STUDIES AND ANYLYSES

Shanghai Cooperation Organization: A Realist Approach

Jildiz Nicharapova
American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic

Summary: The main goal of this paper is an analysis of activities, purposes, problems of the (SCO) since its inception in order to understand what is the main reason behind its creation and existence? What are its achievements and what benefits have got each member state? Is it beneficial to all members? The hypothesis is that SCO serves only its big members, it was intended to be a China’s tool to enter Central Asia without vexing Russia. The article analyzes the activities of the SCO with the existing theories in IR in order to answer these questions. The main objective of the SCO was an attempt by the powers of the Central Asia to control the region. The SCO faces problems of distrust between its members. It is a very important instrument of guaranteeing Sino-Central Asian partnership. It is also a guarantee that China will never dominate Central Asia due to many signed agreements within the organization. With more than twenty years of history and existence, the SCO may become a real force on the international arena. The SCO’s intention is to become a world power and to construct a fairer international order. The SCO has the economic potential and political will to do it.
Keywords: Central Asia, Russia and China in CA, international and regional organizations in CA, SCO, EAEU, BRI, international and regional security

Italy’s Cultural Diplomacy: From Propaganda to Cultural Cooperation

Lorenzo Medici
University of Perugia

Summary: Cultural diplomacy has always been an important tool in Italian foreign policy. Culture represented a significant resource already in the liberal period and was also widely used by Fascism. During the inter-war period, cultural promotion abroad aimed at spreading the regime’s political-social organizational model.
In the second post-war period, cultural resources played a fundamental role in Italian international relations. The democratic government carried out a transition from an essentially propagandistic action, which Fascism implemented especially in the second half of 1930’s, to a cultural diplomacy more attentive to the issues of dialogue and cooperation.
The soft power of culture grew in importance. Lacking effectivediplomatic tools of a political and economic nature, the new ruling class promoted the nation’s cultural tradition. Although with means and personnel widely used already during the Fascist period, democratic Italy adopted an innovative cultural diplomacy with regard to premises and goals. This policy was apparently low-key and devoid of political themes, but in reality it was aimed at acquiring, in the long run, the friendship and the sympathy of the elites of other countries, so as to bolster political and economic relations.
In the framework of a broader course of action, aimed at supporting multilateral diplomacy, the new leaders of post-Fascist Italy also promoted an international cultural cooperation which reversed the previous power politics and the unilateral assertion of Italian culture, but was still careful to defend the nation’s interests. This cooperative dimension was realized above all with the participation in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Keywords: soft power, cultural diplomacy, propaganda, cultural cooperation, foreign cultural policy, Fascism, Italian foreign policy, UNESCO

EU – Ukraine: Around Kiev’s European Aspirations. Selected Aspects from a German Perspective

Michał M. Kosman
Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy

Summary: The goals of the article are to discuss Ukraine’s aspirations for rapprochement with the European Union, especially after the „Orange Revolution” in 2004, and in the context of the conflict with Russia over Crimea and eastern Ukraine that began in 2014. In addition, to outline of Germany’s position toward the conflict and Ukraine’s relations with the EU. The author attempts to resolve the problem of Ukraine’s chances of joining the Union in a predictable perspective. First of all, scientific and press publications, as well as European Union documents were used.
Keywords: Ukraine, Russia, Crimea, annexation of Crimea, Donbass, European Union, Germany

Brexit Negotiation Process in David Cameron and Theresa May’s Policy

Nicole Pietrzak
Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy

Summary: Great Britain’s decision to leave the European Union (aka Brexit) is one of the most significant events in the history of European integration. It is also the first event in the history of the Community, yet not the only one proposed by the UK government. This article aims at the analysis of political activity of British Prime Ministers: David Cameron and Theresa May related to the United Kingdom’s leaving the European Union structures. British Government’s decision was taken after the referendum, which was held on June 23, 2016, followed by invoking Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty. Consequences of Brexit are highly dependent on the results of negotiations, although most definitely they will have political, economic and social implications. The most important conclusions are contained in the summary.
Keywords: Brexit, European Union, referendum, Great Britain, European integration

The United Kingdom’s Trade Relations with Kenya in the Context of Brexit

Łukasz Jureńczyk
Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy

Summary: The subject of the article is trade cooperation between Great Britain and Kenya in the context of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union. The article characterizes the commercial cooperation of Great Britain and Kenya and discusses the trends existing in this field in recent years. The main threats to this cooperation that Brexit brings are presented, as well as the actions that states must implement to counteract the negative consequences of Brexit and the opportunities that Brexit potentially gives to deepening trade cooperation between countries. In addition, the political climate change that has occurred between countries in recent years, which has a significant impact on the implementation of economic cooperation, including trade, has been outlined. The purpose of the article is to present and evaluate the challenges that the countries face in the context of Brexit, which they must overcome in order to maintain and deepen trade cooperation. The main research problem is whether Brexit will weaken or accelerate trade relations between Great Britain and Kenya? The main hypothesis of the article is that Brexit causes great uncertainty about the future of trade cooperation between Great Britain and Kenya. However, it gives the opportunity to dynamize this cooperation, and Kenya can become a model partner for the United Kingdom within the concept of „Global Britain” promoted by London. Kenya’s positive development trends make it an increasingly attractive trading partner for Great Britain. However, Kenya wants to take advantage of the UK’s search for trading partners outside the European Union.
Keywords: The United Kingdom, Kenya, trade relations, Brexit

European Agenda on Migration – Assumptions and Implementation

Maria Ewa Szatlach
Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy

Summary: In mid-October 2019, the European Commission presented a report on the implementation of European Agenda on Migration of 2015 and indicated the areas that require further action mainly related to irregular migration, smuggling of migrants and trafficking. The EC emphasized that only by joining forces of all member states the European Union will be able to fight effectively and humanely with these problems. Irregular migration has become one of the EU most important problems since the 1990s, and the growing number of irregular migrants evoked the feeling that a single state is unable to control people arriving on its territory. The Europeans are terrified of the scale of migration. Conflicts and antagonisms between the local population and the rapidly growing number of migrants have begun to increase. The research goal of the article is to analyze the implementation of the 2015 European Agenda on Migration.
Keywords: migration policy, asylum policy, irregular migration, migrant smuggling, European Agenda on Migration, European Union

Undersea Telecommunication Cables as an Element of Global Critical Infrastructure. Assessment of Vulnerability

Krzysztof Kubiak
Uniwersytet Jana Kochanowskiego w Kielcach

Summary: The article is the first in Polish literature attempt to present the role played in the modern information world by undersea telecommunications cables. The author draws a synthetic history of the undersea cables’ development as well as presents its current network. The article also discusses the most common causes that lead to cutting the cables and shows examples of such events and their consequences. The author also emphasizes that according to the international law of the sea the telecommunication cables are not subject to special protection. Although they are an important element of critical  infrastructure, this issue does not arouse the interest of states, because in the vast majority they are owned by private companies. The development of cable-based communication is extremely dynamic. In a period shorter than that of one generation, they transformed from a „means of communication”, useful, but without a critical importance, to the real „nervous system” of a globalized economy operating mainly based on virtual reality. Undersea cables, due to their economic, political and social importance, as well as their physical characteristics, are potentially strongly exposed to destructive influences. They may be a consequence of natural disasters, but also of steps taken intentionally by individual people, extremist organizations or even states.
Keywords: undersea cables, oceans and seas, threats and dangers, critical infrastructure

Intelligence Creation: Information Activities in the Field of Security Policy

Marek Górka
Politechnika Koszalińska

Summary: The enormous changes and constant developments in the applications of technology and communication have changed the way the world is perceived. The information revolution has impacted intelligence gathering, processing, analysis and dissemination, as well as how decision-makers can access reliable information in a timely manner, and the sources they are likely to rely on when concrete information is needed to make decisions. This article attempts to describe, analyze and explain the nature of the ongoing information revolution, its main impact on intelligence and security policy, and the importance of intelligence analysis in the context of peacekeeping operations.
Keywords: security policy, intelligence, counter-intelligence, cybersecurity, peacekeeping missions

Choice or Coercion? Soviet Security Guarantees for Poland after 1945

Sławomir Sadowski
Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy

Summary: The question about the scope, content and effectiveness of activities is the subject of the article in which the author analyzes the methods of making Poland’s security policy dependent on the USSR in the context of establishing the country border on the Oder and Nysa Łużycka as an act of historical justice, which could only had been done thanks to the Polish communists supported by the USSR. Consequently, the foreign and military policy of People’s Poland was incorporated into a broader coalition structure, i.e. fully dependent on Soviet policy. This policy was justified in such a way to show the inevitability of Soviet security guarantees arising from the Polish-Soviet brotherhood of arms.
Keywords: National security policy, border on the Oder and Nysa Łużycka, brotherhood of arms, social manipulation

Drone War as the Permanent State of Emergency

Mateusz Pietryka
Uniwersytet Warszawski

Summary: In 2001 began the so-called war on terror which gave rise to numerous and so far unknown strategies and technologies. One of the most important of them are military drones. Initially used for reconnaissance and looking for targets, they quickly became deadly weapons that change the course of war. Death in military conflicts, once inflicted directly by humans, today is inflicted indirectly by advanced technologies. Automated, mathematical algorithms make decisions whether an individual should live or be eliminated in the name of public security. In this article I prove that inflicting death through military drones is not just another war tactic but a new paradigm which may lead to the transformation of legal and political regime of Western countries. I analyze this paradigm in the light of Carl Schmitt’s category of the “state of exception”. I characterize the new methods of controlling law and governing population by Giorgio Agamben’s concept of “inclusive exclusion”.
Keywords: democracy, drones, state of exception, war

Distribution of Power and a Political Change in David Hume’s Poltical Theory

Łukasz Perlikowski
Mazowiecka Uczelnia Publiczna w Płocku

Summary: In this paper I would like to present an interpretation of David Hume’s political theory. Therefore, a method of investigation can be recognized as hermeneutical one. Main threads which I would like to emphasize are: concept of stability, distribution of power, role of an opinion in political dimension and a conservative attitude toward a change. I claim that important lesson for political science can be taken from his theory. Generally speaking, this lesson consists in refusing the so-called political regime fetishism and focusing on the relevant issues of social stability. These issues are strictly determined by the opinions, hence the proper subject-matter of political science is identified with them. As one of the conclusions I propose a thesis that politics is, and ought only to be slave of opinions, what is an allusion to a famous sentence from A Treatise of Human Nature that the reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions.
Keywords: David Hume, political theory, stability, distribution of power, political regime, change, rationality

The Problem of Degeneration in the Anarchist thought of Peter Kropotkin

Maciej Drabiński
Uniwersytet Warszawski

Summary: Peter Kropotkin was one of the most theorists of anarchism, a respected scholar and a leading representative of the so-called Russian (Eastern) Darwinism. Merging political and scientific ambition by the “anarchist prince” underlaid his scientism and was an assumption for making a critical analysis of existing socio-economic reality in the light of its influence on the biological and moral condition of humankind. The Russian anarchist was convinced about the destructive influence of conditions produced by the state and capitalism which he found as the fundamental cause of human degeneration. In this context, Kropotkin’s political proposals may be seen as a try to overcome a progressing both biological and moral crisis of humankind. The aim of this article is to present the mentioned analysis and to demonstrate the influence and similarities of Kropotkin’s project to the so-called theory of degeneration that was popular in the second half of XIX century.
Keywords: anarchism, communism, Darwinism, eugenics, neo-Lamarckism, capitalism

Arivism, Chremastics, Mathematics, and Human-Centeredness – Apologetics of Axiology in Economics

Błażej Piskorz
Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy

Summary: The main purpose of the article is to verify the hypothesis that the erasing of values from economics causes unfavorable social changes leading even to social stratification. Side by side, it will be considered if homo neuroeconomicus is already the leading paradigm in economic, and marketing creates our attitudes, with the aim only to sell, not to distribute wares. The article also aims to show the relevance of axiology in economics, because at its metatheoretical level its ontological status constitutes values implanted by recognized economists. Meanwhile, contemporary economics tries to create an exact science, disavowing its normative output. The record is mathematical, which evaluative value, emotionally excludes man as an important subject of economics. The loss of autotelism in the exemplification of a human being and its natural inclination to participate in the economy causes non-exclusivity in participation. The attempt of these changes also led to the creation of homo neuroeconomicus as a model example of a human-consumer who has three tasks: buy, buy, buy. An adequate method to show the issue is to use the descriptive method to approximate the problem and comparative analysis, which indicates that there is no one way to look at the economy and to make it work in reality.
Keywords: chremastic, axiology, heterodoxy, sustainable development, consumption, paradigm’s weakness, human-centeredness, homo neuroeconomicus

Anthropocentrism and Biocentrism in Human Attitudes toward Some Selected Dilemmas of Environmental Ethics – Case of Kuyavian and Pomeranian Province Citizens

Wojciech Trempała, Andrzej Papuziński
Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy

Summary: The article presents the results of own research concerning attitudes toward the four selected dilemmas of environmental ethics. The empirical data was collected by means of a questionnaire in 2014 and 2015 on a representative sample of 1000 inhabitants of the Kuyavian and Pomeranian province. The respondents were asked to address 16 statements that related to some of the issues of environmental ethics including: value of human life in the face of the threat of overpopulation and an ensuing need to reduce the population, validity of human interests in view of nature’s needs, priorities in environmental protection, as well as the principle of redress that specifies the extent of compensation of human induced damage to the environment. Each of the mentioned problems was presented for assessment in the form of four statements adapted in axiological terms to the division accepted in environmental ethics into anthropocentric and biocentric positions.
Keywords: Anthropocentrism, biocentrism, ecological awareness, environmental sociology, environmental ethics

The ‘Bottom-up’ Process – The Idea of Planning Development and Space Design Based on a Social Participation

Dominika Muszyńska-Jeleszyńska
Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy

Summary: Bottom-up is an idea of inclusion of city inhabitants into planning and projecting processes. The basis of this approach is a real participation, engagement, cooperation and common decision-making by various actors of projecting process. A key role in the process is played by a local society perceived as a subject and the most important recipient of the outcome. The bottom-up process is based on the professional facilitation of content based on recognized legal and ethical assumptions. The main aim of the article is to present ideas and the most important assumptions of the bottom-up process in the context of socializing the planning and development processes. The article consists an analysis of the roles of particular participants of the press. Also, it includes a presentation of Dutch experiences in co-realizing planning processes with inhabitants. The article was created as a result of the author’s experiences gained through the participation in the project entitled “PWP – nowatorskie narzędzie kształtowania przestrzeni publicznej”.
Keywords: bottom-up, process, social participation, spatial planning, local society, facilitation

Changes in Social and Political Order and Their Impact on the Democracy

Marek Bednarz
Akademia Pomorska w Słupsku

Summary: This article analyzes the rise and diffusion of the radical changes in the fields of international relations and social security that pose a challenge for capitalist representative democracy. This concept reflects the simple idea that the era characterized by strong global economic influences, worldwide aging population, longevity and longer life expectancy, changing labor markets, migration, technological and communications developments, mobility and transportation gives no reason to believe in representative democracy as the future of the world. This article suggests a new point of view on the discussion of the factors that mostly influence social order, social security, labor markets and democracy.
Keywords: democracy, new social risks, political participation, social development, social exclusion, social order, social protection

Mother of God, Banish Putin. Feminists Against Authoritarianism in Russia

Szymon Wasielewski
Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy

Summary: The events that took place in Russia at the end of 2011 – the rigged parliamentary elections and the nomination of Vladimir Putin as presidential candidate, his return to the Kremlin after four years, caused numerous protests on a previously unknown scale. According to various estimates, tens of thousands of dissatisfied citizens took to the streets of Moscow. They were led by Alexei Navalny and Boris Nemtsov, who was later murdered in 2015. The public support of the authorities and the condemnation of the protesters by Patriarch Cyril – the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, was met with a reaction from a now outraged society. On February, 21 2012, the famous feminist group Pussy Riot, staged a performance in the building of the Council of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. The performance was to be a form of protest against the informal alliance of „the throne and the altar”. This informal alliance has been present in Russia for many years, it obliges both sides to mutual support, especially in times of crisis. The trial of the three members of the Pussy Riot group – Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Ekaterina Samucevich and Maria Alokhina was strictly political, despite strict efforts of judges and prosecutors to change its character. Under the pretence of offending religious feelings, a political lynch was carried out against the three women. The real reason for such harsh actions, was disobedience against the head of the Russian state and standing in opposition to the authoritarian form of government. The phoney trial was treated as a warning to the system’s opponents, for them to think twice before undertaking any actions against the state authorities. Pussy Riot’s performance and its consequences have provoked many questions about the condition of the rule of law in Russia and the durability of Vladimir Putin’s regime. The article describes the earlier activities of Pussy Riot, background of the events preceding performance in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, a trial and the world’s response to the verdict. The research area durability and stability of political system in Russia during the presidency of Vladimir Putin and what it guarantees. The main hypothesis is the assumption that any manifestation or insubordination to the existing order in Russia is treated as an affront, and every person undertaking such action must be severely punished and stigmatized. The research method used in the article is an analysis of written sources.
Keywords: Russia, church, power, authoritarianism, Pussy Riot

Essay About The Province (Notes About the Lack of Power in Modern Russia)

Александр Скиперских
Bunin Yelets State University, Yelets, Russia

Summary: In this article, the author using sketches of Russian culture, tries to understand, how institutions of power can function in the Russian province, and how they can be perceived by the society. The power is distributed unevenly, and this has a full effect on its deficit in relation to provincial political discourse. The Russian example is not an exception.
From the author’s point of view, modern practices may have significant cultural grounds, hiding in a special relation to the province, which traditionally accompanied political discourse. The author sees this attitude in various sketches from the texts of Aleksandr Pushkin, Andrey Platonov, Anton Chekhov, Ivan Bunin and other Russian classics.
The author’s interpretation of the problem required an appeal to the theoretical works of political philosophers, such as Giorgio Agamben, Albert Camus, Niklas Luhmann, Michel Foucault and Max Scheler. The author believes that in the space of the Russian province there is an objective deficit of institutions of power, which speaks, on the one hand, of a certain disregard for the province, and, on the other hand, testifies to the strength of resistance to local initiatives and legal nihilism that has become part of the political philosophy of the Russian provincial.
In turn, the provision of a person to himself, affects a fairly critical attitude toward the political power. A person is not more capable of trusting the authorities and seeking support from them. His being increasingly assumes an existential character.
The policy of the federal government in modern Russia gives rise to serious gaps between the center and the province, which can forms affect the specific perception of power itself, and also affects the formation of anarchic attitudes.
Keywords: discourse, legitimation, power, political space, province, Russia, Russian culture

Contemporary Applications of Prohibition of Discrimination in Turkish Constitutional Court Decisions

Sabriye Beste Kabaçam
Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University

Summary: It is clear that the prohibition of discrimination and the principle of equality are one of the most important principles of human rights. Today, since the number of discrimination issues has increased in the usual flow of life, the matter of how far the valid law can protect individual, who constitutes the core of the society from discrimination is controversial. In Turkish Constitution, there is no independent article which orders the prohibition of discrimination. Cases which relate to the discrimination are considered with the principle of equality in Article 10. The scope of the present paper is to show how the prohibition of discrimination is embodied in Turkish Constitutional Court’s approach and its historical background. Secondarily, the Turkish Constitutional Court’s approach regarding these issues are emphasized and to what extent the decisions given by the Turkish Constitutional Court are similar to the decisions given by ECHR are argued. Comparative and historical method will be used in this paper.
Keywords: human rights, prohibition of discrimination, principle of equality, Turkish Constitutional Court, Article 10 of 1982 Turkish Constitution, ECHR Article 14

Education as an Subject of Interest of Polish Political Parties in the Second Decade of the 21st Century. Analysis of Selected Election Programmes

Ewelina Malendowicz
Szkoła Podstawowa nr 56 z oddziałami integracyjnymi w Bydgoszczy

Summary: The aim of this article is to reflect on the pluralism of plans and projects of the school education system in Poland at the end of the second decade of the 21st century and the positions of political parties regarding reforms of children’s and youth education. The hypothesis of the research in the article is the assumption that the electoral programmes of Polish political parties are characterized by a plurality of educational visions. They often are proposals for reforms adapting education to the tasks of the modern economy, market and social changes. The research method used in the article is the analysis of source documents, i.e. political party programmes, as well as their comparative analysis. The programmes of 14 political parties, valid in the second decade of the 21st century, were analyzed. These were in the order: Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), Labor Union (UP), Polish Labor Party – August 80 (PPP-S’80), Party Together, Spring, Green Party, Polish People’s Party (PSL), Democratic Party (SD), Civic Platform (PO), Modern Party, Law and Justice (PiS), Coalition of the Restoration of the Republic Freedom and Hope (KORWiN), Right Wing of the Republic, National Movement (RN).
Keywords: political party, electoral programme, education, reform, teacher, student

Data Journalism and Politics: Election DataBot, European Data Journalism Network and Media 3.0 Foundation

Paulina Kosobucka
Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu

Summary: The purpose of this article is to explain what a digital form of journalism, called data journalism, is and how it is applied in practice related to politics. Definitions and various aspects of data journalism (i.a. exemplary variables, most common in data journalism in general, ways of presenting data, factors that data journalists focus on in their work etc.) appear in the first part of article. Politics, as the title of this work indicates, is one of the areas in which this type of journalism is used. In this article, three projects related to data journalism are described. The first example of a tool, based on American politics, used to visualize and obtain data on congressmen and elections in general, is Election DataBot. This paper provides a description of this tool, as well as information about organizations that launched it. The next two initiatives related to data journalism are: European Data Journalism Network (as the name suggests, it refers to European politics) and Media 3.0 Foundation (related to Polish politics). They offer many practical options to observe, analyze and show political data. The research method used in the study is the analysis of  thematic online sources. The hypothesis is that data journalism is still a growing branch of journalism that has its adhibition in politics, thus supporting journalists, researchers and others interested in obtaining and visualizing data.
Keywords: data journalism, elections, initiatives, politics, tools, Election DataBot, European Data Journalism Network, Media 3.0 Foundation

Anti-Imperialist Political-Media Discourses in Spanish Regions and Hispanoamerica

Radosław Sajna
Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy

Summary: The article focuses on the political-media anti-imperialist discourses in various contexts within the Spanish-speaking world, that is in Spain and Hispanoamerica (the part of Latin America that was colonized by Spaniards and where today Spanish is official language). The analyzed discourses appear in different media: in the case of Spain the problem of the imperialism is present mainly in these regions where the cultural (regional) traditions are strong, like in Catalonia and Basque Country. In a political battle for independence Spain is treated as an imperialist enemy that occupies old, formerly independent, countries. In the case of Hispanoamerica some political leaders (mainly leftist) use the media (like for example an international TV station TeleSUR, founded thanks to an initiative of Hugo Chávez) to their propaganda, although today the main imperialist enemy is the United States (and not Spain) with its “neoliberal”, “neocolonial” economic policy towards poorer nations of Latin America.
Keywords: Basque Country, Catalonia, Hispanoamerica, imperialism, media

Access to Public Information as a Political Sciences Technique: What and How Should Be Studied, and What for?

Marcin Wałdoch
Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego w Bydgoszczy

Summary: Access to public information in Poland is most typically discussed in the legal and political contexts. However, it is not consciously discussed as a possibility for political scholars to exercise their right of access to public information. This paper, which is of postulatory nature, identifies the benefits for those political scholars who decide to use, in the process of data collection, their right of access to public information as a data collection technique. The proposed technic of data collection may be used by scholars – political scientists around the world.
Keywords: data collection techniques, political sciences, access to public information, public information, political studies

Dostuk Radio’s Ethnomosaic Programmes of the Public Broadcasting Corporation of Kyrgyzstan

Aina Duishekeeva
Kyrgyz National University named after Jusup Balasagyn

Summary: Kyrgyzstan is a multi-ethnic state in which representatives of more than 100 different ethnic groups live. Media content of Kyrgyzstan reflects multilingualism and culture of ethnic groups living in the republic. Nowadays, the print media (newspapers, magazines) are presented in the information field of Kyrgyzstan, the main purpose of which is the versatile coverage of the life of a particular ethnic group, its interaction in a multi-ethnic society. If the ethno-thematic materials of these publications are not absolute, they can be predominant, which gives the right to classify them as ethnic media. Their founders are ethnic public associations, sources of financing are ethnic communities, and also in some cases ethnic ancestral home. According to the latest data, about 10 ethnic public associations have their own print media.
The state provides broadcasting to ethnic groups in their native language in the Public Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) of the Kyrgyz Republic. The editorial policy of PBC is built in the interests of Kyrgyzstan’s population, taking into account the ethnic, national and cultural diversity of the country.
In a television format, all ethnic groups in Kyrgyzstan have the opportunity to participate in special television programs of the PBC that cover the ethnic sphere, such as “Wheel of Life (Колесо жизни)”, “Our country Kyrgyzstan (Мекеним Кыргызстан), as well as in ethnographic programs of other private television channels 1–2 times a year.
Radio Dostuk (Friendship) was launched as part of the PBC development strategy for the period 2013–2015, as well as complying with the concept of strengthening the unity of the people and interethnic relations in the Kyrgyz Republic. The main content of the radio is created in close cooperation with the diasporas, as well as with the Assembly of the Peoples of Kyrgyzstan. Today, Tatars, Uighurs, Ukrainians, Poles and other nations can broadcast their programmes on Dostuk Radio. Nowadays, more than ever, it is necessary to develop a culture of interethnic relations, interpersonal dialogue in a multi-ethnic society. Therefore, it is important that the media contribute to the strengthening of statehood and the formation of a common civic identity for Kyrgyz citizens.
Keywords: multiethnic state, ethnic media, inter-ethnic relations, diasporas, identity, unity, ethnic programmes

REVIEWS

Paweł Malendowicz (rev.): Marcin Wałdoch, Chojnicki czerwiec ’89: studium lokalne fali uderzeniowej procesu demokratyzacji, Stowarzyszenie Arcana Historii, Chojnice 2017, ss. 182

Christopher Colwill (rev.): Wojciech Lewandowski, Od faszystowskiej dystopii do anarchistycznej utopii. Idee polityczne w powieści graficznej V jak Vendetta Alana Moore’a i Davida Lloyda, Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek, Toruń 2019, ss. 323.

Marcin Wałdoch (rev.): Leszek Sykulski, Rosyjska geopolityka a wojna informacyjna, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warszawa 2019, ss. 160

Marcin Wałdoch (rev.): Wojciech Roszkowski, Roztrzaskane lustro. Upadek cywilizacji zachodniej, Biały Kruk, Kraków 2019, ss. 559