Rebuilding Local Governance in post-communist economies : the case of Wroclaw, Poland

The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, European Urban and Regional Studies 11 (4) 2004, Copyright SAGE Publications Ltd at: http://eur.sagepub.com/ [Full text of this article is not available in the UHRA]At the beginning of the transformation process in Poland in 1990, local and regional governance structures were practically non-existent. The ‘voivodship’ was the regional administrative centre, which simply acted as a conduit for the policies of various government departments in Warsaw. The article reviews dominant perspectives on the transformation of regions in post-communist economies. While the evolutionary approach is a good critique of neoliberal approaches, it is argued that it assumes a consensus and congruity of local interests and underplays the role of exogenous influences in shaping emerging governance structures at both the local and national level. The framework adopted in the article is institutionalist, drawing on the importance of informal institutions in shaping local and national economies. Further, power and differentiated interests are seen as central to understanding emerging structures. Finally, the role of exogenous influences such as aid and investment are highlighted in understanding how the regions of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) are fitting into the emerging international division of labour. The empirical focus of the article is the Wrocław local economy, with particular reference to changes in the municipality. Transformation is explored in relation to three agents of change. First, the ‘nomenklatura’ who have converted their social capital of the past into economic capital during the process of transformation. Second, the role of workers is seen as important in either contesting or cooperating with the restructuring process. Finally, the role of imported intellectual capital through foreign investment, consultants and aid is viewed as central to instituting a new set of informal institutions compatible with the market.Peer reviewe

The transformation of post-communist economies in a globalised economy : the case of Poland

This article argues that the transformation of the economies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has to be understood in the context of the dynamics and development of the global economy. The analysis draws on the notion of combined and uneven development in which there has recently been renewed interest. Too often this notion has been a slogan that lacks substance, but the article elaborates how change is a dynamic process of interaction between economic change and political and social forces. The neoliberal analysis, as well as some Marxist accounts, are criticised for being deterministic, linear and prescriptive. This account emphasises the institutional dimension and role of the state as being critical to understanding the varied outcomes between and within economies in CEE in terms of the way that it has mediated the reinsertion of these countries into the global economy. The story focuses on agency, a neglected aspect of analysis, in emphasising the ideological and discursive aspects of transformation, which attempt to justify and reinforce economic and material changes and to close down debate about alternatives. Crucially, the form and content of development, in its widest sense, cannot be known or predicted because the process of transformation has been contested by different factions of the ruling class and by workers. Despite the marginalisation of organised labour in mainstream and many radical accounts, it is argued that trade unions and workers have been central to the process and outcomes of transformationNon peer reviewe