The Changing Roles of the Post-Transitional Economic Elite in Poland

Zusammenfassung

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The study characterised evolution of the role of a new economic elite in Poland using the three-elite-generations metaphor: breakthrough elite, transition elite and consolidation elite. Describing this evolution in terms of the neoliberal modernisation paradigm, "elitist paradigm " and transformation theory is insufficient for a theoretical reconstruction of changes occurring in states which, like Poland, are at the stage of development combining characteristics of post-communist, neoliberal and globalised capitalist societies. Other concepts are also useful, such as globalisation theory, world-systems theory or the varieties of capitalism approach that provide a different conceptual framework for the role of economic elites.

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The Changing Roles of the Post-Transitional Economic Elite in Poland

The main aim of this article is to try to characterise the changing roles of the Polish economic elite at different stages of the system change after the fall of state socialism. The evolution of these roles was undertaken using the elite theory paradigm, and was also inspired by certain rival theories of development sociology and discussions about features of post-communist changes in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The use of the term "post-transitional economic elite" is justified by a number of circumstances of stratificational, functional and theoretical nature:

The social profile of the emerging new economic elite is evolving. Gradually, its members, internal composition and recruitment channels for its representatives are changing in relation to the circumstances in which the elite formed at the beginning of 1990's. One may observe a generational change, and the growing role of new career paths and professional criteria which in the rapidly changing Polish economy make the elite relatively open (Jasiecki 2002; Wesolowski 2007).

The role of elites in subsequent stages of system transition in Poland is changing. The transition stages correspond to different types of elites with different missions (Wasilewski 2004), identified in this context three elite types: breakthrough elite, transition elite and consolidation elite. The consolidation elite, that may also be referred to as the post-transitional elite, acts in the environment of already fixed rules and institutional framework of the new political system that were strengthened and stabilised by pre-accession harmonisation with, and later by the accession to, the EU.

Poland's EU membership from 1st May 2004 means a shift to the new stage of state development beyond post-communist transition theories (transition paradigm). Processes occurring in the Polish society are less and less specific to a post-communist society and are becoming increasingly universal. As World Bank experts have recently observed, in Central and Easter Europe, from the economic point of view, "for the EU-10 [...] the transition is over. [...] These countries are now competing in the same markets as the more advanced European economies and are catching up with the technological frontier" (Alam et al. 2008:42). Unlike in the previous stage of reforms, current challenges for these countries are similar to the ones faced by countries in the Western Europe. The key to further development is strengthening the innovation, increasing productivity and investment in education. Consequently, the transition paradigm is becoming obsolete. There is, however, the ever more important role of theories and ideas which perceive social changes in Poland in the context of the place of the state in different dimensions of the world capitalist system, including, in particular, those theories and ideas which take into the account different levels of social and institutional development in individual countries. Thus, apart from the neo-liberal version of the modernisation theory, approaches are proposed which refer to globalisation theory, the world-systems theory, the varieties of capitalism approach or the organizational theory of recombinant property (Stark/Bruszt 1998; Wnuk-Lipinski/Ziólkowski 2001; Federowicz 2004; King/Sznajder 2006; Szczepanski 2006). The reason for this is that different theoretical concepts accentuate in different ways the role and functions of economic elites.

This article provides an overview of the literature on system change studies in Poland and other Central - Eastern European countries, with a reference to the results of empirical studies on Polish economic elites conducted by various projects in 1990s and in the current decade. The author was involved in many of these projects, including the international project The busin...

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