Polish Political Science Yearbook

8

Authors: Zbigniew Ciekanowski, Sylwia Krawczyńska, Julia Nowicka, Henryk Wyrębek

The study refers to the role of building relations between the direct supervisor and employee teams, indicating the opportunities and threats resulting from conducting selected aspects of internal communication in the so-called uniformed organisations. The authors draw attention to the roles of communication competencies and their social overtones, seeing in these elements both opportunities and threats to the involvement of employees in the performance of official tasks, as well as their readiness to deepen relations with their direct superior. The presented results of empirical research concern the organisation of the Ministry of National Defence and the State Fire Service and are only an element of a larger research project. The aim of the research process was to determine the opportunities and threats generated by aspects of organisational communication in the context of maintaining a satisfactory state of personal security of the examined institutions participating in activities in the field of defence and protection of population, property and the environment.

13

Authors: Adam Paweł Olechowski, Jarosław Wiśnicki

The article aims to identify social impact activities in the context of information operations conducted by Ukraine during the 2022 war. An analysis of the creation and spread of information threats as a result of Russia’s ongoing conflict is driven by the increasing impact of communication on global security. The content of the study highlights the impact of trends in the creation of information threats, which are the determinants of social risks. In the article, an analysis of creating information threats, including producing and reporting information in propaganda and the traditional and modern media, is of significant importance. The impact and role of mass media on awareness-raising is presented, revealing mechanisms for influencing public opinion.

15

Authors: Przemysław Maj

Political parties that operate in the public space are classified, inter alia, according to the criterion of their ideological convergence (Mair, 2010; Gallagher, Laver, Mair, 2011). If we look at the convergence through the prism of the values declared by the parties, then the adaptation of Shalom H. Schwartz’s circular model makes it possible to explain many correlations. Ideological convergence must then be considered a derivative of the rules of compliance and conflict that Schwartz described. These become the starting point, the basis for selecting further axioms and, consequently, a guideline (imperative) in constructing political agendas. The article aims to show that the mentioned rules define party agendas, and the circular model can be used for analytical purposes. The manifestos of the pirate parties selected from 11 countries were used as an example. The method applied in the article is the meta-value matrix. Adapting the Schwartz model, it should be seen as a qualitative content analysis method.

16

Authors: Marek Górka

Unrest, conflicts, and wars in various parts of the world have created huge political and business opportunities for private military companies. They can gather intelligence, provide security for rich and powerful political actors, and provide mercenaries to interest groups worldwide. Private Russian military forces with close ties to President Vladimir Putin are used in war zones and continue expanding their presence in many regions worldwide. The Wagner Group is the most famous Russian mercenary unit. It gained notoriety mainly by supporting Russian forces in the conflict in Ukraine in 2014. At that time, it also provided one of the services that the authorities in the Kremlin particularly appreciate in their actions, and that is the lack of attribution for conducting armed conflicts, thanks to which mercenaries play the role of separatist fighters. Since then, the organisation has been deployed in many countries, including Syria, Libya, Mali, the Central African Republic, Sudan, and Venezuela, always to covertly support representatives of regimes favoured by Putin. Like all other mercenary units in Russia, the Wagner Group does not officially exist, because Russian law does not allow mercenary activities. The article has two main objectives: first, to present an analysis of the activities of the Wagner Group, using the currently available information; second, to prove that the concept of hybrid warfare could best explain the Kremlin’s use of Russian mercenaries.

17

Authors: Łukasz Danel

The article attempts to answer whether, and if so, to what extent, the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union (the so-called Brexit) impacted the British model of democracy. The starting point for the analysis is the famous classification of Arend Lijphart, who distinguished two main models of democracy – Westminster and consensus – identifying the United Kingdom as a prime example of the first of them. Using the method of institutional and legal analysis and the historical method, the author tries to prove the thesis that Brexit has shaken the foundations of the majoritarian democracy in the United Kingdom. However, the transformations of this model are not a new phenomenon, as they are part of the trend of changes occurring in this country, at least since the end of the 1990s. The article also proves the thesis that the serious political and systemic tensions to which Brexit – for very different reasons – led can be treated as temporary, as there is little indication that these tensions would permanently undermine the foundations of the Westminster model of democracy in the United Kingdom.

25

Authors: Marek Pietraś

The European Union has been recognised as an international system whose decisions and actions are conditioned by environmental determinants, which is a dynamic process of change. The article attempts to explain the EU’s decisions based on the conclusions of the European Council in 2010–2022. 93 documents containing the conclusions of the European Council adopted during that period were analysed. It was found that the determinants of EU decisions and actions function – firstly – at the international system level and, secondly, at the level of the domestic systems of the Member States. In addition, the article: 1) reconstructed the discussion in the science of international relations on behavioural determinants, 2) reconstructed the perception of determinants in the conclusions of the European Council; 3) a model for organising the analysis of the determinants of the decisions of the European Council was proposed.

26

Authors: Adam Kołodziejczyk, Beata Domańska-Szaruga

Morale is one of the most frequently recurring concepts in the media covering events from the country and the world. It is used by journalists and experts representing the scientific and military communities. The concept is also used by ordinary people commenting on the attitudes and achievements of various individuals and social entities, especially in situations of particular threats to human life and health. Since the term morale is used in different contexts and meanings, many different ways of understanding it can be noted. It can also be seen that approaches to the phenomenon of morale differ in time – interest in it decreases during peace and social stability and increases during conflicts, revolutions, or wars. For example, in the post-Cold War decade of the 1990s, known as the “end of history” or the “peace dividend” period, there was little scientific work on morale. But earlier, during the “Cold War”, such publications were numerously created in the West . From the emerging interest in the concept of morale in modern times, it appears that it is still valid and important.