Civil society in Poland 25 years after the great change

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to present the evolution and the condition of the civil society in Poland 25 years after the transformation of the political regime. The analysis is based on the existing results of earlier research and on the author’s own studies and observations. It also refers to the discourse that has been going on in Poland since the middle of the nineteenth century on the difficulties in building a Polish civil society. As the analysis shows, Poles do indeed, affiliate much less frequently than citizens in West European states, or, even in comparison with citizens of other post-communist states. Another Polish specificity is that although there is a variety of organisations and associations, also representing followers of new social movements, most of them are elite in character. Membership in organisations does not have a mass character in Poland, nor is an element of political culture. Social networks may, eventually, facilitate communication and collaboration in social matters. Their role today, however, is negligible.