Inequality, political participation, and democratic deepening in Poland

East European Politics and Societies

Volumn 19, Issue 4, 2005, Pages 573-613

  Paczynska, Agnieszka ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

Democratization; Poland; Political participation; Social inequalities

Indexed keywords

EID: 27844526215     PISSN: 08883254     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0888325405274929     Document Type: Review

References (88)

1. Richard Rose and William T. E. Mishler have noted this growing polarization already a few years following the transitions in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). At the time they remained optimistic that even the vast numbers of what they referred to as "democratic laggards" in Bulgaria, then Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Rumania, in which they conducted their surveys, would not become antidemocrats. See Richard Rose and William T. E. Mishler, "Mass Reactions to Regime Change in Eastern Europe: Polarization or Leaders and Laggards?" British Journal of Political Science 24 (1994): 159-82.
2. On the other hand, Rose noted elsewhere that to see political and economic reforms bear fruit, the public needs to maintain reservoirs of goodwill and patience toward the governments. It is becoming increasingly unclear how much goodwill and patience can be expected after fifteen years of reform. See Richard Rose and Christian Haepfler, "New Democracies Barometer IV: A 10 Nation Survey," Studies in Public Policy no. 262, Centre for the Study of Public Policy (Glasgow, UK: University of Strathclyde, 1996).
3. Mancur Olson, The Rise and Decline of Nations: Economic Growth, Stagnation and Social Rigidities (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1982).
4. For example, Kohli has called this a "cruel choice" between development and democracy. Atul Kohli, "Democracy and Development," in John P. Lewis and Valeriana Kallab, eds., Development Strategies Reconsidered (Washington, DC: Overseas Development Council, 1986).
5. See, for example, José Maria Maravall, "The Myth of Authoritarian Advantage, "
6. Minixin Pei, "The Puzzle of East Asian Exceptionalism,"
7. and Barbara Geddes, "Challenging the Conventional Wisdom," all in Journal of Democracy 5:4(October 1994).
8. Despite the growing consensus that success of reforms is not related to regime type, the precise relationship between the two continues to be a subject of debate. As Przeworski points out, the relationship is simply not clear, "the statistical evidence is inconclusive, and the studies that produced it are seriously flawed." Adam Przeworski, "The Neoliberal Fallacy," Journal of Democracy 3:3(July 1992): 162.
9. See also Glen Biglaiser and Michelle A. Danis, "Privatization and Democracy: The Effects of Regime Type in the Developing World," Comparative Political Studies 35:1(February 2002): 83-102.
10. Geddes, "Challenging the Conventional Wisdom."
11. Seymour Martin Lipset, "Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy," American Political Science Review 53:1(March 1959): 85.
12. See for example, Stephen Haggard and Robert Kaufman, "The Challenge of Consolidation," Journal of Democracy 5:4(October 1994);
13. and Jeffery Sachs, "Life in the Economic Emergency Room,"
14. and Leszek Balcerowicz, "Understanding Post Communist Transitions," both in John Williamson, ed., The Political Economy of Policy Reform (Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, 1994).
15. Adam Przeworski, "Economic Reforms, Public Opinion, and Political Institutions: Poland in the Eastern European Perspective," in Luiz Carlos Bresser Pereira, José Maria Maravall, and Adam Przeworski, eds., Economic Reforms in New Democracies: A Social Democratic Approach (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993).
16. A similar point is made by Mitchell Orenstein, "Lawlessness from Above and Below: Economic Radicalism and Political Institutions," SAIS Review 18:1(Winter-Spring 1998).
17. See, for example, Guillermo O'Donnell, "Delegative Democracy,"
18. and Philippe C. Schmitter, "Dangers and Dilemmas of Democracy," both in Larry Diamond and Marc F. Planner, eds., The Global Resurgence of Democracy (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996);
19. Terry Lynn Karl, "The Hybrid Regimes of Central America," Journal of Democracy 6:3(July 1995);
20. William F. Case, "Can the 'Halfway House' Stand? Semidemocracy and Elite Theory in Three Southeast Asian Countries," Comparative Politics 28:4(July 1996): 437-64;
21. Fareed Zakaria, "The Rise of Illiberal Democracy," Foreign Affairs, November-December 1997;
22. Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way, "Elections without Democracy: The Rise of competitive Authoritarianism," Journal of Democracy 13:2(April 2002);
23. Larry Diamond, "Elections without Democracy: Thinking about Hybrid Regimes," Journal of Democracy 13:2(April 2002); and
24. Timothy J. Colton and Michael McFaul, Popular Choice and Managed Democracy: The Russian Elections of 1999 and 2000 (Washington, DC: Brookings Institutions, 2003).
25. Larry Diamond, "Thinking about Hybrid Regimes," Journal of Democracy 13:2(April 2002).
26. Michael Bratton and Robert Mattes, "Support for Economic Reform? Popular Attitudes in Southern Africa," World Development 31:2(2003): 303-23.
27. In the case of Zambia, for example, dissatisfaction with economic policies was generally manifested not through outright opposition but through political withdrawal. See Daniel N. Posner and David J. Simon, "Economic Conditions and Incumbent Support in Africa's New Democracies: Evidence from Zambia," Comparative Political Studies 35:3(April 2002): 332.
28. Susan C. Stokes, Mandates and Democracy: Neoliberalism by Surprise in Latin America (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001). While she argues that governments that abandon their campaign promises should not necessarily be seen as unrepresentative and in fact may do so because they believe that such policy switch will enhance the welfare of the constituents, nonetheless, she cautions that "the fact that representative politicians may violate mandates should not induce complacence about the import of mandates to democracy" (p. 6).
29. Philip D. Oxhorn and Graciela Ducatenzeiler, "Economic Reforms and Democratization in Latin America," in What Kind of Democracy? What Kind of Market? Latin America in the Age of Neoliberalism, ed. Philip D. Oxhorn and Graciela Ducatenzeiler (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998).
30. For an example of a comparative, see Bela Greskovits, The Political Economy of Protest and Patience: East European and Latin American Transformations Compared (Budapest, Hungary: Central European University Press1998). Greskovits argues that the very different historical experiences in the two regions have meant that citizens have employed very different means of responding and protesting market reforms.
31. Pamela Waldron-Moore, "Eastern Europe at the Crossroads of Democratic Transition: Evaluating Support for Democratic Institutions, Satisfaction with Democratic Government, and Consolidation of Democratic Regimes," Comparative Political Studies 32:1(Fehruary 1999): 48-52.
32. William Mishler and Richard Rose, "Trajectories of Fear and Hope: Support for Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe," Comparative Political Studies 28:4(1996): 553-81.
33. Christopher J. Anderson, "Political Satisfaction in Old and New Democracies," Working Paper no. 102, Binghamton University, Center for Democratic Performance, Binghamton, New York, http://cdp.binghamton.edu/papers/ satisfaction.pdf.
34. David S. Mason and James R. Kluegel, "Introduction: Public Opinion and Political Change in the PostCommunist States," in David S. Mason and James R. Kluegel, with contributors, Marketing Democracy: Changing Opinion about Inequality and Politics in East Central Europe (New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000). 12.
35. David S. Mason and James R. Kluegel, "Introduction: Public Opinion and Political Change in the PostCommunist States," Marketing Democracy: Changing Opinion about Inequality and Politics in East Central Europe, Ibid., 13.
36. Centrum Badania Opinii Społecznej (CBOS) is a major public opinion survey institute located in Warsaw. Poland (http://www.cbos.com.pl/).
37. Ewa Łukawer, "Pogla̧dy polskich ekonomistów na ogólne założenia transformacji systemowej," Ekonomista 6 (1994); and
38. Leszek Balcerowicz, "Albo szybko albo wcale," Polityka 4 (1989).
39. Balcerowicz's statement before Sejm committee during his confirmation hearings. Biuletyn nr. 41/X Kadencja, Komisja Polityki Gospodarczej, Budżetu i Finansów, Kancelaria Sejmu, 8 September 1989, 5-6.
40. Institute for World Economics, Transformation in Progress: Proceedings of the First Roundtable Conference, Budapest, March 2-3, 1994 (Budapest, Hungary: Institute for World Economics, 1994), 20.
41. John Tagliabue, "Poland's Elections Threaten to Jeopardize Change," New York Times, 23 September 1990. Precise measures of standard of living have been problematic due to lack of precise indicator data from the pre-1989 period, different accounting methods pre- and post-1989, as well as other difficulties, such as how to incorporate shortages of consumer products into such measures.
42. Polish Press Agency, 21 May 2004.
43. Data from a November 1991 CBOS survey.
44. Lena Kolarska-Bobińska, Aspirations, Values and Interests: Poland 1989-1994 (Warsaw, Poland: IFiS Publishers, 1994), 6.
45. Lena Kolarska-Bobińska, Aspirations, Values and Interests: Poland 1989-1994, Ibid., 11.
46. Lena Kolarska-Bobińska, "Social Interests, Egalitarian Attitudes, and the Change of Economic Order," Social Research 55 (1988): 1-2.
47. Andrzej Rychard, "Participation and Interests: Dilemmas of Emerging Social and Political Structure in Poland," in Walter D. Connor and Piotr Ploszajski, eds., Escape from Socialism: The Polish Route (Warsaw, Poland: IFiS Publishers, 1992), 172.
48. This dissatisfaction with reforms does not always translate into outright opposition to the reform program. As a recent collection of case studies suggests, often the public is willing to back a government that is implementing painful structural adjustment policies. See Susan Stokes, ed., Public Support for Market Reforms in New Democracies (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001).
49. Wlodzimierz Okrasa, "Who Avoids and Who Escapes from Poverty during Transition: Evidence from Polish Panel, 1993-96," World Bank Working Papers (Washington, DC: World Bank, 1 November 1999), 1.
50. Krzysztof Zagórski and Michał Strzeszewski, eds., Nowa rzeczywistość: Oceny i opinie 1989-1999 (Warszawa, Poland: Wydawnictwo Akademickie Dialog, 2000), 139.
51. CBOS, April 2004.
52. Data from April 2004 CBOS Survey.
53. Zagórski and Strzeszewski, Nowa rzeczywistość, 114.
54. Okrasa, "Who Avoids and Who Escapes," 9.
55. As Okrasa notes, "The odds of being poor for several years decreased as the size of the town increased." Ibid., 29.
56. Elzbieta Tarkowska, "Social History of Poverty in Central Europe: The Polish Case - Rural Poverty on Former State Farms," SOCO Project Paper no. 69 (Vienna, Austria: Institute for Human Sciences, 1999), 22.
57. Branko Milanovic, "Explaining the Increase in Inequality during the Transition," Policy Research Working Paper no. WPS 1935 (Washington, DC: World Bank, 30 June 1998).
58. See also M. Beblo, Stanislawa Golinowska, C. Lauer, K. Pietka, and A. Sowa, Poverty Dynamics in Poland: A New Perspective on the Causes of Unprecedented Polish Poverty Rates (Warsaw, Poland: Center for Social and Economic Research, 2002).
59. Erzo F. P. Luttmer, "Measuring Poverty Dynamics and Inequality in Transitional Economies: Disentangling Real Events from Noisy Data," Policy Research Working Paper no. WPS 2457 (Washington, DC: World Bank, 28 February 2001).
60. For a discussion of the consequences of this low migration level, see Uwe Deichmann and Vernon Henderson, "Urban and Regional Dynamics in Poland," Policy Research Working Paper no. WSP 2457 (Washington, DC: World Bank, 30 September 2000).
61. Data from regional employment bureaus collected by the author in 2003.
62. Data from the Central Statistical Office. Some major urban centers have also been hit hard by economic restructuring. In Łódź, the old textile manufacturing center, unemployment in mid-2003 reached 19.3 percent.
63. For example, in 1998 Warsaw was the recipient of 14.5 percent of new investments, although it was home to only about 5 percent of the total population.
64. Although this article does not examine the influence of gender on political participation, it is important to note that gender plays a very significant role in affecting political participation, the perceptions of the political system, as well as efficacy of one's political actions. Overall, female respondents in surveys have tended to view Polish democracy in a more negative light than male respondents. Furthermore, women tended to be much more uncertain about how to assess the changes that have taken place in Poland since the 1989 transition. These lower levels of political participation and more negative assessments of both the political and economic changes are not surprising in light of the fact that women's socioeconomic position has deteriorated more than men's during the past fifteen years.
65. In recent years, for example, satisfaction with the functioning of democracy has plummeted in much of Latin America. In Brazil, for example, between 1995 and 2000, it plunged from 62 to 18 percent. See Larry Diamond, "How People View Democracy: Findings from Public Opinion Surveys in Four Regions" (Paper presented at the Stanford Seminar on Democratization, Stanford, CA, 11 January 2001).
66. Data from April 2002 CBOS Survey.
67. Data from September 2003 CBOS Survey.
68. It is possible that the fall in the satisfaction with democracy was the consequence of the numerous corruption scandals that plagued the Miller government.
69. Krzysztof Korzeniowski, "Orientacja demokratyczna vs. autorytarna w społeczestwie polskim," in Wartosci a postawy Polakow a zmiany systemowe, ed. Janusz Reykowski (Warszawa, Poland: IP PAN, 1993), 165.
70. Data from May 1999 CBOS Survey. These perceptions have since remained stable.
71. Zagorski and Strzeszewski, Nowa rzeczywistość, 58.
72. Data from January 2000 and September 2003 CBOS Surveys.
73. The turnout in parliamentary elections was highest in 1989-62.1 percent. In 1991 it was 43.2 percent; in 1993, 52.1 percent; in 1997, 47.9 percent; and in 2001, 46.2 percent.
74. See "Polska referendalna - rozmowa z socjologiem Antionim Sułkiem," Gazeta Wyborcza, 9 June 2003.
75. "Wybory do parlamentu Europejskiego 2004," Rzeczpospolita, 14 June 2004.
76. Grzegorz Ekiert and Jan Kubik, "(Post)totalitarian Legacies, Civil Society, and Democracy in Post-Communist Poland, 1989-1993," Columbia International Affairs Online Working Papers, October 1997, p. 2, www.cc.columbia.edu/sec/dlc/ciao.
77. Grzegorz Ekiert and Jan Kubik, "(Post)totalitarian Legacies, Civil Society, and Democracy in Post-Communist Poland, 1989-1993," Columbia International Affairs Online Working Papers, Ibid., 6.
78. For their discussion of civil society activism and its relationship to democratic consolidation, see Grzegorz Ekiert and Jan Kubik, "Contentious Politics in New Democracies: East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, 1989-1994," World Politics 50:4(1998) and
79. Rebellious Civil Society: Popular Protest and Democratic Consolidation in Poland, 1989-1993 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1999).
80. Freedom House, Nations in Transition 2001-Poland Country Report (n.d.), http://www.freedomhouse.org.
81. Data from January 2000 CBOS Survey.
82. Data from February 2000 CBOS Survey.
83. Marek Ziółkowski, "Jednostka wobec władzy: postawy społeczne wobec władzy w okresie transformacji systemowej," in Jan Włodarek, ed., Miȩdzy przeszłoscia̧ a przyszłoscia̧: szkice socjologii i społeczeństwa polskiego w okresie przemian ustrojowych (Poznań, Poland: Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1998), 190.
84. Data from February 2004 CBOS Survey.
85. Michel Camdessus, "Statement Before the United Nations Economic and Social Council in Geneva, July 11," IMF Survey 19 (11 July 1990): 235.
86. See for example, Manuel Pastor and Carol Wise, "State Policy, Distribution, and Neoliberal Reform in Mexico," Journal of Latin American Studies 29:2 (May 1997): 419-56;
87. and Gopal Gupta, "The Distributional Effects of IMF Programs: A Cross-Country Analysis," World Development 28 (2000).
88. Pippa Norris's recent study largely confirms this modernization thesis. See Pippa Norris, Democratic Phoenix: Reinventing Political Activism (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002).