Tom 10 (2022): Zeszyt 2 (December 2022)

The present paper takes on the question of whether the doctrine of unjust enrichment is compatible with libertarianism. Despite Walter Block’s recent arguments to the contrary, the paper argues that unless a gain is received in accordance with the libertarian principles of justice, it is without a basis and thus unjust. This fact alone proves that the concept of unjust enrichment is compatible with libertarianism. Besides, even though it is true — as Block claims — that forcing the recipient of an unjust gain to return it or pay for it involves positive duties and is therefore incompatible with libertarianism, the present paper argues that the practical consequences of this fact would be negligible, for compensatory schemes would develop on the free market anyway in justice-preserving steps.

The ongoing escalation of animosities between the United States, the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China is beginning to resemble the Cold War, which as a historical period might have ended in the twentieth century, but still endures as a state of hostilities between the countries, expressed in the form of an indirect conflict. These countries are actively growing their cyber capabilities that enable indirect and covert operations aimed at their opponents. In cyberspace, the states involved express the hostilities and the aims they try to achieve in the least detectable way. As a result, cyberspace has been securitized. It has been recognized by NATO as a domain of activities. In the United States, the National Cybersecurity Strategy has been published, recognizing cyberspace as an integral part of the economy and defence. A similar document called the Information Security Doctrine was issued in the Russian Federation, which manifests Russia’s aspirations in the field of information technology. The militarization of this area shows that cyberspace is becoming a battlefield in the new cold war. The Russian military invasion of Ukraine is complemented by the activities in the cyberspace. I analyse the new confrontation between the above-mentioned powers, looking for features of the Cold War in it. In particular, I examine the cyber capabilities of the United States, Russia and China. The article claims that the concept of cold war may be applicable to numerous historical eras, including the one that is still in effect now.

This paper explores if and how electoral defeats affect the changes in organisational structure of political parties and investigates whether party characteristics, such as being in a government or in an opposition, its country of origin affect how parties respond to defeat in terms of the party organizational structure. For the purposes of this article, three elements were considered for the scope of organisational structure change: party decomposition, change of power balance and the appearance of new organs or bodies in the party. Analysis is based on the examination of 73 parties from 28 countries, and of the consideration of party efforts to change their organization. The conclusion, however, was unclear. Therefore, an in-depth analysis of 12 selected political parties representing three different party systems and electoral systems was also conducted. The study of the Polish, Belgian and British systems facilitate explanation of the reasons why parties take some selective corrective structural actions after electoral defeat. Nevertheless, they are mostly not to be fundamental and have some relation to a specific conditions affecting concrete parties in different party systems.

The article presents the issues of local identity. One of the main objectives was to indicate how to determine the local identity of councilors of municipalities and counties on the basis of three selected indicators. The article consists of three parts. The first will present the theoretical foundations of identity and its types. The second part shows how it can determine the local identity. The third part is empirical. The study, carried out with the use of a questionnaire, covered the councilors of the city of Lublin, the council of lubelski county, and councilors from 8 municipalities included in lubelski county. The electoral terms 2002–2006 and 2014–2018 were selected for the analysis. The quantitative and descriptive methods were used in the study. The analysis of the research shows that the overwhelming majority of councilors show local identification, but its territorial range is different and not only at the municipality and county level.