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POLAND |
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POLAND |
HISTORICAL FRAMEWORK
Some of the most prominent models of public administration have taken centuries to develop. However, the 19th century had the most significant influence in establishing the present character of public administration. In Poland, administration and education, in state management, flourished in the 18th century. The ideas of Stanislaw Staszic, Hugo Kollataj, Stanislaw Konarski, Stanislaw Leszczynski not only influenced European political thought, but also played a great role in administrative reforms in national education and army management. Moreover, they inspired the signing of the first European constitution in May 3, 1791. It mentioned that the development of administration as an academic field in Poland was possible thanks to the National Education Committee, as well as, through strong academic centers: Szkola Glowna Krakowska (presently Jagiellonian University in Krakow), Szkola Glowna Wielkigo Ksiestwa Litewskiego, Lvovian University, Collegium Nobilium, and Korpus Kadetow.
Throughout the 19th century, Poland did not exist as an independent state. In 1795, Poland lost its independence as the result of the third partition but later regained its sovereignty at the end of World War I. Subsequently, public administration as an academic field in Poland, had developed earlier in the 18th century. After regaining its independence, Poland adopted the Austrian model of administrative procedures and administrative courts, the Prussian – in principle – model of central and local governments, the Russian model of financial institution and the concept of the Highest Chamber of Control. In the beginning of the 19th century European traditional theory of policists had begun a gradual evolution into developing the academic fields of administrative law and public administration. Poland remained under the strong influence of the German doctrine of administration. Many scholars, including Ludwik Gumplowicz (1858-1903), who published in 1882, “Public Administration as an Academic Field” looked closely at the influence of the German model of the state of law in Poland. As a result, administration as an academic field was dominated by administrative offices and representatives of administrative law who possessed a more formalistic protocol .
During this time administration existed as a discipline related solely to administrative law. Public administration was taught at universities through their Law and Administration Departments. The very nature of public administration, began to grow significantly into its present model. Academics who published papers in this field were all written by administrative lawyers: Kazimierz Wladyslaw Kumaniecki (1880-1941), Wladyslaw Leopold Jaworski, Jerzy Stefan Langrod (1903-1991), Bohdan Wasiutynski (1882-1940), Jerzy Panejko, Tadeusz Bigo (1894-1975). These scholars began to look at public administration beyond the traditional legal sense. They analyzed public administration issues employing not only methods common to the legal field, but also those used in political science, economics, theory of management, sociology, and psychology. These diversity of methods did not interfere with their treatment of administration as an academic discipline because it is based on the integration of foundations.
After World War II, the political situation of Poland did not allow for further development of public administration. As an academic field, public administration in the interdisciplinary sense, seized to exist. In 1947, Franciszek Longchams published his book Foundations of Public Administration. The author proposed the continuation of research in the field of administration using interdisciplinary methods. The censorship bureau ordered the destruction of the book by quoting it as being “publicly useless”. This incident hindered the possibility of research in all practical aspects of public administration and comparative analysis. The concept of public administration as being “a cultural activity on the public platform, and being subject to the distribution of labor” descended into the past. As a result, some Polish scholars, – among them Franciszek Longchams, - crossed over to the field of the administrative law, while others, in order to continue their research, left the country. Particularly significant was the emigration of Jerzy Stefan Langrod (1903-1991), a professor of Wszechnica Polska until the World War II and after 1948 as a member of French Academy of Science.
In communist Poland, administration as an academic field in its present form, did not exist. Some of its elements could have been found in such disciplines as theory of organization, (also known as prakseology) and also in administrative law. In the theory of organization, these elements included organizational structures, relations between segments of an organization, distribution of assignments, team organization and team directorship. In administrative law, a new area of “administrative law in action” came into being. This field began to look beyond just the dogmatic analysis of legal norms, but the effects they had also on the administrative practices became the basis for academic analysis. During that time administration was part of legal and administrative programs in the Faculties of Law and PA at the University of Warsaw, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, University of Wroclaw, University of Gdansk, University of Torun, University of Lublin, Silesian University in Katowice, University of Lodz, and later established University of Szczecin, University of Opole, and University of Bialystok.
Democratic changes in Poland exposed the crisis of public administration as an academic discipline, which for almost 50 years was treated as purely theoretical. The structure of public administration (using legal and prakseological methods), excluded the examination of administrative practices and comparative studies within the field. After 1990, there was a need to adopt the contemporary notion of administration as both an academic discipline, but also as an educational programs.
To be equal to political, social and administrative challenges in Poland, the National School of Public Administration (Krajowa Szkola Administracji Publicznej KSAP) was established in May 1990. KSAP is a place, where law, economics, administration school graduates can study post graduate studies, which is sponsored by the Polish government.
In the early 90’s the European College in Natolin, European College of Warsaw University and other similar institutes (as a part of the universities) were established (for example in Jagiellonian University, Lodz University or Mikolaj Kopernik University in Torun).
During this time, non-public and private universities began to start similar programs. There are four unique examples are founded by the Foundation in Support of Local Democracy. Those schools were established on the base of Regional Training Centers, first as colleges, than turned into non-public schools (with university degrees). In 1996 there was the establishment of the School of Public Administration in Szczecin and Lodz, in Bialystok in 1997, and in 1999 – in Kielce.
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