A conflict is a natural element of society. Such a thesis has been developed for many years by numerous thinkers. Nevertheless, there have been several social phenomena that oblige us to analyse social conflicts deeper and wider in the twenty-first century.

The article tries to analyse new types of conflicts, which however having old roots, at present seem to be essential for individuals and global security. The main thesis to which the paper refers is the one expressed by Zygmunt Bauman that a contemporary society seeks for both freedom and security at the same time and raises the problem whether reaching both of them may be possible simultaneously.

The examples chosen for this paper illustrate that an interdisciplinary approach must be adopted to understand conflicts in a postmodern society. Hence, the questions arise whether the Polish society is a low-conflict or high-conflict one, whether it holds a culture of conflict. Proposed data analysis does not allow answering to such problems, it only gives an illustration to the considerable scope of conflicts in a postmodern society.

Key words:

conflict, postmodern society, postmodernity, cultural relativism 

The parliamentary elections in Poland, held on 25^th October 2015, were, according to many experts and media pundits, influenced by the greatest influx of refugees in the modern history of Europe, the so-called migratory crisis. It acted as a catalyst for numerous pre-election discussions and debates in Poland.

This article aims at analysing the messages of the political leaders in Poland concerning the migratory crisis, whether they were given publicly, while meeting with the electors, or to the media. The subject of the analysis are the messages that can be found in archives or on the internet.

Key words:

parliamentary campaign in Poland 2015, migratory crisis, party leaders

This study offers a short introduction to the development of cities in general, their types, functions, position and points of differentiation. It stresses the importance of multifarious factors that determine the importance of particular entities. The main part of the study though is concerned with Polish cities. It takes into consideration their origins, geographical location, administrative and political importance, city reforms, demographic and economic factors as well as their  functions and finance to assess the role and salience of different city categories. It analyses the impact of the aforementioned factors, especially of administrative and self-government reforms on the position of the cities in Polish self-government system.  It also finds that the self-government reforms, reflecting the international trend towards the unification of self-government system, have not led to the homogenization of cities in Poland, but that provisions introduced allow for individualisation of their internal structures and functions.

Key words:

city, self-government, Poland, city- a history

Among all the elections organized in Poland, presidential ones are not only the most frequently attended by the voters, but also most eagerly investigated by the researchers. However, the studies concerning the importance of this particular voting is not often examined. On the one hand, there are arguments to classify it as first-order election, on the other, for certain reasons they ought to be regarded as second-order.The aim of this article is to answer the question whether 2015 Polish presidential election were of first or rather second-order importance. In his analysis, the author focused on the following issues: personal strategies, programme strategies, the course of the campaign in the traditional and new media, the level of electoral participation and the influence of the election on the course and outcome of the parliamentary campaign.

Key words:

Polish presidential election 2015, first order election, second order election

New media are frequently used for presenting views and developing desired socio-political opinions. The social networking websites are becoming an objection towards the use of media messages as tools of persuasion and manipulation. However, they are not playing that role completely. The article discusses the process of developing social capital in social networking websites, against the background of social relationships based on trust or lack of trust. Partnership and cooperation are becoming important tools of democracy, with which there are constructed the social bonds which mobilize the users of media networking websites to undertake political activities. The developed social bonds constitute a source of discussion groups concentrated around joint views. In turn, in the light of lack of trust, that division into groups leads to alienation and the resulting polarization of views. The polarization tendencies in the social networking media limit their informative character. At the same time, they cause a situation when, in the social networking area of the Internet, different socio-political activities are ignored or blocked. Media education is to counteract such tendencies. Under the European law, the European countries have been obliged to develop media education both in education, and through social educational programs. The current condition of media education in Poland was presented.

Key words:

networking websites, social bonds, social relationships, trust

The aim of the paper is to provide useful tools for integral look at the celebrity endorsement process in political marketing that results in a holistic concept. The need for its creation was initiated by several authors, highlighting the inadequacy of partial approaches and thus limited possibilities for the application of the existing models. Today, the main shortcomings of existing concepts of the theory and research in the field of celebrity endorsement lie in its fragmentation and inconsistency. The proposed model, based on theoretical research, has the ambition to open up a wider debate on the issue and to provide a practical tools for a better understanding of the phenomenon.

Key words:

celebrity, political marketing, celebrity endorsement, models of celebrity, endorsement

A permanent campaign is one of the elements of political communication. It can be observed as a process since at least 2004. It results not only from the high media saturation of society, but also the instruments used during the campaign and the ways of managing it. The aim of this analysis is the description of the phenomenon of the permanent campaign in Poland in terms of its genesis, elements and importance.

The permanent campaign in Poland depends on several factors. First of all, its existence is possible thanks to the development of new media, political advising, and media visibility of politician’s activity. The permanent campaign has lasted in Poland since 2004. It is connected with the development of political consulting and the appearance for the first time in Poland of specific media performances, such as inquiry committees. They were a kind of media attraction for viewers.

An important element of the permanent campaign is the functioning of a multi-dimensional conflict between the rulers and the opposition. Antagonism is usually based on a different system of values, is difficult to eliminate, is profitable for both sides of the conflict, because it arouses the interest of the media and the audience’s attention.

Key words:

permanent campaign, political campaign, political communication

Societal security is undoubtedly an instrument for creating populist attitudes. This is related primarily to the quality of different democratic mechanisms and their representations affecting the political system. However, in the largest extent the merge of societal security and populism are triggered by the political elite, and the recipients of their communication - the citizens. It is related to the belief, which is increasingly affecting the public that ‘the elite should do what people order them to’ (Markowski 2004: 14). Undoubtedly, this situation creates series of consequences related primarily to the lack of political and economic civic competences. On the other hand, it may contribute to the growth of citizens' dissatisfaction with the government actions that results in the loss of the legitimacy.

Key words:

social security, populist attitudes, populism

Negative political advertising and its effectiveness has always been concern of not only political scientists, but also sociologists and marketing experts. This specific form of advertising is also increasingly used in the Czech political environment. The author focused on the answers to the questions, what are the effects of this form of political advertising from the perspective of persuasive linear models, whichis actuallycognition, emotion and conative/voting behavior. Based both on international research carried out in this area and facts from Czech republic, he notes that voters perceive this form of advertising as one that offers them more information, attract a greater degree of attention and more trust than in the case of positive advertising. From emotional effects point of view, this form of political advertising is often followed by disgust, fear and other negative reactions. Which are, however, strong appealsthat subsequently bring some negative effects in voter`s conative/behavioral activities. These include in particular the reluctance to vote, negative public sentiment and escalating political cynicism. In the evaluation of the effectiveness of negative political campaigns shouldalso be taken into account their cultural environment. What could be effective in the US may not be very effective in countries with different cultural values given by their historical development and by existingcultural dimensions of these countries.

Key words:

political campaign, negative political campaign, political advertising, negative advertising

Regional and local print and electronic media in Slovakia achieved the significant development since the 90s of the 20th century. Paradoxically, relevant attention is not yet devoted to the question of media operating in the territory
of a village or a region in context of regional political communication in Slovakia. Regional and local media are important communication factors in a relation local politics – media – the public although they fulfill other functions as well. The aim of this research was to prove the application of regional and local media as effective tool for creation of desired image of municipality´s representatives in the essential part of the public through the exhibition of the display of the selected media effects in relation local media – local audience. This research maps political communication of the representatives of Slovak town Žiar nad Hronom by means of contents analysis published in Mestské noviny Žiar nad Hronom. It concentrates on frequency of display of the public representatives and the recipient´s understanding of their importance as well as establishing the themes that city management considers to be priority. It is assumed that systematically and strategically directed communication
through the local newspapers can maintain popularity of actual political representation and form desirable media image of its political representatives.

Key words:

agenda setting, local and regional media, media image, political communication, framing, Mestské noviny Žiar nad Hronom

The history of states situated in Central and Eastern Europe in nineteenth and twentieth centuries differs significantly from the history of contemporary them western democracies. Problems of decentralization and implementation of minorities rights was a democratic experiment between two world wars, without time for its consolidation. Also it was not a political priority for elites ruling between 1945 and 1989, nor even after the beginning of the democratic transition. Mentioned problems have decisively caused difficulties in defining relations between political centres and peripheries in states of Central and Eastern Europe, in the period of the political transition in the last decade of the twentieth century. However, it does not mean that politically significant processes in these states are taking place only in political centres and their only actors are state-wide-parties. For that reason the main aim of this paper will be to justify the necessity of scientific research concerning regional and ethnoregional parties as well as proto-parties in Central and Eastern Europe.

Key words:

political parties, regional parties, ethnicity, regionalism, Central and Eastern Europe

Subcarpathian voivodeship that was formed in 1999 in result of the administrative reform preserved voting traditions from all former voivodeships that comprise the current territorial unit of the country. It is noteworthy that the most important factors that significantly influenced electoral preferences of the Subcarpathia voivodeship were dominating electoral habits after 1989; electoral system elements, selected socio-economic indicators, as well as historical and religious determinants. The abovementioned factors are also supported by the positively verified partitions hypothesis, according to which it is assumed that in each partition area different patterns of political culture as well as various dominating political and ideological orientations were formed. This process was determined by policies of partitioning powers towards Polish citizens in the annexed areas, as well as the character and way of organising state by partitioning powers, the level of their economic and cultural development. It was by means of following tradition that the above patterns are passed from generation to generation, which firstly confirms its timelessness, and secondly finds its reflection in election results in Subcarpathia.

Key words:

elections behaviour, parliamentary elections, electoral, Poland, Subcarpathian Voivodeship

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"Social capital. Interpersonal space theory." is prescribed reading for politicians, publicists and responsible citizens, who do not want to become dodgers, but active creators of state community. The reviewed publication is a theoretical study, but the sociologist explains and charts all complicated questions in a way which enables to be understood , even by ordinary people.

The joint publication edited by Danuta Plecka and Zuzanna Osmólska entitled “Public Administration. Local elections in 2014” is still a current experience in 2016. The reviewed book, that was released last year, is the latest entry in the “Local government in the 21^st century” series, which was published by Adam Marszałek Publishing House under the direction of professor Joanna Marszałek-Kawa from Toruń.

The thesis edited by Danuta Plecka and Zuzanna Osmólska consists of 21 articles and as editors in the appropriate to the entire book introduction indicate it is the result of successive thoughts and analysis on public administration.