Transformation Process In Poland Research Articles

The Impact of Mental Models on the Transition from Communism to Capitalism. The Comparative Case Study of Azerbaijan and Poland

The purpose of the article. The breakdown of the so-called Eastern Bloc, the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and the demise of communism fueled transition processes in Central and Eastern Europe, Western Asia, and Central Asia. The great majority of transformation difficulties across different areas demonstrate that when pursuing the process of a structural change, it is important to take into account diverse sets of formal and informal institutions preserved in each country. Each country has a unique set of formal and informal institutions. These differences are easily observed between Poland and Azerbaijan. The aim of this paper is to compare and contrast the outcomes of Poland and Azerbaijan's transitions from communism to capitalism and to identify the primary factors driving these two different transformations. Methodology. The paper presents two complementary methods to compare the transitions from communism to capitalism in Poland and Azerbaijan. The first method involves secondary analysis, where existing data from reputable sources such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) database, the Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI), and country reports are compiled to provide insights into economic, political, and social indicators. Additionally, a comparative case study approach is employed, using Geert Hofstede's six cultural dimensions framework to explore the cultural influences on transition outcomes. By integrating these methods, the study aims to offer a comprehensive analysis of the transformation processes in Poland and Azerbaijan. Results of the research. The results of the analysis presented in the paper support the hypothesis that the historically-shaped differences in mental models and strong ties to international protectors determined the paths of transformations in Poland and Azerbaijan. The primary similarities and contrasts in the mindset are justified by the colonial or imperial history of the nations.

Energy-Related Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Poland from 2000 to 2018: An LMDI Decomposition Analysis Perspective

Purpose: The primary purpose of this paper is to carry out a multidimensional analysis of determinants of changes to GHG emissions in Poland between 2000 and 2018. This study found that GHG emissions generally followed an upward trend over the study period, although deviations in different directions were recorded in some years. This means that shifting to a low-carbon economy-as a way to counteract climate warming-poses a considerable challenge to Poland. It becomes imperative as the EU has intensified its measures taken to become climate-neutral. Design/Methodology/Approach: This paper contributes to research on climate change drivers related to energy use. The analysis was based on descriptive statistics and decomposition methods. The Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI), one of the most widely adopted forms of index decomposition analysis, was employed to identify the determinants of GHG emissions. This was based on the additive specification. Findings: This study identified rapid economic growth—and the corresponding increase in energy consumption primarily derived from fossil fuels, mainly including coal and lignite—as the main reason behind the increase in GHG emissions in Poland between 2000 and 2018. Moreover, it follows from the decomposition analysis that the reduction in GHG emissions was due to a decrease in GHG emissions per unit of energy, improvements in fuel conversion efficiency, a reduction in final energy consumption per unit of GDP, and a small extent-by population change. However, the positive impact of these factors on GHG reduction was smaller than the negative impact of economic growth. As a consequence of these differences, GHG emissions in Poland followed an upward trend. Practical implications: These considerations could help develop an active energy policy focused on climate neutrality. Originality/value: This document broadens and updates knowledge on the determinants of GHG emissions. Also, these findings can provide grounds for accelerating energy transformation processes in Poland.

Migration as a Source of Suffering in the Context of the Biographical Experience of the Process of Transformation in Poland. Case Study of Weronika’s Life History

The article focuses on the case study of the life history of Weronika, a person biographically experiencing the consequences of the transformation process in Poland. On the one hand, the text concentrates on showing the change in the status of the narrator’s family from a privileged position in the socialist period to the experience of unemployment and poverty after 1989. On the other hand, the text analyzes the necessity of the narrator’s mother’s emigration to Italy in the mid-1990s. Thus, the article focuses on the narrator’s experience in the context of being a migrant woman’s child. This experience is related to the time of socialization and education, which was difficult for the narrator, and the consequence of which is shown in the text in connection to the narrator’s persistence in trajectory. The text also presents the perspective of transnational motherhood within the framework of Polish women’s migrations after 1989. Also, an important perspective adapted in the article is the experience of migration by the narrator, who at the time of the interview has also been living in Italy for 10 years. Permanent emigration of the narrator is associated in her life history with high biographical costs. The article is, therefore, an attempt to present migration as a source of suffering in relation to the context of being a migrant’s child and being a migrant oneself. The analysis of Weronika’s case is also an attempt to show the relationship between the individual experience of the narrator and the mechanisms of collective influence. Thus, the text treats the analyzed life history as one of the biographical accounts reflecting the biographical and social processes assigned to a specific time frame. In this perspective, the text aims to reconstruct the complexity of these processes and to interpret the experienced social reality in an individual biography.

Life of Things from the Perspective of Polish Systemic Transformation

The main purpose of the paper is to present the “biography” of selected things which appear in autobiographical narrative interviews conducted within the project “Experiencing the Systemic Transformation Process in Poland. A Sociological Comparison on the Basis of Biographical Analysis.” The author discusses different social actions connected with things, for example, the migrations of things, emancipation through things, collecting things, and reconstructs the stages of life of such things as: notebooks, cassette, and video tapes. The considerations are mainly embedded in the context of the People’s Republic of Poland and the process of transformation of the 1990s. The sociology and anthropology of things are theoretical frames of the analysis.

Demokratyczna transformacja w Polsce i na Ukrainie w świetle współczesnej tranzytologii: analiza porównawcza

Polska i Ukraina stanowią dwa odmienne przykłady państw pokomunistycznych, w których procesy demokratyzacji wykazują różne tempo, determinanty oraz rezultaty. Celem postawionym w artykule jest próba określenia teoretycznych podstaw procesu demokratycznej transformacji w Polsce i na Ukrainie. Dokonano analizy porównawczej przemian systemowych w dwóch sąsiadujących państwach, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem uwarunkowań determinujących te procesy. Artykuł powstał z potrzeby udzielenia odpowiedzi na pytanie: Jakie znaczenie mają doświadczenia polskiej i ukraińskiej transformacji systemowej dla współczesnej tranzytologii.

Samorząd zawodowy i gospodarczy w Polsce po 1989 roku

One of the greatest achievements of the socio-political transformation process in Poland is the profound decentralization of public governance. In administrative law, decentralization is perceived as a system with a larger number of independent hubs, vested with competences in terms of public law, and a single center. Therefore, decentralization is a process of delegating certain public functions which formerly were reserved for the central government to groups of citizens organized in corporations. Although local government exemplifies decentralization it is not a one-dimensional no- tion that refers exclusively to territorial relations. In the system of representation specialized self-government bodies, formed with different criteria, play a highly significant role represen- ting the interests of various groups. They are divided into self-governing bodies focused on the economy and the professions. Formal and legal homogeneity, though, does not translate into the appropriate political position of these two forms of self-governing bodies in Poland. While the professional self-governing body is clearly an association governed by public law, the so-called economic self-governing body is based on concepts that emphasize the volunta- ry nature of the ties between entrepreneurs, associated in chambers of commerce. The differences in their legal status and the resulting powers bear no influence on the fact that both economic and professional self-governing bodies are now facing equally serious threats in Poland. In both cases these are related to how the state approaches the extra-territo- rial form of decentralization. We can speak of different motivations here. The state, or rather the state administration, is excessively interested in the professional self-governing bodies and is curbing the autonomy they have traditionally been vested with. The situation is quite different with respect to the economic self-governing bodies, where the public authorities are scarcely interested in becoming involved in supporting them. It should be realized then, that the success of Polish decentralization reform will only be complete when all forms of self-government develop harmoniously irrespective of the rela- tions between their members, whose empowerment will serve democracy and strengthen civic society.

Samorząd wojewódzki w Polsce jako podmiot polityki rozwoju regionalnego

Jednym z największych osiągnięć procesu transformacji społeczno-politycznej w Polsce jest szeroka decentralizacja sfery władztwa publicznego. Obowiązująca obecnie ustawa o samorządzie gminnym doprowadziła do restytucji zjawiska władzy lokalnej w Polsce, a zarazem stanowiła pierwszy krok do dalszych reform samorządowych zwieńczonych ustanowieniem samorządu powiatowego i wojewódzkiego. Z dniem 1 stycznia 1999 r. wprowadzono zasadniczy trójstopniowy podział terytorialny państwa, którego jednostkami stały się gminy, powiaty i szczególnie nas interesujące województwa. Reforma samorządowa obejmując swoim zasięgiem województwa spowodowała, że nastąpiła istotna zmiana jakościowa, bowiem województwa - regiony uzyskały podmiotowość co usytuowało je na płaszczyźnie partnerskich relacji w stosunku do władz centralnych. Piętnaście lat funkcjonowania samorządu regionalnego w Polsce skłania do refleksji dotyczącej efektywności podjętych wówczas działań i kierunków dalszego rozwoju samorządu na poziomie województwa. Jest to niezwykle istotne, bowiem w demokratycznym, zdecentralizowanym państwie to właśnie samorządowy region odgrywa coraz większą rolę w promowaniu, stymulowaniu i finansowaniu ze środków publicznych inicjatyw służących rozwojowi społeczno-gospodarczemu. Od sprawnej realizacji tych zadań, a także zmiany zasad generowania przychodów budżetowych samorządu, zależy w głównej mierze przyszłe funkcjonowanie województw i to czy będą one mieć wystarczające środki na realizację programów rozwoju regionalnego.

Educational Restructuring and Change: Post-Communist Educational Transformation in Poland

This study provides an overall picture of educational transformation in Poland since the political changes in 1989. The transformation process in Poland is analyzed in accordance with a common theoretical framework distinguishing three phases of transformation: (1) deconstruction, (2) reconstruction/modernization/ stabilitzation and (3) systemic reform. The process of transformation is analyzed in terms of ten specific areas, including, among others things, curriculum, structural changes, teachers, the social dimension. It is argued that the changes introduced in the reconstruction phase of the transformation were more important and powerful than the structural reform introduced in 1999. In the last part, the recent initiatives of an ultra-conservative minister of education, Roman Giertych, are commented upon.

Convulsions in the Rule of Law

This contribution discusses the reasons for the ongoing deconstruction of the judiciary in Poland by a parliamentary majority - elected by a minority - changing the entire system. How could that have happened in a nation governed by the rule of law that met all the requirements of the rule of law when joining the European Union? The article analyses the transformation processes in Poland, discussing the specific difficulties caused by more recent as well as the country’s distant history, with a broad analysis of the numerous fateful factors and events that are crucial for an in-depth understanding of the ongoing convulsions in the rule of law in Poland, which eventually caused a breakdown of the democratic order in Poland.

The Importance of Inward Foreign Direct Investment during the Transformation Process in Poland with a Focus on American Investment

The article looks at issues connected with the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) to Poland during the period of systemic transformation, i.e. 1990–2012. The author focusses on American investment. She shows that despite the decreased share of American FDI in the total volume of FDI inflows to Poland in recent years, American FDI still plays a significant role in the development of the Polish economy, for example, through its positive impact on the labour market and on the technological modernisation of industries where there is considerable American capital involvement. The author also points out that American companies in Poland are characterised by high sales revenues, a high propensity to export, and by major expenditure on investment.

Restitution in the context of institutional lock-in

Abstract This article presents the problem of lack of restitution in Poland in the political, social and economic context. The author presents the theory of institutional lock-in, referring to the hitherto course of the political, social and economic transformation processes in Poland. She is focusing on the research problem in form of an institutional lock-in on the route to general restitution process. The author examines the path shaping and path dependence to understand the current negative attitude toward restitution presented by the government and society. The author also indicates the costs caused by lack of restitution. Through analysis of past attempts of restitution regulations the author indicates the most important flashpoints. A hypothesis constructed by the author focuses on the negative effects of institutional lock-in, lack of restitution increases transaction costs influencing the Polish economy. The study is based on the legal documents and the results of public opinion polls.

A comparative study of local railway networks in Poland and the Czech Republic

AbstractDespite similar economic and legal conditions in Poland and the Czech Republic, the situation of local railway lines in each of these neighbouring countries is completely different. In Poland more than 90% of third-category and over 44% of second-category lines were closed down between 1989 and 2011, whereas the Czech Republic did away with only 14% of its regional lines during the same period. This means that two decades of transformation processes in Poland have resulted in a massive decline in the importance of the regional railway network, which is one of the most important symptoms of a rapid decline in the role of the railway transport system as a whole. By contrast, the Czech Republic still has one of the densest railway networks in Europe, thanks to the vital role of its local lines. The main reasons for this big difference between the two countries - and for the very minor importance of the regional railway service in Poland - are the lack of a realistic transport policy at the state level and the badly conducted restructuring of the national PKP railway company (PKP - Polskie Koleje Państwowe, Polish State Railways). Other reasons are the poor state of the railway infrastructure and also factors connected with the structure of settlement, as well as the historical development of the railways in certain parts of the country. These factors have merely reinforced an already vast bureaucracy and aggravated the wastage for which the PKP was known during the communist period. The main question that arises concerning the future is whether decision-makers in Poland at both national and regional levels - as well as those in the railway companies themselves - will be able to follow the Czech example, as this would appear to be the best solution for the greatest crisis the Polish railway system has seen in decades.

Higher Schools vs. Cities' Social Capital in the Light of Theory of Contacts Świetokrzyskie Voivodeship Case

Higher Schools vs. Cities' Social Capital in the Light of Theory of Contacts Świetokrzyskie Voivodeship Case Systemic transformation process in Poland has led to a dynamic development of higher schools. Those higher schools generate new, both formal and informal, connections triggered by people working there, especially by those at higher positions. This situation leads to the creation of relation networks. Thanks to them one can get, process and transfer information, enlarge the owned knowledge which is necessary to raise the productivity of own activities. In compliance with the theory of contacts it should lead to social capital growth which stimulates development of the analysed areas. The objective of this paper is to characterise and compare contacts of rectors and deputy rectors of state and private higher schools in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship as well as to evaluate on this basis the part of social capital which develops thanks to formal contacts kept by the researched with people who are at a similar position in other institutions.

Transformation in Poland

Transformation in Poland The paper analyses transformation process in Poland between 1989 and 2004. The goal of the paper is to clarify the most important steps in the economic policy that were carried out in this period. The structure of the paper follows this general goal. We first of all analyse economic development of the country before the fall of the communist regime because this determined the whole following process. Then we shortly mention political development that had a significant impact on the transformation process, and its results. In the next part we concentrate on the main steps in the economic transformation, and consequently devote place to specific aspects - for example privatisation. The final part analyses the main economic indicators of this period. We conclude that the transformation process achieved its main economic goal and the economy's ability to grow increased.

Economics Performance and Institutional Economics in Poland After 1989

Introduction Institutional economics is a unique way of looking at the economy and the processes that influence its development. The uniqueness refers mostly to its difference from neoclassical economics. Starting from the mid-1990s, Poland witnessed an active interest in heterodox economics, including many other economic trends, apart from mainstream economics. The reasons behind this interest are related to the practical economics on the macroeconomic level. One of the reasons for the development of heterodox economic research was that the theses about the end of the transformation process in Poland, which appeared before the end of the 1990s, were inconsistent with the statistical data illustrating the state of the Polish economy. The development of a few branches of economy and of a few markets does not equal the development of social institutions, better welfare of people, or better access to social services. The state of the Polish economy after 20 years of transformation brought an increased interest in the alternative approaches of the economy that could be useful in explaining economic phenomena and pointing to the proper changes in economic policy. Apart from a number of trends in heterodox economics, currents in institutional economics (IE) are also of great interest. After 1989, orthodox economics was dominant in Poland both in teaching and practical economics. During the late 1990s, the renewed interest in IE turned out to be essential for the understanding and explanation of the current socioeconomic situation, as it exerted a strong influence on the market and on the implementation of new economic reforms. The socioeconomic situation of that time involved the privatization of State Treasury assets, and its consequences, illegal employment and the development of the gray economy. Papers, published mostly in Poland, explained economic processes by the means of the methods of institutional economics. However, it has to be noted that those papers presented the methods of new institutional economics (NIE). A number of them failed to include the historical context and descriptive studies that are characteristics of traditional institutionalists. NIE is an attempt to fuse mainstream economic theory with the traditional institutional economics (TIE) and shows several trends. Those trends include: the new theory of the firm (Coase 1990, 1992, 1998), social and public choice theory (Buchanan and Yoon 2003, 2008), the theory of international regimes, a new economic history, and the theory of transaction costs (North 1994, 2003). What seems to be important is that NIE always seeks to set economic phenomena within the institutional environment. Due to the fact that NIE has an exploitative attitude toward institutions, one can postulate that it does not refer to IE at all. Moreover, it does not fully resemble neoclassical economics, as it ahnost entirely rejects the neoclassical theory of the firm, the neoclassical perception of market mechanism, and the construction of the homo oeconomicus model. Still, taking into consideration its explanatory values, the IE, with its holistic character and historical and evolutionary outlook on socioeconomic phenomena, was overlooked in scholarly works. NIE, on the other hand, is still dominant in the published theses and articles. Due to the fact that IE, and especially NIE, have been the fields of scholarly interest for a relatively short time, the works published in Poland point to the application of the selected institutional arguments, rather than to the full and complete implementation of the institutionalist method of traditional institutionalism and NIE. Many authors (1) make occasional and indirect references to institutionalism, not wishing to implement the theory in its entirety. The aim of the article is to present a number of selected social and economic phenomena that are of great interest to the scholars investigating the TIE and NIE. …

Problematyka badawcza funkcjonowania przedsiębiorstw przemysłowych

Economic transformation processes in Poland, taking effect under the influence of advancing globalization, trigger extensive changes in the functioning of particular sectors of the national economy, industrial and service enterprises, and institutions. As a result, industrial structures are rebuilt, which is due to changes in functioning of industrial enterprises regarded as the basic elements of the spatial forms of industry concentration. These changes condition the participation of the national industrial enterprises in the global economic processes, and the integration of the Polish industry with the global industry, especially through forming organizational, financial, and technological bonds, and through entering the already-formed market networks of international corporations. Therefore, from the point of view of the analysis of the economic transformation process in Poland, and especially transformation of industrial structures, the research area of functioning of enterprises, which is the focus of this paper, seems an important issue.In the first part, the author makes an attempt at showing differences between approaches to research problems concerning functioning of enterprises in geographical and economic sciences, and points to the necessity that researchers pay special attention to the conditioning of changes in functioning of enterprises and the sources of financial means for the restructuring. Further, the author presents a modernized questionnaire investigating functioning of an industrial enterprise, outlines the criteria of selection of enterprises for the research, and discusses the range of analysis of changes in enterprises functioning basing on results achieved from empirical studies conducted in south-east Poland. The paper is concluded with a discussion of access to data, and data quality evaluation.These considerations appear to prove the validity and significance of the undertaken research problems concerning changes in enterprise functioning, to show advantages of a comprehensive approach to this problem area, which includes all important aspects of enterprise functioning, and to point out to the necessity of more extensive inclusion of economic issues in research work conducted in the field of industrial geography, as processes of change are not a goal, but a means that should lead to an increase in efficiency and competitiveness of an enterprise, expressed by economic indexes.

Civil-Military Relations in Russia and Eastern Europe by David J. s> Betz (review)

548 SEER, 83, 3, 2005 Betz, DavidJ. Civil-Militay Relations inRussiaandEastern Europe. RoutledgeCurzon ContemporaryRussia and EasternEurope Series, 2. RoutledgeCurzon , London and New York, 2004. ix + 203 pp. Notes. Select bibliography.Index. [65.00. ONE of the difficultieswith the subjectof civil-militaryrelations,asDavid Betz mentions in this book, is that what it contains depends to a very large extent on the particular civil society and the military establishment with which it concernsitself.The liberalWesterndiscourse,at leastin the decade before the recentoperationsinAfghanistanand Iraq,seemed to be principallyconcerned with ensuring that the ethnic, gender and disability balance in the armed forcesreflectedthatin society at large.In Centraland EasternEuropeand the formerSoviet Union, in contrast,the questionsweremuch more fundamental. What was the military'sfunction? How much discussion should there be in public about issues of national security?How could governments and voters ensure that money allocated from meagre national budgets for defence was being spent effectively? Approached for advice and assistance,the West, and NATO in particular, insistedthat therewere no rightanswersto these questions.But they did offer two main types of supportfor newly democratic countries that wished to reengineer Warsaw Pact forces into national armed services. One, which culminated in NATO membership for several countries, was assistancewith the designof structuresto manage, forexample, policyplanning,procurement and budgeting business process skillswhich had been entirely lacking in many East European ministries before I989, not just in the ministries of defence. The other was to develop programmes of military-to-military contacts, exercises and trainingcourses, often based on existingprogrammes into which newcomerscould be assimilated. But thejamboree of internationaldefence (andlatersecuritysector)reform initiativesbarely touched civil society. The effect of this Betz makes clear in this admirable exposition of the defence transformationprocesses in Poland, Hungary, Ukraine and Russia between i 989 and 200I. Societies for which defence matters were a deliberately closed book had to develop almost overnight a coherent new version of the military'splace in society, as well as structuresand institutionsto monitor their work. The false starts,the power struggles, the interplay of strategic policy development with day-to-day decisions, which Betz explains in meticulous but very readable detail, are a salutaryreminder of how much those with a more settled military tradition takefor grantedin the fieldof civil-militaryrelations. On one level, it makesfor depressingreading.As Betz remindshis readers, none of the four countries whose experience he analyses has solved all the problems. One, Russia, has arguably yet to acknowledge that the question remainsto be addressed.But, illuminatedby extensive quotationsfrommany of the protagonists,as an epitome of the politicalprocessesat play in a crucial (though not strictly speaking revolutionary)phase in European history, the subjectmatter could not be bettered. Betz's treatmentof the subjectis also of an extremely high standard. Whilst bowing to the demands of the theoreticians , he lays out with exquisite accuracy the twists and turns of the REVIEWS 549 transformationprocess in his chosen countries,which have been well chosen to illustrate the variety of approaches and experiences common to several more countries at that time. The reader is able to read across the chronicle and see the effectof each decision, largeor small,in the widerframework. Betz is also correct in emphasizing the value of interviews and personal comment in evaluating the process in each country. The fundamentalpolicy documents and institutionswhose various incarnationshe charts,quotes and footnotes extensively -which future historiansand analystswill find a very valuable resource - are often so bland that only their rapid creation from tabulaerasaeis remarkable. What is utterly invaluable is the way Betz accompanies this blandness with the trenchant views of those who were instrumentalin theircreation- views about content and function, and what the realissueswere. Insightslikethese are often lost to posterity,or ignoredby foreignresearcherspreoccupiedwith formand processratherthan power and substance. For this very reason Betz's book should be required reading for political scientists. Apart from occasional lapses in orthography,my only criticismis that the book does not cover as much as it could. Fuller treatment of two areas in particularwould have made Betz'streatmentexemplaryratherthan outstanding . First,given the degree of ignoranceof militarymattersin the 'civil'halfof the equation, I would have welcomed a discussionof the role (orfailure)of the media in enhancing mutualunderstanding. Secondly, as evidenced by the Russian military'sweak grasp of the new political processes...

Rebuilding Local Governance in Post-Communist Economies

At the beginning of the transformation process in Poland in 1990, local and regional governance structures were practically non-existent. The ‘voivodship’ was the regional administrative centre, which simply acted as a conduit for the policies of various government departments in Warsaw. The article reviews dominant perspectives on the transformation of regions in post-communist economies. While the evolutionary approach is a good critique of neoliberal approaches, it is argued that it assumes a consensus and congruity of local interests and underplays the role of exogenous influences in shaping emerging governance structures at both the local and national level. The framework adopted in the article is institutionalist, drawing on the importance of informal institutions in shaping local and national economies. Further, power and differentiated interests are seen as central to understanding emerging structures. Finally, the role of exogenous influences such as aid and investment are highlighted in understanding how the regions of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) are fitting into the emerging international division of labour. The empirical focus of the article is the Wrocław local economy, with particular reference to changes in the municipality. Transformation is explored in relation to three agents of change. First, the ‘nomenklatura’ who have converted their social capital of the past into economic capital during the process of transformation. Second, the role of workers is seen as important in either contesting or cooperating with the restructuring process. Finally, the role of imported intellectual capital through foreign investment, consultants and aid is viewed as central to instituting a new set of informal institutions compatible with the market.

Institutions, Financial Systems and Transformation

Governments have a substantial influence on the allocation of resources in setting the rules of the game of financial markets. However, up to now, institutional economics and the theory of financial markets are totally separated research areas. To close this analytical gap, our paper connects these two research areas by investigating the roles of the state as a player and a regulator of financial markets. In our empirical case-studies on the transformation process in Poland, Romania and Russia we are analysing the problems that arise from such an unclear definition of the role of the state.

Państwo i samorząd terytorialny z perspektywy procesów decentralizacji i recentralistycznych tendencji

System transformation processes in Poland have accelerated the modernization and evolution of the public administration model. As a result of the intensification of decentralization processes, the state lost its hegemonic position. In the public sector, a significant part of the powers were taken over by local government units, and institutions of the second and third sector have become an important partner in the implementation of tasks and the provision of public services. The activity of local governments to date, which is positively assessed by the public opinion, proves the great development potential of local and regional authorities. However, the experience of recent years shows that this potential has not always been properly assessed and utilized. Underestimation of the role of local governments is demonstrated by the actions of the rulers, and the failure to recognize the challenges ahead of him political programs of the opposition.