ostrowski

International Institutions in China’s Foreign Policy: The Case of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Book Review: Elżbieta Proń, International Institutions in China’s Foreign Policy: The Case of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek, Toruń 2021, pp. 303

9

Authors: Kamila Rezmer-Płotka

The article analyses political opposition toward the date of presidential elections and conducting them in the correspondence form on May 10, 2020, in Poland. The study is embedded in the theories of quasi-militant democracy and the emergence of social movements. The method used in the study is the qualitative analysis of media messages of the main news websites in Poland. Mainly in terms of the activity and arguments of citizens against the elections in the form of correspondence. The presidential elections revealed the imperious relationship between the government and citizens in Poland’s becoming quasimilitant democracy. The emphasis was on the elements regarding the organisation of elections on May 10 that could impact a social movement’s emergence. The most significant role in stopping the May 10 elections was played by institutional opposition in the form of local self-governments’ civil disobedience and the Senate’s action, which efficiently blocked the party’s initiative. The article accounts for how election matters determined the social mobilisation and activity of the new social movement. This paper’s main finding is that institutional opposition may prevail over the social one in the pandemic.

10

Authors: Mateusz Kufliński

The article is dedicated to an issue of Eurocentrism in American political scientist Samuel P. Huntington’s concept of the clash of civilisations. The arguments presented indicate that Huntington’s concept is pure Eurocentric. I start by mentioning a few of Huntington’s critics (Noam Chomsky, Samir Amin, Arjun Appadurai, and John M. Hobson). The next step includes analysing in detail the “Eurocentrism anatomy” and presenting Eurocentrism as a phenomenon based on two axes, which I call “materialistic” and “epistemological”. In other words, Eurocentrism is a kind of spectrum. Thanks to that, I compare Huntington’s concept with facts from literature embedded in both axes. Apart from other arguments, Eurocentric factors in the clash of civilisations are 1) civilisations in the past, 2) origin of the West, 3) demographic argument, and 4) the downfall of the West. I argue that the clash of civilisations is based on false, Eurocentric assumptions and prejudices.

15

Authors: Małgorzata Krystyna Such-Pyrgiel, Anna Gołębiowska, Dariusz Prokopowicz

Information technologies, ICT and Industry 4.0 are developing particularly fast in the fourth technological revolution. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in the scale of digitisation and internationalisation of remote communication processes and various aspects of economic activity. Digitisation of the economy is currently taking place simultaneously in many areas of economic processes and the functioning of many economic entities and public, financial and other institutions. Many companies, enterprises and public institutions that previously operated mostly or solely offline during the pandemic have switched to remote, electronic operation via the Internet. The development of electronic banking is also increasing, including internet and mobile banking. The share of electronic, cashless payments via the Internet and payments with electronic bank cards is increasing. In addition, in recent years, the range of applications of Data Science, Big Data, and Data Analytics technologies in economics, finance and organisation management, including enterprises, financial and public institutions, has been increasing. Therefore, the importance of implementing analytical instruments for advanced processing of large Data Science data sets in enterprises, financial and public institutions is also growing, including the construction of Big Data Analytics platforms to support organisation management processes in various aspects of operations, including improvement relationship with customers. The scale of cybercrime has also increased during the pandemic, as has the importance of improving cybersecurity techniques and instruments.

17

Authors: Fabian Boettcher

Within the context of increasingly digital work, it appeared interesting to look at how military leaders and their leadership style will have to adapt to remain “up-to-speed” with current challenges. It is qualitative research based on interviews with military and civilian experts. Four interviews have been conducted, but there would be the potential to interview many more experts and look deeper into the matter. Within the context of digitalised military leadership, the importance of communication and mutual trust has been underscored by the experts. They agreed that leaders nowadays must embrace digital developments and include them in their leadership styles. The civilian world can learn from the military when it comes to leadership approaches, which is happening at the time of publication of this article with practical examples (senior military leaders assigned to lead the pandemic task force in some countries). Overall, the outcome of the research is that a relevant and resilient military leadership style in the 21st century resembles the elements of the situational leadership style developed by Hersey-Blanchard.

20

Authors: Katarzyna Świerszcz

This article aims to present the state of air quality treated as a measure of the state of quality of local environmental safety, based on the research conducted in the town of Barlinek. This information is necessary to identify the areas that require action to improve air quality (to reduce the concentration of pollutants). The main factors that inspired the author to address this issue are, first of all, the continuous high level of air pollution, despite the actions taken to reduce it; secondly, the lack of precise, clear indicators and measures of such deprivation that applies to a major part of the territory of Poland that would take into account the individual national context; thirdly, the need to identify the main factors that determine this phenomenon in the specific context of Poland. Other factors include the need to consider the requirement for Poland as a member state of the EU to participate in reducing air pollution to an appropriate extent; and, finally, the need to develop and implement integrated 10-year National Energy and Climate Plans (NECP) for the years 2021–2030 with a long-term perspective to the year 2050, as well as long-term renovation strategies to improve the accuracy of eliminating air pollution. The research problem focuses on three issues: presenting the current national and European criteria of ecological safety for air pollution, identifying the indicators and measures that enable the determination of air pollution levels, and presenting the local air pollution level based on the selected example. The research problem discussed in the article is empirical. Analytical/synthetic, qualitative and quantitative methods were used to provide a more in-depth analysis of the problem, and conclusions were drawn.

27

Authors: Sabina Olszyk

With the end of the 20th century, there was a change in the nature and methods of using military force in international politics. It led to the need to develop new cooperation methods between states and reorient military diplomacy into defence diplomacy. In the new reality, the group of entities influencing diplomatic activities has been expanded to include non-governmental entities, including think tanks. It raised questions about the role of expert centres in activities for defence diplomacy under Polish conditions, including shaping the international situation and shaping the state's defence policy. The following considerations are an attempt to answer this question. The analysis was based on the data obtained from a survey and information from the websites of fifteen Polish centres of expertise operating in international relations, political science, and security and defence.