Journal of Security and Sustainability Issues

The objective of the research is to analyze if the change of disciplinary action has any impact in the number of disciplinary cases within the Swedish international operations. In the period between the two Swedish international operations in Congo (1960´s) and Bosnia (1990´s), the law changed from being able to place errant soldiers under arrest to being able to punish only by payroll deduction. The results show that the number of cases decreased in Congo but increased in Bosnia.

This article is an attempt to deepen the knowledge about the relationships between Machiavellianism and the search for and experience of a sense of the meaning in life in penitentiary recidivists. The study emphasises the role of this knowledge in penitentiary interactions. The significance of Machiavellianism for penitentiary studies is conditioned by the fact that this construct captures the essence of the attitudes and beliefs illustrating the relation of individuals to the social world. Moreover, the significance of the problem of searching for and experiencing the meaning in life in relation to the area of penitentiary social rehabilitation is conditioned by the issue of linking these constructs with the aspect of positive change and achieving general adaptation. The study indicates a number of theoretical and empirical premises justifying the occurrence of direct relationships between the area of Machiavellianism and the sphere of existential experiences. The research objective was formulated based these assumptions and concerned the determination of the relationship between Machiavellianism and the meaning of life in repeatedly incarcerated convicts. A group of 59 penitentiary recidivists (aged 27 to 68; M = 39.75, SD = 8.84) was tested using the Machiavellian scale (Mach IV) and the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ), which enabled the measurement of the search for and presence of meaning in life. The relationships between the variables were determined by correlation. The analyses showed the existence of numerous significant relationships between the Machiavellian syndrome and the search for and presence of meaning in life. A greater overall level of Machiavellianism was associated with a lower intensity of the search for and the presence of meaning in life. The obtained results have implications for penitentiary practice with regards to influencing convicted recidivists. In light of the acquired results, it is justified to include educational and psycho-corrective elements that undermine Machiavellian beliefs, which is a factor supporting the orientation towards the search for meaning in life and has potential to create meaning.

The aim of the paper is an attempt to show that the Thomistic theory of person and the original idea of personal relations built on it become the basis for decisions in the field of pedagogy in the view of consistent Thomism. Mieczysław Gogacz, the founder of this version of Thomism, treating pedagogy as a philosophical science, points to the necessary dependence of upbringing and education on theses resulting from human philosophy, ethics and social security. A properly formulated theory of person is the basis for pedagogy in the current of realist philosophy. This version of Thomism continually emphasises the close dependence of all subsequent assertions on the recognition of existence as an act of individual being which is the basis of all further actualities and manifestations of being. In the case of the human being, the personal act of existence and its manifestations subject the personal relations that result from the coherence of the approaches to metaphysics, philosophy of man and, consequently, ethics. In consistent Thomism, it is the concept of the person and personal relations that define pedagogy.

This paper examines the impact of a context indicator of integrated order, such as ways of organising one’s life in old age, on social security issues. In the framework of ageing society it concerns the problems of socio-demographic determinants of life choices in old age, which are of the key importance for the sense of social security. Authors explore the results of the research on the representative sample of 1006 adult Poles, which has been carried out using the quantitative method - the diagnostic survey based on a questionnaire survey technique- in 2020. The preferred ways of organising one’s life in old age were measured in five areas on the basis of the proprietary six-point nominal scale. The applied methodology helped to explore the preferences of the adult Poles regarding the forms of one’s life organisation in old age and to study the determinants of the choices made. The analysis used contingency coefficients - V- Cramer and Phi - to determine the strength of the relationship between the nominal variables assigned to the social security areas under study. The Chi-square test was used to determine the relationship between the studied areas of social security and age groups. The sociological approach in measuring the selected context indicator of integrated order in the sustainable development paradigm has been strongly emphasised by authors. The findings suggest that ways of organising one’s life in old age are key factors for the sustainability of social security in ageing societies.

The article presents an analytical overview of models of social policies in the context of their application to socio-economic system of Latvia. In the article, the history and peculiarities of the creation of integrated social policy of member states of the European Union, European social model as well as a system of Key Indicators characterizing the social policy of Latvia in the context of the European Integration are analyzed. The problems faced by Latvia in its socio-economic development and ways to overcome them are identified. The necessity of forming a new model of socio-economic policy in Latvia by the transition to a model of sustainable development is justified. Proposals to improve the social policy of Latvia by the transition to the model of sustainable development of the country are made.