Klaipėdos universitetas

The main objective of this study is to show the willingness of citizens to act through the prism of opportunities offered by participation at the local level. Citizens’ activity in public life is the core of democracy. Their engagement may assume various forms, among which the most common form is participation in elections. When it comes to direct democracy, participation in referendums is most widespread. However, an element of democracy, which is cognitively equally important as the above ones, results from citizens’ engagement in institutional activity through membership in political parties, trade unions, non-governmental organisations or local associations. It is also worth mentioning the participation expressed through signing of petitions, taking part in demonstrations or involvement in local initiatives. Having considered all the above data, one can state that it is clearly visible who undertakes political participation in Poland more often, and for whom this is a less frequent activity. This analysis with its conclusions seems to be a crucial suggestion for people who would like to take effective steps in order to increase citizens’ engagement in politics.

The subject of this study is to present the process of implementing the concept of e-citizen in Poland in the perspective of industry 4.0. In the global world, a significant part of public administration, including local government administration, aims to increase activity using Information and Communication Technology. This process allows introducing more efficient functioning of public administration, especially in the scope of providing services to the citizen. Changes in the functioning of public administration are forced by changes in ICT, in particular by those resulting from the current implementation of the concept of industry 4.0. The result of the research was a description not only the legal bases or development policies of public e-administration, but first and foremost to indicate its practical implementation effects. As part of the practical effects, the study will present examples of the effects of e-administration implementation in the Otwock County. In particular, the attention will be paid to the implementation of elements of computerization of administration by the local authorities, and how it affects local sustainable development.

The Author discussed, explored, evaluated and diagnosed the disparities of economic activity on regional level. The study embraced five peripheral regions of Poland, namely five Eastern provinces (voivodships), i.e. Lublin Province, Podlasie Province, Subcarpathia Province, Świętokrzyskie Province and Warmia-Masuria Province. The aforementioned five voivodships were compared to Poland and Poland’s central region, i.e. Masovia Province. The following elements were taken into consideration: employment rate and employment by sectors, unemployment rate, GDP per capita, number of economic entities and number of natural persons conducting economic activity, investment outlays and gross expenditure on R&D activity, as well as net internal and external migration for permanent residence. In order to observe the possible changes over the time the situation in 2005 and 2017 was studied. Additionally, the total value of projects co-financed by the European Union through Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund within 2007–2013 period and 2014–2020 perspective was presented and analyzed. The research tools used in the article included literature studies, critical thinking, descriptive analysis and comparative analysis, in that the selected statistical method of multivariate comparative analysis, i.e. Hellwig’s taxonomic measure of development. Statistical material provided by Central Statistical Office (Warsaw, Poland) and taken from Statistical Yearbooks of the Regions 2006, 2007, 2017 and 2018 was used for the analysis. The obtained results indicate the persistence of huge regional disparities of economic activity, economic potential and socioeconomic development despite the implementation of EU Policy of Social, Economic and Territorial Cohesion. Hence, it was possible to positively verify the research hypotheses: both the first hypothesis assuming that the gap between the studied peripheral regions and the rest of Poland was not reduced and the second hypothesis assuming that the participation in the processes of regional economic integration, and in particular in EU Policy of Economic, Social and Territorial Cohesion, had only limited impact on the reduction of disparities between Poland’s regions.

Based on sixteen Polish provinces the author discusses, explores, evaluates and diagnoses the regional disparities in development of Poland’s provinces. First, four fields are studied, such as: demographic potential, social development, economic development and technical infrastructure. Next, the author compares sixteen Polish provinces in relation to the level of synthetic measure of socioeconomic development. Research covers the years 2006, 2010 and 2015 and has been conducted using statistical material provided by the Central Statistical Office. The research tools used in the article include literature studies, descriptive analysis and selected methods of multivariate comparative analysis. Multivariate comparative analysis has proved that Mazovia Province is a leader in terms of demographic potential and economic development, while Silesia Province takes the first position in both social development and technical infrastructure. The highest levels of synthetic measure of socioeconomic development have been observed in Mazovia Province and Silesia Province. In addition, the author presents theoretical aspects of socioeconomic development and discusses the relevance of regional policy.

The aim of this paper is to discuss theoretical aspects of the economic changes brought on by transformation processes and the development of social market economies on the one hand and the continued creation of value with socially uneven economic growth and the growing sense of dissatisfaction, irregularities and disproportions on the other. This paper makes references to the search for the optimal model of capitalism, suggests ways of supporting the idea of inclusive capitalism and discusses a number of inequalities, including economic and social. The analyses in this paper are based on Polish and foreign literature, as well as the opinions of economists. The opinions and conclusions presented in this paper are, to a large extent, based on statistical analyses and the results of many years’ of the author’s research into economic transformation. The analysis in this paper is only an introduction to the problems of searching for the optimal model of capitalism that would take into account the inclusive nature of an economic system where a balance between economic and social goals is maintained.

The article presents the situation of patients in Poland, based on existing data (non reactive research), and individual interviews with Patients’ Agents in the given clinic or hospital and Patient’s Ombudsmen. It presents doctor-patient relationships in the daily routine of a health centre in the context of Polish law and procedures, and highlights the role of the Patients’ Ombudsmen in creating a patient-friendly environment. Due to the large number of hospitalisations, whose duration is continually shortened because of financial limitations, ensuring the patient’s well-being is becoming increasingly difficult.

The rebellion that broke out in the Northwest Province (Severo-Zapadnyi Krai) of the Russian Empire in January 1863 and spread over the former lands of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations is not a new topic for historians. The involvement of women in the insurrection of 1863 has also been studied for a long time, with the first research appearing even before the Second World War. So far, Polish, Belarusian, and to some extent Lithuanian, researchers have raised questions about the forms and methods of women’s protests in this insurrection, and the changes in their social role, and analysed women’s memories and images of women. This article is the first to address memoirs of the January insurrection written by women from the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania who observed the events of the insurrection in these lands. The women’s memoirs are analysed here as a whole, in order to reveal some common features. In contrast to previous studies that have looked at women’s memoirs of the rebellion in order to answer questions about the course of the rebellion, the theme of deportations, or women’s ability to balance social activities and family responsibilities during the insurrection, this paper raises the more general question of what women did and did not write about in their memoirs about the insurrection between 1863 and 1864, and why.

A mansionary (from the Latin mansio, ‘a dwelling’) was a member of a community of four to ten secular priests governed by a provost and required to reside by and serve a chantry chapel, similar to a cathedral canon or beneficed chantry priest. Every day they would sing the Hours of Our Lady and offer two Masses, one in honour of Our Lady or the Holy Trinity, and the other for the dead kin of the chantry founder. The chapels they served were attached to a cathedral or a parish church. Those established by the monarch often had pastoral duties, sometimes involving a school or hospice. In Lithuania, they appear from the late 15th century at the cathedrals of Vilnius, Varniai and Lutsk (in Janów Podlaski), and represented a considerable financial investment to establish and maintain. After the Council of Trent, they become even rarer, and concentrate more on pastoral and other educational duties. The paper discusses what a mansionary priest was, and how many of them served in the Diocese of Vilnius and other sees within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Why was it deemed meet and fit to establish a mansionariate in Lithuania at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, and how were such foundations affected by local Reform movements?

In May 1926, a coup took place in the Republic of Poland, which resulted in Józef Piłsudski, head of state (Naczelnik Państwa) in the period 1918–1922, taking over actual power in the country. Among other things, those three days in the streets of Warsaw stood out by the fact that during them Polish soldiers confronted each other: some military units partly supported President Stanisław Wojciechowski and the constitutional government of Wincent Witos, while others backed the plans of the first marshal of Poland, who could already boast a rather ‘whitewashed’ image among the population. Piłsudski’s plans were initially limited to the idea of forcing the resignation of the Cabinet, but finally turned into a broader campaign for the takeover of power, during which 379 people died and over 900 were wounded. The paper covers the sequence of events on 12–14 May, and focuses specifically on the role of army officers and units at different stages in the coup.

The paper examines a little-known unsuccessful attempt at a military coup in Poland in January 1919. The idea attracted notable members of the Polish National Committee, including Stanisław Grabski, and members of other right-wing organisations. Colonel Marian Januszajtis-Żegota took up the leadership at the military level, and Eustachy Sapieha at the political level. The coup was directed against the government led by the socialist Jędrzej Edward Moraczewski. The paper shows the political context of the uprising, the process, and the circumstances of its failure.