Public Policy in Poland in Context of Tendencies Unfolding in Central Europe. Conclusions from Case Studies (en translation)

Abstract: A specific feature of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe is that they lack the tradition of creating public policies using methods similar to those applied in mature democracies. And the consequences of this lack of tradition remain visible today, notwithstanding the fact that communism fell over 25 years ago now. For the potential for programming actions (policy capacity), as well as for implementing policies effectively and evaluating them, remains limited. The author presents the results of one of the few studies to be carried out on public policy in Poland. The aim has been to test a research hypothesis pertaining to the circumstances in which public policy in regard to an emergent problem is formulated. The creation of such a policy was in fact found to depend on a constellation of three factors: a significant threat to stability under a given policy, decision-makers who think that legislative tools for action are enough to achieve the desired result, and an emergent dominant stakeholder who achieves a decisive influence over the decision-making process.

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