Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 19th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview Local Government Author(s) Katarzyna Radzik-Maruszak Maria Curie-Sklodowska University Lublin Poland Title Path dependency and the reform of local institutions in Poland File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Abstract In March 2010 it was twenty years since free, independent local government had been created in Poland. The local level has become one of the pillars of the democratisation process, without which we cannot imagine the efficient functioning of the state. During two decades local institutions based on decentralisation and efficiency principles have been built. In many cases in the process of the institutional construction the experience of Western countries has been used. However, after the passing of twenty years of democratic rule the thesis may be proposed that the communist legacy still predetermines the way local institutions operate. Local government still has to cope with the excess of politicisation, lack of transparency in decision-making process and the weakness of civil society. These issues can be especially dangerous in the context of the shift from traditional local government to local governance and its informal institutions. The objective of the paper is to analyse the transformation of local institutions in Poland throughout last twenty years. The article poses the following questions: how have the local institutions and theirs values changed within the two decades? what is the influence of communist legacy on the way they operate? what is the attitude of society to local institutions and their transformation? and finally how (if) is it possible for Poland to achieve a “critical juncture” or “branching point” from which institutional development will move onto a new path? The concept of path dependency and neo-institutional theory will give the theoretical basis for the analysis. This theoretical study will be supported by the empirical survey conducted by the author and the data from CBOS public opinion research centre. The expected output of the paper is a diagnosis of the condition of local institutions in Poland (formal, informal), and - based on it - the possible scenario of their future development.
