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 />
nationally, actors are poorly socialized to<br />
develop the necessary strategies at the EU<br />
level. For instance, consultations and public<br />
hearings are poorly institutionalized in Poland,<br />
which is impeding active engagement in similar<br />
practices in the Brussels arena.<br />
Polish lobbying at the European level is also<br />
characterized by an ad hoc approach. On one<br />
hand, this is due to high costs of permanent<br />
presence in Brussels. On the other hand,<br />
companies still do not possess the awareness<br />
as to the importance of the continuous opinion-shaping<br />
at the EU level. They often limit<br />
themselves to the participation in works of an<br />
EU-level trade association but use it more for<br />
an informative purpose than active interest<br />
representation. The lack of long-term planning<br />
and continuity in business strategies might be<br />
considered a result of a specific economic culture<br />
derived from the post-communist heritage,<br />
in particular business-politics relations<br />
in state-owned companies. Meanwhile, the ad<br />
hoc practice of ‘arranging things’ is fully dysfunctional<br />
in the formalized and highly institutionalized<br />
lobbying environment of the EU.<br />
CONCLUSIONS<br />
Specificities of Polish capitalism are particularly<br />
well reflected in existing patterns of businesspolitics<br />
relations and lobbying. In this<br />
article, I looked at how the post-communist<br />
heritage, transferred into the institutions of<br />
Polish ‘advanced emerging market’, affects<br />
representation of economic interests at both<br />
national and European levels. I made an attempt<br />
to explain the relative ineffectiveness of Polish<br />
lobbying in Brussels, while going beyond the<br />
critical resources approach and pointing to<br />
the characteristics of the CEE institutional<br />
and organizational environment. It seems that<br />
the perceived ineffectiveness results from the<br />
incompatibility of the hybrid, post-communist<br />
socialization context with the institutions of<br />
consolidated democracy and developed market<br />
economy at the EU level.<br />
As stated above, various forms of businesspolitics<br />
relations co-exist in Poland, depending<br />
on the sector, ownership structure, size<br />
and resources of the company, as well as socialization<br />
background of the management.<br />
The partial consolidation of economic elites,<br />
also resulting from the opportunities offered<br />
by EU membership and internationalization<br />
of economic activities, is not yet translated<br />
into effective mobilization of Polish business<br />
interests at the European level. The critical<br />
resources approach neither fully explains the<br />
low level of mobilization in the EU arena, nor<br />
the use of strategies that are not adequate to<br />
the European rules of the game. Among other<br />
explanatory factors proposed, one can find the<br />
argument about the embeddedness in domestic<br />
networks where specific, post-communist<br />
types of business-politics relations dominate.<br />
Clientelistic and oligarchic strategies practiced<br />
in Poland cannot be successfully used in<br />
the European environment, in particular due<br />
to the high level of autonomy of economic<br />
and political elites, as well as scarcity<br />
of Polish politicians and officials occupying<br />
key posts. A lack of tradition Seite Page page 57<br />
and institutionalization of pluralistic<br />
interest representation and civil society,<br />
together with weak financial and human<br />
resources of business organizations, further<br />
obstruct the capacity to exert influence.