Przegląd Politologiczny, 2018, nr 4
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Item China’s influence on Taiwan’s media and politics(Wydział Nauk Politycznych i Dziennikarstwa UAM, 2018) HSU, Chien-JungTaiwan’s democracy and freedom of the press provide the Chinese authorities with an opportunity to use Taiwanese businessmen to influence Taiwan’s media outlets and politics. China uses three inter-related strategies to influence Taiwan’s media in this way: persuading businessmen with pro-China views to purchase Taiwanese media outlets, pressuring existing media owners, and placing advertisements in Taiwan’s media in order to purchase political influence. In addition, the Chinese government also employs cyber-propaganda strategy to attack Taiwanese political parties and politicians.Item The Regional Development of Democratization and Civil Society: Transition, Consolidation, Hybridization, Globalization - Taiwan and Hungary(Wydział Nauk Politycznych i Dziennikarstwa UAM, 2018) Szabó, MátéDifferent starting points, similar processes and different outcomes can be identified when comparing East Central Europe and East and South Asia. The two regions face similar global challenges, follow regional patterns of democratization and face crises. In communist times, East Central Europe was economically marginalized in the world economy, while some parts of Asia integrated well in the global economy under authoritarian rule. Europeanization and a favorable external environment encouraged the former communist countries to opt for the Western-style rule of law and democracy. Different external factors helped the Third Wave democracies in Asia, especially South Korea and Taiwan, which benefited from the support of the United States and other global economic, military and cultural partnerships to develop their human rights culture and democracy while facing their totalitarian counterparts, namely the People’s Republic of China and North Korea. The very different positions Taiwan and Hungary have in their respective regions follow from the different capacities of their transformation management since 1988-1989. Taiwan preserved its leading role and stable democracy despite the threat to its sovereignty from the People’s Republic of China. Hungary never had such an influential and problematic neighbor and was ensured security and welfare partnership by the European Union, which Taiwan lacked. While Taiwan was less secure, economic and social conditions were more favorable for democratization than those in Hungary. Hungary, in turn, held a leading position in democratization processes in the period of post-communist transition which was lost during the crisis and conflicts of the last decade (after 2006 and especially since 2010). Despite the fact that liberalization prepared the way for peaceful transition in both countries and resulted in similar processes of democratic consolidation in the 1990s, Hungary joined the ‘loser’ group in its region, whereas Taiwan is among the top ‘winning’ countries in its region. Taiwan at the moment is starting comprehensive reform processes toward enhanced democracy, civil rights and the rule of law, and Hungarian development is criticized by many external and internal analysts as straying from the path of European-style consolidated democracies towards illiberal trends and hybridization. Western global concepts of democratization may help to identify similarities and differences, and compare stronger and weaker factors in the democratic transitions in Asia and Europe within the Third Wave democracies.Item National Income, Strategic Discontinuity, and Converging Trajectories of Macroeconomic Policy Initiatives: An Empirical Study of China(Wydział Nauk Politycznych i Dziennikarstwa UAM, 2018) Tonn, Victor Lux; Wendian, Chen; C. Li, HsiThe framework of converging trajectories of macroeconomic policy initiatives is employed in the context of strategic discontinuity to study the national income of an advancing economy. A model of systemic changes based upon an equation of production and consumption is presented. In this study of the Chinese economy of 1980-2014, over time, the dynamics of policy imbalance is found to decrease considerably, which is consistent with the decreasing trend of shrinking the differences among the impact coefficients of government consumption, private investment, and private consumption.Item The State of Air in the European Union and Quality of Europeans’ Life(Wydział Nauk Politycznych i Dziennikarstwa UAM, 2018) Sakson-Boulet, AnnaThis article aims to present the impact of air pollution on the quality of life of EU residents. With the aid of institutional-legal and statistical analysis an attempt has been undertaken to answer the following research questions: 1) negative concentrations whose pollution exceeds norms set out at EU levels, 2) causes of above-norm pollution concentrations and 3) impact of pollution on the health of Europeans. During the conducted research it was demonstrated that the quality of life of Europeans is being lowered by a continuing above-norm concentration of air pollution whose exposure is related to people feeling worse, numerous diseases related to the breathing system, circulation, nervous and even reproductive system as well as increased death rate and shortening of life expectancy. The estimated number of premature deaths in 2014 resulting from exposure to fine dust, ozone and carbon dioxide in the EU amounted to 487,600. As the investigation shows, the best quality of life, taking into consideration air quality, is afforded by Finland, Ireland and Sweden.Item Towards authoritarianism. Internal situation in the Slovak Republic (1994-1998)(Wydział Nauk Politycznych i Dziennikarstwa UAM, 2018) Żarna, KrzysztofThis article discusses the internal situation of the Slovak Republic in the years 1994-1998, the period in which the country was governed by the coalition of Movement for Democratic Slovakia, the Slovak National Party and the Slovak Workers’ Association, and the prime minister was Vladimir Meciar. The main objective of the research was to analyse the actions undertaken by the coalition government in the context of violations of civil and political rights and freedoms, which could indicate an authoritarian way of exercising power and the dismantling of a democratic state of law. In the analysed period, the role of the parliamentary and nonparliamentary opposition was marginalised, the role of the media limited, the rights of national and ethnic minorities violated. There was also an ongoing, sharp conflict between Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar and President Michal Kovac. The effect of this governance was the union of almost all political forces and seizure of power after the elections in 1998. In order to answer the research questions, the author used the method of institutional and legal analysis, decision analysis and the statistical method. The research confirmed the hypothesis that, against the background of other Visegrad Group countries, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary, in the case of Slovakia there were many instances of human rights violations in the period analysed. This led to the drastic deterioration of bilateral relations with many countries and the slowdown of Slovakia’s accession to the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Union.Item The cultural and social assimilation of immigrants, and systemic solutions - Poles in Norway and Ukrainians in Poland in the light of comparative research(Wydział Nauk Politycznych i Dziennikarstwa UAM, 2018) Nowiak, Wojciech; Stelmach, AndrzejThe article presents the problem of migration and assimilation of newcomers in the countries of residence. One of the main reasons for migration are economic and social considerations, this applies to both non-European arrivals and internal migration. The aim of this study, conducted by scholars from Norway and Poland, is to compare systemic solutions both within the social legislation and the functioning of the labor market with respect to Poles and Ukrainians, confronting them with existing barriers regarding the possibility of assimilation and obstacles related to the transformation of economic into settlement migration. The methodological and theoretical basis of the team’s research is comparative methods, including comparative politics. The research on immigrants was conducted using both quantitative methods - statistical and qualitative data analysis - and research using the in-depth interview method. Poles and Ukrainians are not at the same stage of formal migration due to the formal plane. According to the analysis, Ukrainians have much greater opportunities for actual assimilation than Poles in Norway. Smaller cultural differences and linguistic barriers to the Ukrainians in Poland are conducive to this process. If the state and Polish society take advantage of this situation and enable the settlement of Ukrainians and make their job offers more attractive, there is a chance that they will fill the emerging demographic gap. It would be for the benefit of both societies.Item A forecast of international migration flows into EU countries until 2050(Wydział Nauk Politycznych i Dziennikarstwa UAM, 2018) Polovyi, MykolaThe subject of this paper is international migration into EU countries. The research objective is a quantitative estimation of the volume of international migration flows into European countries and their close neighbors until 2050. The forecast of international migration flows is based on the author’s own model of global international migration. The model is based on a synergetic approach and assumptions that the level of migration is determined first of all by the number of existing migrants from that country. The data used for the forecast is UN data on migration flows in 1990-2015, and the UN’s predictions regarding changes in population between now and 2050. The forecast is based on the medium scenario of demographic development offered by the UN. Countries with a current population of more than 5 million are taken into consideration as potential sources of immigration. The predicted values of the total number of international migration flows to each of the EU and neighboring countries for each five-year period until 2050 are determined. The predicted migration flows from EU countries are also determined. It is concluded that the forecasts allow us to claim that the problem of migration will continue for EU countries. However, the essence of this problem is not the prevention of excess migration, but attracting migrants to the countries of the ‘second Europe.’Item Participation of city residents in the ongoing activities of public transportation providers(Wydział Nauk Politycznych i Dziennikarstwa UAM, 2018) Tomaszyk, MikołajThe organization and management of public transportation is one of the most important responsibilities of local authorities. In view of the dynamically changing conditions of modern cities’ transportation policies, actions in this area pose a challenge, involving the standardization of transportation and its adjustment to the transportation needs and expectations of residents not only of individual cities, but of entire metropolitan areas. One of the ways to tailor transportation to the needs of residents is to continuously coordinate on the basis of diagnosis and analysis of residents’ demands. Public transportation passenger councils provide a forum for exchanging views on this issue. In Poland, only the authorities of Warsaw have thus far decided to establish such a body.Item The effect of new technologies on civic participation models(Wydział Nauk Politycznych i Dziennikarstwa UAM, 2018) Holubiak, NataliiaThe development of new technologies will enable decentralization and freedom of communication for large numbers of people, by overcoming the barriers that once rendered direct participation of society unfeasible. The continued development of information and communication technologies (ICT) makes it possible for people to participate in political life. Today, the use of e-tools is becoming a way of adapting democracy to the needs of contemporary states and strengthening civil society. The aim of this paper is to answer questions about the essence of ICT and forms of civic engagement through electronic forms of participation. The author seeks answers to the following questions: How does ICT influence political processes? How do electronic communication systems create the conditions for the political engagement of citizens? Can the use of information technologies have a real impact on participation?Item Social Network Analysis as a research method in political science. An attempt to use it in coalition research(Wydział Nauk Politycznych i Dziennikarstwa UAM, 2018) ŻUKIEWICZ, Przemysław; ZIELIŃSKI, Mateusz; DOMAGAŁA, KatarzynaThe main aim of the article is to argue the need for better focus of researchers conducting their research in the field of political science on some digital analytical tools used in social network analyses. Additional objectives are to outline the historical context of SNA’s development in this discipline, as well as to present possible fields of exploration and using of this method, both in basic and in applied research. Particular attention was paid to the potential of SNA in the study of the processes of cabinet coalitions formation, as well as to the important limitations of this method. The article was constructed as a methodological essay. We inevitably accept - because of its focus on network analyses a structural perspective on social reality. We verify the hypothesis that the greatest potential of SNA could be currently to create a visualization of social relations based on large data sets, but at the same time the most important barrier to the development of the method are limitations in the access to these data, which could be used as a basic analytical material for visualization of the network and generalization of the statistical conclusions. Presenting some political science research in Poland and around the world, in which SNA tools are used, we used the historical as well as the case study method.Item Implementation of the Quota System in the Regional Assembly Elections: the Analysis of Electoral Results in the Context of Women’s Epresentation on Electoral Lists(Wydział Nauk Politycznych i Dziennikarstwa UAM, 2018) Cichosz, Marzena; Tomczak, ŁukaszThe following article concerns selected aspects of the implementation of the quota system in elections to the regional assemblies (Sejmik wojewódzki) in Poland. This comparative analysis concerns two elections: in 2010 (before the quota system was introduced) and in 2014 (after its introduction). The key questions the authors would like to address involve the number of women represented on the electoral lists in 2010 and 2014 respectively, and the number of mandates in regional assemblies awarded to women before and after the quota system was introduced, as well as the relationship between the position on the electoral list and mandates awarded to female candidates. The authors also focus on the personnel policies of political parties. Out of all regional elections, the regional assembly elections were characterized by the highest level of party dependency. Introducing the quota system resulted in an increase in the number of women represented on electoral lists, yet it did not help increase the number of mandates awarded to female candidates. One of the reasons for this situation was the strategy adopted when the positions on the electoral lists were awarded by the parties with the largest political support. The representation of women on the upper positions of the electoral lists is smaller than the quota of female representatives imposed by the electoral law, and the larger number of women on the positions further below on the electoral lists translates into smaller chances of these candidates gaining a mandate. The source data for this research analysis comes from the National Electoral Commission.Item Political Activity of women and Men - the Psychosocial Determinants of Conventional Political Activity(Wydział Nauk Politycznych i Dziennikarstwa UAM, 2018) Miluska, Jolanta; Kuświk, Justyna; Pająk-Patkowska, BeataPolitical activity is a type of social activity displayed by citizens. Observations and research indicate that gender can be a factor which conditions its degree and forms. Apart from biological gender, which shapes the societal roles of women and men, additional factors that are supposedly responsible for their activities include elements of the system of beliefs (i.e. acknowledged political values, conviction that political activity has an importance, level of satisfaction with democracy as well as individualism and collectivism understood as an element of individual’s mentality). The impact of those factors on degree of conventional political activities among women and men is the subject of surveys which were conducted in 2004, 2010, and 2014 on a group of 1048 students from Polish universities. The received results show that differences in political activity between surveyed men and women as well as varying determinants in both groups are slowly fading away. The most important predictors of women’s political activity include: conviction of its significance in democracy and (dis)satisfaction with the way it functions.