Heft36 1 - SFB 580 - Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Heft36 1 - SFB 580 - Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Heft36 1 - SFB 580 - Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
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AGNIESZKA REFERENCES LITERATUR K. CIANCIARA<br />
The institutionalist-evolutionary approach<br />
provides the most adequate perspective for<br />
socio-economic analysis of business-politics<br />
relations in the CEE hybrid environment.<br />
This is in line with the so-called 4 th wave of<br />
transition studies, which are rather suspicious<br />
of modernist logics of linear transformation<br />
and the centrality of markets, liberalization<br />
and liberal politics for the social re-engineering<br />
of post-socialist economy (Pickles, 2008).<br />
Instead, emphasis is put on cultural studies,<br />
social theory, historical legacies and new forms<br />
of regional economic analysis that account for<br />
specificities of state rule and economic practice.<br />
Varieties of post-communist capitalist models<br />
derive from cultural and historical contexts and<br />
greatly depend on the state of institutions in<br />
the initial phase of transformation (Lissowska,<br />
2008).<br />
The purpose of this article is thus to analyse<br />
how business-politics relations at the<br />
national level, structured by the processes of<br />
transformation and consolidation, affect the<br />
effectiveness of Polish lobbying 3 at the EU<br />
level. To this end, I draw on recent literature<br />
on post-socialist politics and economic change,<br />
varieties of capitalism, Europeanization and<br />
business interests at the national and EU levels.<br />
The empirical analysis is carried out on the<br />
basis of interviews (March 2007-March 2009)<br />
with Polish representatives of state-owned<br />
companies, national federations and european<br />
federations based in Brussels.<br />
POLISH CAPITALISM: MAIN FEATURES SHAPING<br />
BUSINESS-POLITICS RELATIONS<br />
The crucial factor shaping capitalism in Poland,<br />
including relations between political and<br />
business elites, is the socialist or post-socialist<br />
heritage transferred directly or indirectly in<br />
the transformation process. Namely, Poland<br />
inherited a system of ‘destroyed capitalism’<br />
(Balcerowicz, 1997). The socialist economy was<br />
based on fundamentally different incentives<br />
and organizational forms than the ones proper<br />
to the market economy. Therefore, remnants<br />
of this system constitute barriers to effective<br />
functioning of mechanisms of the developed<br />
capitalist economy. Under socialism, private<br />
economic activity was subject to strict state<br />
control, notably through the granting of<br />
licenses, or permissions and enforcement of<br />
changeable maximum levels of production,<br />
as well as employment limits. Officially,<br />
social ownership was supported by the state,<br />
regardless of its economic efficiency, while<br />
private initiative was regarded as the necessary<br />
evil. Due to unstable conditions of economic<br />
activities and fully discretionary character of<br />
administrative decisions, the entrepreneurs<br />
were restraining their activities, cutting on<br />
investments, employing temporary, instead<br />
of long distance, business perspectives and<br />
counting for immediate gains without paying<br />
attention to economic or social consequences<br />
of their activities ( Jasiecki, 2002).<br />
Such thinking survived the transition<br />
in the form of lack of strategic<br />
planning, lack of social responsibility<br />
and limited trust towards law or<br />
decision-makers.<br />
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