Polish Membership in the European Union Balance – Between Europeanization and the Influence of Political Culture

Abstract

The article is aimed at analyzing some selected features of Polish political
culture and the impact of Europeanization processes on the development
of democracy. Polish political culture is not exclusively a product of recent
years, thus it has not been developed since the introduction of democratic
institutions after 1989. It is an outcome of the former historical experiences
to a greater extent than it is commonly assumed. In the present article, I am
going to present mutual influence of local political culture (and administrative
tradition) and Europeanization due to which the Polish membership in
the European Union balance must be treated in a less enthusiastic way
than it is commonly believed. I am especially going to present examples
referring to three areas: 1) the development of a vision of strategic actions;
2) implementation difficulties within the European policy; 3) difficulties in
undertaking network co-operation in the European Union. In those areas,
the positive influence of Europeanization is blocked by cultural phenomena
connected with the experience of a lack of a sovereign state and the treatment
of a state as a common good of all the Poles. Moreover, Europeanization
strengthened particular ideas and political organizations which contributed
to the development of the Polish political arena.