https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0125-9121https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0125-9121
University of Bergen
Faculty of Law
Norway
e-mail: joanna.siekiera@uib.no
Dear Readers of the International Studies Journal,
It is my enormous pleasure to hand to you the latest issue of International Studies: Interdisciplinary Political and Cultural Journal from the Faculty of International and Political Studies at the University of Lodz in Poland. This issue is unique in many ways. First of all, it has been created in a close academic collaboration with the Australia, New Zealand, Oceania Research Association (ANZORA), based in Krakow, Poland. It was exactly on 11 December 2020 when ANZORA and Faculty of International and Political Studies at the University of Lodz co-organised the 12th International Conference on Pacific Studies – a unique event happening each year in Poland, with no match in Europe. The conference’s topic was Australia in the Time of Crisis: Climactic, Cultural, Economic, and Political Solutions. This topic appeared the most desirable and indeed pertinent, as the interdisciplinary researchers from Poland and abroad were given an opportunity to present the results of their research on the crisis in the Antipodes, climate change in Australia, including the fires from 2019 and 2020, security management during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the position of the Commonwealth of Australia in its region.
Three diplomatic missions took honorary patronage over the event. Those were the Australian Embassy in Warsaw, the Embassy of New Zealand in Warsaw, and the Polish Embassy in Canberra, Australia. The partner institutions were the University of Bergen in Norway, the Polish Geopolitical Society, and the Academy of European Careers Foundation.
I am proud to say that this edition is based on the eight insightful articles written by eight female specialists. The authors come from different backgrounds, represent various branches of science: political science, international relations, security studies, international law, literature, linguistic studies, and history. They work in academia, private companies and at the consular mission, which all brings forth the widest possible perspective usually not that readily available to achieve and to present to the readers.
The topic of this issue is highly interesting, demanding and not yet analysed, especially in the European literature; therefore, it does require further research. Discussions on the contemporary challenges in Australian politics and culture, the current obstacles, future crisis scenarios on crises situations, as well as particular problem-solving methods are made predominantly in the Antipodes, not in Central Europe. Yet, as we live in a global village, the complications and difficulties occurring far away from Poland, both in the geographical and political sense, do have a direct effect, sometimes even a negative impact, on us too. Thus, it is vital first to understand the mechanisms of crises appearing on the Australasian continent, and second – to make us prepared for the effects of any forms of crisis: humanitarian, climate, military and hybrid.
This issue begins with an article by H.E. dr Monika Kończyk, the Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Sydney, who presents the history of Polish-Australian relationships, as well as current and much demanding tasks and responsibilities of this role. Then Professor Krystyna Kujawińska Courtney, the Chair of the British and Commonwealth Studies Department at the University of Lodz, talks about the long-lasting and multi-layered cooperation between the British and Commonwealth Studies Department and the Australian Embassy in Warsaw. The third article is written by Professor Maria Antonina Łukowska from the University of Lodz, who was the co-organiser of the 12th ANZORA and University of Lodz conference. Her research focuses on the role of Australia in Wojciech Gutkowski’s colonial dream, as well as the ideas of distance and isolation in his utopian thought. The next article is written by the Guest Editor of this volume, dr Joanna Siekiera. She performs the legal analysis of the term, definition and usage of the rule of law in the public sphere in the Commonwealth of Australia. Agnieszka Kandzia-Poździał, M.A., member of ANZORA, presents the outcome of pertinent research on the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences for the Australian economy. Another ANZORA member, working at the University of Social Sciences in Lodz, Dr Jowita Brudnicka-Żółtaniecka, focuses on social trust in Australia during the pandemic. The issue is completed by the article from dr Anna Kowalcze-Pawlik, academic secretary of the International Studies journal, who presents the outcome of her research on eco-anxiety and anger in Australian poetry.
Such a varied and colourful palette of scientific articles written by Polish female specialists from different disciplines and representing diverse backgrounds speaks volumes of the hidden potential of the Pacific Studies, Australian Studies, and New Zealand Studies in Polish research. Dear Readers, get inspired by these works and remember that Polish science is also about the Antipodes.
December 2021, Bergen
Dr Joanna Siekiera
