AbstractAlthough three decades have passed since the fall of communism in Poland, the observed level of social activity in the country is relatively low. Participatory budget emerged as an idea to increase the involvement of citizens in decision-making processes concerning their immediate surroundings. In addition to their inclusion in the activity of local government, this form of citizen participation is expected to have a positive impact on residents’ involvement in activities for the benefit of the local community. The aim of this article is to indicate the conditions that influenced the implementation of the idea of the first participatory budget in Poland and emphasizing the importance of the civic budget in managing public administration through partial decentralization involving local communities in social dialogue for local investment initiatives, especially in large provincial cities in Poland. The following research question was adopted in the paper: has the introduction of a participatory budget in Poland increased social activity and has it been conducive to the development of civil society. In Poland, the initiative to create a civic budget met good political conditions in the relatively small city of Sopot, which had the resources to implement the project. After successful implementation, this initiative was relatively quickly adopted by other Polish local governments, which then on their own introduced social consultations called the civic budget. Not all poviats introduced the civic budget of their own volition. The government, seeing the possibility of political discounting of this new solution, decided to introduce a mandatory participatory budget in town counties and ordered the allocation of funds from their budgets, no less than 1 % of budget expenditure. The article relies on the case-study method, comparative analysis and trend analysis, qualitative and quantitative methods of description, document analysis and statistical data. The analysis focuses on the town of Sopot and provincial capitals. Local conditions are important for understanding the processes of shaping active civic attitudes in Poland, because cities are the poles of development of civil society and give impetus to innovative changes in the entire socio-economic system. The materials used in the article include reports, documents and legal acts regarding the functioning of the town of Sopot.The study showed that the participatory budget indeed activates the local community around various projects. At the same time, the question of directly translating this activity into an increase in the number of organizations, associations and foundations remains debatable. The introduction of the participatory budget to administrative management practice in local-government units in Poland should be considered in terms of the soft power impact of administration on the shaping and development of civil society, which is still in the development stage in Poland.

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The research is aimed at identifying the prospects related to select areas of integration of Ukraine with the countries of the European Union, in the context of their choice of civilisational identity in the 21st century. The identity is understood as a civilisational category, hence it equally refers to spiritual culture (history and related fields) and material culture (first of all: technology and economy). The proper understanding of a dilemma faced by Eastern Europeans requires references to the sources of cultural legacy which shape social emotions significant for that region, in order to outline the prospects for the ongoing processes, with the use of the adequate political analysis. Considering relations between academic activities and practice, the research is of applied character, and its aim is to increase scientific knowledge of European legacy of Ukraine with regard to the processes of European integration. The systemisation of the current knowledge of the process of integration taking place in Eastern Europe is to provide a diagnosis oriented towards identification of a place and an attitude towards the contemporary European integration processes represented by Ukraine. The subject of the research is the process of social and political European integration and the place of Eastern Europe in a system perceived as such. The authors present their attempts at providing an answer to the following question: Do – and to what extent - Ukraine tend to follow the pro-Western orientation in the selected areas of their operations and do this country develop their institutional cooperation with the European Union?

Th is study off ers a discussion of the dangers to the stability of political systems in consolidated democracies posed by contemporary populism, with a particular focus on the dynamic development of extreme right-wing populism. Th e author considers the consequences of effi cient populist campaigns, such as Brexit in Great Britain, lowered trust towards the United States under Trump's administration and practices followed by the Law and Justice party (PiS) under the leadership of Jarosław Kaczyński in Poland, which seem especially destructive for liberal democracy. Further examples are those of Hungary and Turkey, where the political systems have eroded into semi-consolidated democracy in the case of the former and an authoritarian system in the latter case. A comparative analysis of freedom indices indicates some dangers related to de-consolidation of the democratic system in Poland. Furthermore, the study points out dangers arising from the transformation of soft populism, understood as communication rhetoric oriented towards the concentration of power in the hands of populist leaders, which clearly paves the way for the dismantling of consolidated democracy in favour of an authoritarian system. Th e conclusions of the study outlines a variety of actions which can be undertaken to protect the achievements of liberal democracy. Keywords:security of the political system, right-wing populism, destabilisation of the rule of law, liberal democracy, consolidated democracy, semi-consolidated democracy, authoritarianism.2 This article adopts a typology of political systems based on their attitude to the concepts of democracy and authoritarianism, as proposed by Andrzej Antoszewski and Ryszard Herbut, who in turn draw on the conceptions put forward by scholars such as Larry Diamond, Joseph Schumpeter and Robert Dahl. Andruszewski and Herbut emphasise the need to distinguish two sub-categories of democratic systems: consolidated (stable-full) and semi-consolidated (unstable-fl awed / limited). Consolidated democracies are those that respect the separation of powers, sustain competitive party systems and adequately competitive elections, do not include decision-making centres uncontrolled by voters, impose limits on executive authority, and guarantee civil rights, as refl ected in the unfettered development of civil society. Semi-consolidated democracies are often "new", or, as Dahl calls them "newer" or "immature"; Diamond describes them as "electoral democracies". Although they meet the basic criteria characteristic of consolidated democracies, there are nevertheless fl aws in their practical application. Consequently, such democracies must be considered incomplete (Antoszewski and Herbut 2001, 18 -49).

K ierunki polskiej polityki zagranicznej po 1989 r. były zorientowane na zakotwiczenie w zachodnich instytucjach międzynarodowych o doniosłym znaczeniu geopolitycznym (NATO, Unia Europejska) oraz rozwijanie idei partnerstwa wschodniego Polski-Białorusi-Ukrainy pielęgnowanej w minionej epoce przez środo-wisko paryskiej "Kultury" Jerzego Gedroycia. Powołana w tym okresie do celów operacyjnych w dążeniu do struktur świata zachodniego Grupa Wyszehradzka miała harmonizować współpracę państw kandydackich w jej staraniach o włączenie do nowych zachodnich struktur. Wraz ze zmianą rządów w Polsce przez ekipę kwestionującą dorobek III RP powstaje pytanie co do perspektyw i celów międzynarodowych sojuszy. Na plan pierwszy wysuwa się znaczenie współpracy w ramach Grupy Wyszehradzkiej już nie tylko jako sojuszu na rzecz realizacji celów operacyjnych państw członkowskich na gruncie europejskim, lecz także wydaje się, że do zbudowania alternatywnego modelu funkcjonowania państwa bez szczególnej troski o dotychczasowe priorytety polskiej polityki zagranicznej. W obecnym studium autorzy podjęli się weryfikacji potencjału kulturowego wkładu Grupy Wyszehradzkiej oraz porozumienia wschodniego na rzecz rozwoju europejskich procesów integracyjnych. Wpływ tych grup państw na otoczenie zewnętrzne w procesie rozwoju cywilizacji europejskiej został przedstawiony w ujęciu historiozoficznym, czemu służy przyjęta metoda opisowa. Obecnie kiedy państwa te łączą się w ramach Unii Europejskiej, jej wschodni członkowie dokonują wskrzeszenia Grupy Wyszehradzkiej celem forsowania partykularnych interesów, tworząc tym samym blok spowalniający integrację europejską. W niniejszej pracy dokonuje się retrospektywnej oceny osiągnięć wektorów polskiej polityki zagranicznej w kontekście stojących przed nią wyborów.Pobrane z czasopisma Wschód Europy http://journals.umcs.pl/we