World of Ideas and Politics
Volume 2/2002

Table of contents:

Studies and analysis:

• Danuta Karnowska: The state in election programmes of parties and liberal groups
• Przemysław Woliński: Transformation of the Democratic Left Alliance .from a coalition to a political party
• Katarzyna Polus-Rogalska: The idea of negative and positive peace
• Przemysław Nowakowski: European integration and wilderness of cosmopolitism
• Maria Szatlach: The effect of foreign indebtedness on economic development of Poland in the period of the political system transformation
• Mirosław Geise: Economic policy of Poland in its transformation period and the problem of unemployment
• Grzegorz Kaczmarek: Civil society in action
• Joanna Taczkowska: Vocational dilemmas of journalists in the light of law courts. decisions in Bydgoszcz in 1984-2000
• Kamila Sierzputowska: The attempts to integrate Polish societies in Germany in the nineties of the 20th century
• Shakir Kitab: Political aspect of Muhammad's activity in the age of the islam birth

Book reviews:

• Tadeusz Godlewski: Zbigniew Machelski: Opozycja w systemie demokracji parlamentarnej. Wielka Brytania, Niemcy, Włochy
• Daniel Piotrowski: Barbara Stoczewska: Litwa, Białoruś Ukraina w myśli politycznej Leona Wasilewskiego
• Michał Kosman: Ahmed Rashid: Talibowie: Wojujący islam, ropa naftowa i fundamentalizm w środkowej Azji

Danuta Karnowska

The state in election programmes of parties and liberal groups
The breakthrough of 1989 and implementation of the "Balcerowicz's Plan" resulted in raising hope for determined and fast reformation of the Polish economy and state administration.
From the beginning of transformation these two problems became basic for programs created by parties and political groups. This paper is an analysis of only the programs which concern projects of political transformations. Therefore, the attention is focused on such political formations as the Liberal-Democratic Congress, the Union for Real Politics, Democratic Union (Union for Freedom) or Social Democratic Party of Poland (Democratic Left Alliance).
It is also worth noticing that regarding the existence of different types of liberalism, an attempt was made to describe a variety of the doctrine characteristic for a given party or a political group. Considering the role of the state in relation to the individual and the public, there were differentiated: neo-liberalism, conservative liberalism and communitarism.

Przemysław Woliński

Transformation of the Democratic Left Alliance - from a coalition to a political party
The subject of this paper is transformation of the Democratic Left Alliance from an election organism focusing a wide range of post-communistic groups into an organizationally uniform political party. The election coalition could start to exist as a result of transformations in the political system of the state after the breakthrough in 1989 when the political life was submitted to pluralisation.
The paper presents the main actors of the election coalition of the Democratic Left Alliance: the parties and political and social groups with a special dominant role of the Social Democratic Party of Poland, and the relations between them. Besides, it presents the development of the coalition and its election and parliamentary activities. There are also presented the ideas of a new political formation with the process of its foundation.
The decade of the nineties is characteristic for foundation, development and transformation of the Democratic Left Alliance as well as for working out a partnership with a left party of a different origin, i.e. the Union of Labour, which enables us to define these years as a stage of the Social Democratic Camp formation in the Republic of Poland. It was the stage of bringing closer together and uniting different subjects of the left within its main stream focused around the Social Democratic Party of Poland, and then its internal institutionalization. Preservation of a wide formula of the Left consolidation still made its ideological-policy identification difficult, which is, as it can be predicted, a challenge for the new decade.

Katarzyna Polus-Rogalska

The idea of negative and positive peace
Summarizing considerations about peace, the author finds out that the idea is commonly known as the opposite of war. Peace means lack of war more than an international partnership (although it is included into the idea of positive peace) because a war can also contain a partnership between aggressors or between peace defenders. Therefore, the lack of war is crucial to define the international peace, because only the war excludes it evidently. Peace can also take place in case of sanctioning an unjust political-territorial deal or in state of numerous international tensions when there is no war.
In the author's opinion another meaning of peace refers to the state of relationships between countries. However, regarding the fact that it is at the same time a value (a special value for both individual nations and the whole international-global society), peace is differently interpreted in different philosophical and ideological conceptions. It has a dynamic character and depends on international conditions, priorities of international interests and civilization progress. These conditions are variable. However, peace always means lack of war or other direct violence. (This is a negative aspect of peace.) Peace, evaluated as fair and favourable to unrestricted development, is defined as positive (a positive aspect of peace). So, this is a creative development of the negative peace. Practically, it is, however, more an idea of peace than an objective state found in the human history so far. Therefore peace is also characterized by relativity and subjectivity of perception (regardless of the objective state).

Przemysław Nowakowski

European integration and wilderness of cosmopolitism
The paper deals with comparative analysis of the two historic moments in which cosmopolitism was a certain recipe for life. The moments were distinct from each other of about 2500 years, but with some common characteristic features. The question concerns Asia Minor in the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. and the Old Continent of the late years of 20th century. The matter regards the Hellenic world based on the idea of Alexander the Great and the united Europe based on Shuman.s idea. Despite a large difference in time, astonishing historical and ideological similarities may help not only to analyze the present reality but also to forecast the future of the European community structure which is now being created.
According to the author, the contemporary European countries have to decide fast what political form the integrated organism in statu nascendi may assume. Otherwise, the countries will share the fate of Hellenic world, a beautiful stoic blow of cosmopolitism that finished very fast and suddenly.

Maria Szatlach

The effect of foreign indebtedness on economic development of Poland in the period of the political system transformation
Foreign indebtedness is one of the most important problems of Poland nowadays. Until the beginning of the seventies, it was not any problem, because Poland practically did not buy on credit in Western countries. In the late seventies the indebtedness was about 1 billion USD but in 1979, it already reached 22.4 billion USD. At the beginning of the eighties, Poland ran into a trap of debts that became a basic problem in its international relations. Poland remained an insolvent country, although it serviced its debts. In the first half of the eighties Poland had no access to any financial sources. At the end of 1989 its indebtedness was almlost 41.43 billion USD.
In the 1990s, a chance to solve the problem of foreign indebtedness appeared. It became possible due to political transformations and implementation of a credible and realizable economic program. In 1990-1996, Poland regulated the problem of paying its liabilities with the Paris Club, the London Club and Russia. All formal barriers blocking the access to international financial markets disappeared. Poland settled its relations with all the debtors and was able to cover its outer indebtedness.
At present the foreign indebtedness is app. 70 billion USD but, as the future member of the United Europe, Poland is regarded as a credible credit partner and, according to rating agencies, it obtains the index BBB plus. The direct impact of the foreign indebtedness consists primarily in enlarging the state budget deficit which at present is one of the most important problems of Poland. Further perspectives of decreasing liabilities of the foreign indebtedness depend on a general status of the economy, a success of reforms, a political and social situation and especially on the development of competitive export. Integration of Poland with the European Union seems to be a necessary condition to pick up a chance of the development, and at the same time, to cover its debts.

Mirosław Geise

Economic policy of Poland in its transformation period and the problem of unemployment
The paper deals with an assessment of implementing the postulates of stabilizing policy in Poland in 1992-2001. A special attention is drawn to difficulties in maintaining the rate of unemployment at a natural level and to the reasons of high rate of unemployment established in 1998-2001. Basing on the carried out research, the author designs models of auto-regression which are used in the assessment of the future rate of unemployment. In this paper, there are widely applied quantitative methods, such as: Snecodor. s F-tests of significance, Pearson.s correlation coefficient, and models of auto-regression including a multiple one.

Grzegorz Kaczmarek

Civil society in action
The paper tries to sum up a few years. experiments concerning the participation of local communities in the programs of local development strategy creation. The conclusions and notices are made by the author although they have been drawn on the basis of papers and discussions carried out with a lot of people. Their inspiring output made the author formulate some generalization.
The base of the paper is the author.s direct participation in working out local development strategies or a dozen or so communities in the Kujawy and Pomerania Districts, and particularly in Piotrków Kujawski (1996-1997), Mrocza (1998 and 2000), Czersk (1998-2000), Dobrcz (1999), Białe Błota (1999-2000) and Koronowo (2000). One of their key methodological assumptions was organizing and supporting active participation of local communities in the process of building the development strategy. The public opinion poll was carried out on larger and smaller groups of people in all the communities. The author was personally engaged in the polls and their analyses, and in at least a few programs he was also both an expert and animator (.facitator.) of the events and activities in a local community. Therefore, basing on practice and experience, the author points to the need of reflection on the usefulness of social science - its engagement and objectivity, and, on the other side, he shows an ambiguous role of an expert, e.g. in the process of formulating the mission of development and strategic aims by local communities. The paper is also based on more and more numerous specialist literature and on derivative reflection on realizing the idea of the local development strategy.
Among many barriers which appear during research concerning the development strategies of small local communities, the author points to lack of competence of the civil society in these environments. It may be defined as a deep "province complex" which derives from both objective factors and environment features, e.g. a low level of education, civilization delay, psychological factors and a difficult access to social and cultural values and goods. All these spheres require intense organic work.

Joanna Taczkowska

Vocational dilemmas of journalists in the light of law courts. decisions in Bydgoszcz in 1984-2000
Article 12 of the press law ordering journalists particular care and reliability while collecting and using press materials as well as protection of personal goods and chattels determines the limits of freedom for journalist comments. Journalist reliability and care are strictly connected with the question of truth in the related issues. The paper contains analyses of the situations in which journalists of the Bydgoszcz press broke their duties. The presented here considerations are made on the base of the law courts. decisions in Bydgoszcz. The investigated source material concerns acts of 37 civil matters and 9 criminal cases including the years 1984-2000.
It can be stated that the described period is characterized by cohesion and uniformity of views. The assessments issued by appeal instances prove undoubtedly objectivity and clarity in judging. It may head towards stabilizing the judiciary.s views on the matter of journalist freedom.

Kamila Sierzputowska

The attempts to integrate Polish societies in Germany in the nineties of the 20th century
As mentioned in the tittle, the article tries to characterize the integration process of the Polish community in Germany. It describes the problems of the Polish emigrants and their attitude towards the new political and social situation in the nineties. It also highlights the influence of the main legal regulation .The Treaty of Neighbourly Relationship and Partnership between Poland and Germany. of 17th June 1991, on the situation of Poles in Germany.
The author analyses the stages of the integration process of the Polish people by describing their achievements and defeats. Consequently, it is proved that the lack of unity within the community of Poles is always caused by .the rule of negation., as the author calls the phenomenon. Their attitude of disaproval has also a great impact on their social situation and their image on the international scene. It is specially visible among the representatives of new emigrants.
In the author.a opinion social status equally depends on the Polish and German authorities, as well as on the active participation of the Polish emigrants.
The article ends up with a general conclusion. The author suggests organizing in . depth discussions including all respective representatives of the Polish community in Germany. The outcome should contain current diagnosis of the community and should make suggestions concerning specific actions for Poles living in Germany.

Shakir Kitab

Political aspect of Muhammad's activity in the age of the islam birth
The political aspect of Muhammad's activity in the age of islam creation was no less important than its mission and religious ones. Muhammad.s actions which in the paper were categorized as political secured him the possibility of spreading his dogmatic-religious ideas on vast areas of the Arabian Peninsula in a record short time.
Muhammad's emigration from Mecca to Yatrib had a decisive influence on the future of islam. It was a limit line between the two great stages in the history of the religion. Only after comparing the Prophet's life in Mecca, where he was a missionary surrounded by enemies and danger, with that in Yatrib after immigration, where he was a leader and head of the state, we can learn how significant the immigration was for the Muslim religion and how important its political creation - a state was for its founder.
The paper registers step after step Muhammad.s actions heading for creating the first in the history Muslim country starting from choosing the seat to sketching foreign and home policies through economy and an administrative structure. Not omitting education and science, Muhammad was conscious how significant these aspects of social life were.