Paulina Pospieszna

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań | UAM · Department of Political Culture

In a global context of democratic challenges such as dissatisfaction and social polarization, research on Western European democracies suggests that deliberative democracy instruments like deliberative mini-publics (DMPs) may provide a solution with their positive impact on participants’ attitudes towards politics and democracy. Despite the prolife...

This study examines democracy promotion during interstate war, focusing on Polish NGO efforts during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. By examining the efforts of Polish NGOs during the ongoing war in Ukraine, the study explores the strategies, areas of focus, and shifts in approaches compared to the pre-war period. The objective is to shed...

The goal of this exploratory article is to examine the specifics and networks within and between conservative organizations at the local, regional, and national levels in Poland. By investigating these connections in 2016 using social network analysis and interviews, we contribute to a better understanding of the growth and structure of these group...

This study examines democracy promotion efforts that target young people in post-Soviet countries. Specifically we assess the effectiveness of a civic education programme in Poland in improving attitudes toward democracy and self-perceptions of political efficacy. The analysis of quasi-experimental data reveals that young citizens from post-Soviet...

This article examines a new phase in democracy promotion in Central and Eastern European countries that recently have faced the process of shrinking civic space and democratic backsliding. In our case study, we analyse systematically the voices and strategies of Polish NGOs involved in democracy promotion at home and abroad as a response to these n...

Continuous discussions devoted to the problem of potentially optimal conditions for the development of researchers may be considered as one of the fundamental phenomena of the academic reality both in the past as well in the present� This kind of reflection remains therefore a vital part of the multidimensional con- siderations about the nature of...

Continuous discussions devoted to the problem of potentially optimal conditions for the development of researchers may be considered as one of the fundamental phenomena of the academic reality both in the past as well in the present. This kind of rejection remains therefore a vital part of the multidimensional considerations about the nature of sci...

Continuous discussions devoted to the problem of potentially optimal conditions for the development of researchers may be considered as one of the fundamental phenomena of the academic reality both in the past as well in the present. This kind of reflection remains therefore a vital part of the multidimensional con- siderations about the nature of...

Doctoral students, undoubtedly, ought to develop themselves and become better and better in searching for answers to the challenges of the contemporary field of higher education. However, it should be acknowledged here as well that it is equally essential not to forget about general self-development, about cultivating personal passions and activiti...

How has the post-2015 democratic rollback in Poland impacted its support for the democratization of Ukraine and Belarus? Conventional wisdom is that countries undergoing autocratization would abandon democracy promotion. In contrast, we provide evidence that even as democracy was undermined at home, Poland continued to provide democracy support abr...

Democratic backsliding in Central and Eastern European countries is on the rise. Independent judiciaries, other institutions of liberal democracy, as well as civil liberties and media freedom are being undermined, coupled with the human rights and dignity of certain groups being curtailed or even violated. In these difficult political and legal cir...

In response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine in 2014, the EU introduced sanctions on Moscow. Despite increasing polarisation among member states after imposition, the sanctions package was consistently renewed. How can sanctions persistence be explained? While scholarly accounts highlight German leadership, commitment to norms, and policymakers’ enga...

Both foreign aid and sanctions are foreign policy tools to promote democracy. Yet, it is unclear how far incentives and coercion enhance democratization. Since sanctions and aid are often employed at the same time, the goal of this study is to determine their joint effect on democratization in target/recipient countries. We argue that sending democ...

(FULL TEXT: https://rdcu.be/PqHA) Civic education, i.e. activities aimed to teach citizens of recipient countries basic values, knowledge, and skills relating to democracy, has become a popular form of promoting democracy by NGOs from Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. This paper examines whether democracy promotion programmes, suc...

This article explicates the intertwined economic and political goals behind the imposition of countersanctions through an analysis of their premises and outcomes for Russia’s domestic economy. The evidence supports the argument that retaliation was designed to benefit the Russian domestic food industry, reorient trade relations, and bolster domesti...

This article analyses activists’ attitudes towards using social media for civic actions in authoritarian and democratising countries. Specifically, it examines whether civic activists in Belarus and Ukraine perceive social media as ‘liberation technology’ or as unhelpful and overhyped, a ‘net delusion’. We compare the ways in which civic activists...

Celem przedstawionych badań jest analiza procesu decyzyjnego w UE w odniesieniu do nakładania i rozszerzania sankcji wobec Rosji oraz ocena przyczyny trwałości decyzji i porozumienia między państwami członkowskimi UE, pomimo odmiennego stanowiska. W szczególności artykuł analizuje proces decyzyjny, dynamikę oraz zmiany zachodzące w ramach grup robo...

This book addresses important and under-researched issues such as, the role of young people in democratization processes, the role of new democracies in sharing their transition experience, and the effectiveness of aid. A major theme of the book is democracy assistance efforts by the NGOs from Central and Eastern Europe to support young people in E...

Both the provision of democracy aid and the imposition of sanctions are tools to promote democracy. Yet, it is unclear under which conditions states choose to set positive or negative incentives. In order to answer which tool—democracy aid or democratic sanctions—is more effective, one has to analyse the actual form of the provision of aid. Sanctio...

W efekcie stosunkowo udanej transformacji systemowej niektóre młode, demokratyczne kraje, które jeszcze w latach 80-tych i 90-tych otrzymywały pomoc demokratyzacyjną, zaangażowały się w charakterze nowych donatorów we wspieranie pro-demokratycznych przemian w mniej rozwiniętych państwach. Relacje pomiędzy post-komunistycznymi donatorami a odbiorcam...

The literature on conflict management offers two explanations of why the effectiveness of third parties to settle militarized disputes differs. The structural research tradition focuses on conflict characteristics, while the individualist approaches highlight the background, skills and power of a mediator, as well as the mediation strategy. This ar...

The aim of this paper is twofold: to highlight the need of combining economic and political perspectives in analyzing sanctions outcomes, and to list and elaborate on challenges connected with uniting these two standpoints and creating cohesive and valid measurement methods. We not only credit this fusion as useful, but necessary to evaluate sancti...

The aim of this paper is twofold: to highlight the need of combining economic and political perspectives in analyzing sanctions outcomes, and to list and elaborate on challenges connected with uniting these two standpoints and creating cohesive and valid measurement methods. We not only credit this fusion as useful, but necessary to evaluate sancti...

Violence against civilians is portrayed as an antecedent of civil war, a cause, or both. Civil war creates opportune environments for planning and carrying out these acts that in turn can have detrimental effects on peace processes. Since not all civil war factions will see peace as beneficial, some actors may use violence to undermine the peace ta...

Wspieranie demokracji, czyli szczególny rodzaj pomocy zagranicznej mający na celu promowanie idei i postaw demokratycznych, było dotychczas domeną demokracji zachodnich. Dlatego badania w dziedzinie wspierania demokracji zazwyczaj koncentrowały się na programach prowadzonych przez międzynarodowe organizacje, bądź rządowe i pozarządowe organizacje,...

This paper explores the link between human rights and disaster risk reduction. We revisit the notion of a human rights-based approach in the context of natural disasters, analyzing how this concept may contribute to greater accountability and empowerment of those involved in disaster risk reduction. To better understand the processes of empowering...

Citizenship education, i.e. activities aimee4ed to teach citizens of recipient countries basic values, knowledge, and skills how to be an active and engaged citizen, has become a popular form of empowering young people within democracy assistance of young democracies from Visegrad countries. This paper outlines some of the programs aimed at educati...

Democracy promoters around the world cling to the hope that assistance given to civil society organizations decreases the risk of civil war and will lead to democracy in post-conflict societies. A particularly promising segment of civil society in peacebuilding is women. Inspired by Welzel and Inglehart's “human empowerment: path to democracy” this...

The role of Western NGOs in the transition of postcommunist nations to democracy has been well documented. In this study, Paulina Pospieszna follows a different trajectory, examining the role of a former aid recipient (Poland), newly democratic itself, and its efforts to aid democratic transitions in the neighboring states of Belarus and Ukraine.

Until recently, the major donors in democracy assistance field were Western democracies and multilateral aid agencies; therefore the literature abounds with studies of aid coming from these donors. However, little is known about the effectiveness of democracy assistance from the young donor countries that not such as long time ago were recipient of...

Conflict managers around the world cling to the hope that power-sharing decreases the risk of civil war in post-conflict societies. Distinguishing between territorial and governmental conflicts, we analyse the origin and effectiveness of power-sharing institutions (PSI) and power-sharing arrangements (PSA). Our examination reveals that power-sharin...

Conflict managers around the world cling to the hope that power-sharing decreases the risk of civil war in post-conflict societies. Distinguishing between territorial and governmental conflicts, we identify the lack of inclusion of potential rebels as a major source of the initial conflict. However, the analysis reveals that the war outcome rather...

SUMMARY Although considerable resources and attention have been allocated to recent ‘good governance’ public management reform in low income and fragile states, there is little evidence as to what degree this agenda has been implemented nor as to whether it has led to improved services and outcomes for populations. To address this lacuna, we conduc...

Although considerable resources and attention have been allocated to recent ‘good governance’ public management reform in low income and fragile states, there is little evidence as to what degree this agenda has been implemented nor as to whether it has led to improved services and outcomes for populations. To address this lacuna, we conduct a revi...

Mediation is one of the few mechanisms the international community can deploy that will affect civil wars. This article introduces the dataset on mediation in civil wars - termed the Civil War Mediation (CWM) dataset. This is the first dataset to focus solely on civil war mediation. These data contribute to the present state of quantitative researc...

Past studies regarding the success of conflict mediation efforts in civil wars have demonstrated that mediation is a useful conflict mediation mechanism because it facilitates the conclusion of peace agreements. However, even though mediation takes place and peace agreements are signed, the conditions for a durable peace do not always take hold. Th...

The Polish government funds NGO democracy-assistance programs in Belarus and Ukraine, recognizing that it is in Poland's interest that its neighbors should develop in positive directions, that Poland has a moral obligation to help others as it was helped, and that Poland's own successful post-communist transition lends authority and expertise to it...

Abstract will be provided by author.