Dynamics and Factors of Local Success in Poland
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REGIONAL AND LOCAL STUDIES 1 5 ETUDES REGIONALES ET LOCALES DYNAMICS AND FACTORS OF LOCAL SUCCESS IN POUND Grzegorz Gorzelak, Bohdan Jałowiecki, Richard Woodward, Wojciech Dziemianowicz, Mikołaj Herbst, Wojciech Roszkowski and Tomasz Zarycki Translated from the Polish by Krzysztof Kaczyński Warsaw 1999 The publication of this book was financed with funds from the research project “Decentralized Governance”, coordinated and funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). ©Copyright by CASE—Center for Social and Economic Research and European Institute for Regional and Local Development All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the author and the CASE Foundation. DTP: Michał Swianiewicz ul. Nowowiejska 39/28, 02-010 Warsaw, Poland ISBN 83-87722-02-2 Publishers: CASE—Center for Social and Economic Research ul. Sienkiewicza 12, 00-944 Warszawa Tel.: (48-22) 6226627,8286133 Fax: (48-22) 82860 69 E-mail: [email protected] University of Warsaw European Institute for Regional and Local Development ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 30, 00-927 Warszawa Tel/Fax: (48-22) 826 1654, 8262168 CONTENTS Acknowledgments...................................................................................................................... 5 INTRODUCTION Post-Communist Transformation: The Local Dim ension 7 CHAPTER 1. Economic Activity and Social Mobilization in Polish Municipalities: A Picture of Differentiation, 1995-1997 ................................................................................. 9 1.1. Differentiation Factors in Local Transformation Processes ................................................. 10 1.2. Economic Activity in Municipalities....................................................................................... 14 1.3. Factors of Local Success .......................................................................................................... 26 1.4. Barriers to Local Development.............................................................................................. 36 1.5. Summary ................................................................................................................................... 42 C H A PTER 2. Local Success.................................................................................................. 46 2.1. Factors of Local Success .......................................................................................................... 46 2.2. Local Success and Improvements in the Standard of Living................................................ 50 2.3. Cases of Local Success: Selection C riteria............................................................................. 53 C H A PT E R 3. The Anatomy of Polish Local Development: Selected Cases ................ 56 3.1. Location and H istory............................................................................................................... 56 3.2. Public Investment..................................................................................................................... 59 3.3. Local Business Development.................................................................................................. 65 3.4. Civil Society Developm ent...................................................................................................... 74 3.5. Local Politics............................................................................................................................. 81 C H A PTER 4. Social Attitudes and Opinions of the Population ...................................... 85 4.1. Features of the Surveyed Community.................................................................................... 85 4.2. Social M oods............................................................................................................................ 86 4 Dynamics and Factors of Local Success in Poland 4.3. Civil Society ............................................................................................................................................ 96 4.4. Social Preferences................................................................................................................................. 99 4.5. Summary ................................................................................................................................................ 102 Conclusions— Factors of Local Success.................................................................................. 103 APPENDIX 1. Historical and Geographical Details......................................................... 107 A PPEN D IX 2. Firms in the Four Cases ............................................................................... 112 A PPEN D IX 3. Local Institutions in Biłgoraj....................................................................... 118 A PPEN D IX 4. Transformation of Agriculture in Dzierzgoń................................................121 A PPEN D IX 5. Local Government Finance in the Four Cases ........................................ 123 A PPEN D IX 6. Statistical A nnex ...............................................................................................127 A PPEN D IX 7. Social Assistance ........................................................................................... 134 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The majority of this volume was prepared in connection with the research project “Decentralized Governance”, coordinated and financed by the United Nations Develop ment Program (UNDP) in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The project involved researchers from ten countries from Central and South America, Asia, Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe and was carried out in 1997 and 1998. The central question investigated in the project was that of the relationship between centralization and good governance at the local level, with a particular emphasis on mechanisms of local actors’ partnership and participation. Under this project, the Polish decentralization case was investigated by a joint team of the Center for Social and Economic Research (CASE) and the European Institute for Regional and Local Developm ent (E U R O R E G ), both in Warsaw. The Polish team carried out case studies of local development success factors in three municipalities: Biłgoraj, Iława, and Tarnowo Podgórne. A summary of the research conducted in each of the ten countries under the UNDP project will appear in a book to be published in the fourth quarter of 1999. Additional material was drawn from the following research projects conducted by EUROREG: • Systemic Transformation: The Case of Dzierzgoń (a research project financed by the Foundation for Support of Local Democracy with funds from PHARE and carried out in 1998), and • Economic Activity and Social Mobilization in Polish Municipalities (a research project financed by a grant from the Polish Committee for Scientific Research [KBN] and carried out from 1996 to 1998). The first of these two projects provided us with information about local development success factors from a fourth municipality, providing an interesting supplement to the three case studies from the UNDP project. The second project afforded us with material 6 Dynamics and Factors of Local Success in Poland illustrating various aspects of local development across the country, giving the English- speaking reader an overview of important differences among regions and between urban and rural municipalities. Taken together, we hope that all of this material will serve to acquaint the reader with the issues faced by local authorities in Poland, the various conditions affecting local development, and the tools that local authorities have at their disposal to enhance the development of their municipalities. Finally, we would like to thank Paul Smoke of MIT for his comments on the Polish case study prepared for the UNDP project. We would also like to thank Robertson Work and Kendra Collins at the UNDP for all their assistance during the course of the project. Finally, we would like to thank all of the persons interviewed in the four municipalities where we conducted our case studies. Without their help, none of this would have been possible. Of course, the authors are solely responsible for any and all flaws in the text. Warsaw, July 1999 Grzegorz Gorzelak Richard Woodward INTRODUCTION Post-Communist Transformation: The Local Dimension Communist rule in Poland could be said to have ended on June 4, 1989, when the first partially free parliamentary election after over 45 years of authoritarian rule, took place in Poland. This election demonstrated that the Polish nation was ready to reject the one-party authoritarian system and the inefficient, centrally planned economy. Within two months the first non-Communist-led government since the 1930s was formed. How ever, while the country has made great progress since 1989 in the reconstruction of the economy on the basis of market principles, public administration remains largely unchanged and continues to be highly centralized. Attempts to introduce decentraliza tion at the regional and district levels have been unsuccessful to date. The exception to this general state of affairs is the introduction of democratic local governments in 1990. In this great systemic change, roughly 2,500 communes (gminas)