This article focuses on the repatriation policy of the Polish state toward co-ethnics residing in some post-Soviet countries. Its main goal is to answer the question: Why has this policy been unsuccessful? Based on the existing literature, legislation and official documents, the article draws upon the approach laid down by Olga Zeveleva (2014), exploring two spheres within the repatriation program: the ideological and the practical. The key argument is that the failure of the repatriation policy in Poland was due to its poorly developed practical component. At the same time, its ideological component was fully in place, contributing to the program’s prolongation, even though it had not been bringing the expected results. In conclusion, it is argued that the persistence and strong ideological rooting of the idea of repatriation confirm an important aspect of the identity of the Polish state: the predominance of the ethnic concept of the nation. The analysis of the Polish case also shows the need for further development of Zeveleva’s conceptualisation of the success (or lack thereof) of repatriation.

The aim of the article is to analyse the level, forms and manifestations of cooperation and integration between the members of two ethnically diverse local communities in which there are intense international migrations. Based on individual in-depth interviews, expert interviews and observations, an attempt was made to determine to what extent international labour migrations and ethnic and cultural diversity affect the level of integration in cooperation between the actual and declarative dimensions. The aim of the article is also to determine what is the nature of the local bond, in particular the neighbourhood bond. It has been demonstrated that economic migration is an important factor influencing the level of integration and cooperation in local communities: it results in removing the migrant from his or her community of origin, thus weakening the same level of integration and cooperation between its members, but also provides an opportunity to make new, lasting and significant acquaintances, including between people from the same locality of different ethnic and cultural origin. Spatial mobility can also cause divisions between its subjects and the rest of the community. The impact of international migrations on social capital depends on the time the migrant spends outside the local community. It is not the length of stay abroad that matters, but above all the frequency of visits to the place of origin.

The aim of the paper is to serve as a reminder of Polish economic migrations to and from Belgium between 1918 and 1952, largely absent from the collective memory of Poles or frequently identified with migrations to and from France. Based on the account of the Szotek family, collected in accordance with oral history methodology, the authors present the family’s complex story of migration: first a journey from Ujków Stary to the Charleroi coal basin in Belgium and then a return to Poland, where they lived again in Ujków Stary, then in Zalesie and Bystrzyca Kłodzka, only to finally return to Ujków Stary. The family’s reasons behind the decision to go to Belgium and then re-migrate to their homeland helps to comprehend the historical context of economic migration to and from Belgium, as outlined by the authors. The issue of adaptation of emigrants in the country of settlement, and then their adjustment as re-emigrants to the new reality forged by the authorities of the “democratic” Polish People’s Republic occupies an important place in the paper.

The article points to the stay and activity of Poles in West Africa since the first links were forged until the present day. Initially they were present there as sailors serving under foreign flags. Later they were joined by the military and sailors who found themselves abroad. In the 19th c. and the interwar period, Polish civilian emigrants arrived there, although only as individuals. Another group were military emigrants who were present in the German colonial army and served in the French Foreign Legion. A larger group consisted of soldiers and officers of the Polish Army who were evacuated to Great Britain after 1939. Together with British soldiers, they transported planes from West Africa to Egypt, and then the planes fought against German troops. After completing their tasks, they returned to the European continent.
The establishment of Polish communities and Polish diaspora in West Africa occurred after World War II. It was then that a small number of war emigrants concentrated there, along with Polish specialists, scientific and technical staff as well as missionaries, Polish-African families and representatives of Polish diaspora from other parts of the world. Until 1989, West African countries employed about 5 thousand specialists, and some of them were accompanied by families. The importance of scientific and technical staff declined after the fall of the communist regime. Since then, only a few specialists have gone to this region of the world.
Contemporary Polish communities and Polish diaspora in West African countries are small, together constituting a community of about 700 people. Almost half of them have found a place to live or work in Nigeria, which has the largest economy and population. Other countries have much smaller communities.

The article analyzes the results of the “Poles and Others” survey, devoted to Poles’ attitudes towards other nations and races which was conducted in June 2018. It refers to almost identical surveys from 1988 and 1998 which were prepared by the authors of this article and carried out according to the same methodological and technical rules. In the article, we focus on the image of the English in contemporary Polish society. Its striking feature is the richness and diversity of wording. The interpretation of this complexity is a major part of our considerations. Individual elements of the image are treated as the result of inter-ethnic direct and indirect contact resulting from migration phenomena, as well as progress in the field of technical possibilities of interpersonal contacts. On the one hand, this is due to increasing mobility and more personal contacts, but also to widely available media coverage and the use of massive forms of effective communication (Skype and WhatsApp connections, development of cellular technologies and the Internet). On the other hand, it comes from contacts with families in Poland of persons who remained in the United Kingdom as emigrants, and through them with a wider group of their relatives, friends and acquaintances. Despite these changes in perception, the distance towards the English has not altered; – they are still seen by Poles as one of the nations that is closest to us in Europe. In the article, we want to question the legitimacy of using the classic concept of the “stereotype” less commonly used by sociologists, but remaining in use among psychologists (who see in them sources of prejudice and discrimination, and problems of intergroup contacts) and experts in cultural studies. We will try to prove that the conceptual category of the stereotype should be replaced with the concept of a more complex “ethnic image” and our collected research experience confirms this thesis.

The article presents research experiences from a qualitative project concerning foreign-born academics in Poland, constituting one category of highly skilled migrants. It describes consecutive stages of the research process, problematizing methodological issues such as using the onomastic method and languages other than Polish, as well as not stigmatizing minority groups. In every part we make recommendations about possible decisions in further research projects.

The aim of the article is to compare the effectiveness of the snowball sampling and Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS) for research on migrants working in elderly care. Analyses are based on results of in-depth semi-structured individual interviews conducted among 42 migrants working as caregivers in the Opole region (Poland). This group can be considered as a “hidden population” because, due to the work they provide in the household, frequently illegally, they often demonstrate a strong desire to remain invisible. The methods were compared in terms of: (1) duration of the survey, (2) diversity of the sample, (3) difficulty in applying both sampling methods. In the conducted survey, snowball sampling made it possible to find and reach the required number of respondents faster than the RDS. Both groups differed in terms of gender (more men were recruited by snowball sampling), legality of employment (there were fewer lawfully employed in the RDS group) and average length of stay in Poland (migrants recruited by snowball sampling stayed in Poland for an average of 3.3 years and enrolled by RDS for 1.7 year). In both groups, recruitment was not self-driven by the chain of social networks of respondents. The reason was, inter alia, the structure of the social network of the migrant, which only to a small extent covered other migrants employed in senior care. The article closes the research gap for comparative research using snowball sampling and RDS on the same hard-to-reach population. The survey also attempts to verify to what extent face-to-face RDS can be used to survey hidden and rare populations scattered over a larger area than a city or agglomeration. Therefore the RDS method has been used to recruit respondents from the whole region without limiting the scope to one city or agglomeration.

Political participation of immigrants in Poland. The case of foreigners’ activity in the local government elections in 2014 and 2018
The issue of political participation of immigrants in Poland is becoming current and is worth reconsidering by the state authorities because of the growing number of immigrants settling in Poland. Due to the structure of immigration to Poland, characterized by the dominance of immigrants coming from outside the European Union, these issues are not subject to EU regulations that apply only to EU citizens. It is an open question whether the Polish authorities will take action to extend certain political rights to immigrants from third countries who have moved the center of their life activities to Poland. The article discusses the issue of political participation of immigrants in Poland on the example of their activity in local elections in 2014 and 2018. The research objective is to identify the key determinants of electoral participation of foreigners and to analyze the data of the National Electoral Commission, showing the actual degree of use by immigrants living in Poland of their electoral rights at the local level (the right to vote and the right to stand for election). The conducted analysis aims to reveal formal and practical possibilities as well as barriers and challenges, especially of a systemic nature, in the field of electoral participation of immigrants in Poland, both those who already have such rights and those who could obtain these rights.