CIVIL SOCIETY IN POLAND Case study

1
CIVIL SOCIETY IN POLAND Case study

• Prepared for international conference
• The Logic of Civil Society in New Democracies
• East Asia and East Europe

Taipei, June 5-7
2
Politics
Parl. term Government coalition
IX 1989 XI 1991 (semi-free) Solidarity with Communist and Communist-allied ministers
XII 1991 X 1993 post-Solidarity right wing
XI 1993 X 1997 post-communist left wing
XI 1997 X 2001 right wing
XI 2001 X 2005 left wing

• Party in power always loses elections

3
Economic conditions
Annual GDP growth (data of Central Statistical
Office). Projections for 2009 vary.Unemployment
rate (Rounded. Pct. of economically active
population. January results for each year. Data
of Central Statistical Office).
1989-1992 Transformation shock 1993-2000
Sustained growth 2001-2002 Crisis 2003-2008
Pre- and post-EU accession boom
4
Civil society and the state

• 1989-1990 Effective and legal freedom of
  association. Introduction of self-government
• 1999 De-centralization reforms

5
Attitude to Poland's membership in European Union
1989 Independence 1994 Start of EU accession
negotiations 1999 NATO membership 2002-2004
Final stage of negotiations, referendum, EU
accession
6
Attitude to Poland's membership in NATO
Supporters
Opponents
Don't know
78
11
11
IX 2007
80
11
9
II 2009
Source CBOS

• universal support for EU and NATO membership

7
Evaluation of current situation 1989-2009
Evaluation of current situation in Poland
(3-month moving average)
80
Bad
70
60
50
40
Good
30
20
10
Dont know
0
III
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Source CBOS
1990-1992 Disenchantment with changes 1993-1995
Gradual return of optimism 1996-1999 Sustained
positive evaluations 1999-2001 Continuing slide
2002-2007 Crisis in collective psychological
well-being, with brief return of hope in early
2006 2007-2008 Return of optimism, checked by
the crisis
8
Number of events
Average pct. of positive evaluations of current
situation
No. of protests
50
400
40
300
30
200
20
100
10
0
0
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004

• in good times there are more protests

9
Organizers
Organizations leading or sponsoring the event N Pct. of cases
Labor unions 1751 43.5
out of which Solidarity Trade Union 775 19.2
Domestic social movements 312 9.3
Political parties 260 7.8
Professional organizations 239 7.1
Radical political movements 216 6.5
Strike committees. employees councils 158 4.7
Regional. local organizations 130 3.9
Youth organizations 125 3.7
None 504 15.1

• trade unions organized the majority of events for
  which the organization is recorded

10
Organizations leading or sponsoring the event
(no. of events)
Labor unions
Professional organizations
Political parties
Youth organizations


200
150
100
50
0
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004

• unions decrease in importance

11
Protesting groups
N Percent of Cases
workers 1562 39.5
neighborhood or local 407 10.3
youth. students 393 9.9
farmers 262 6.6
transport 257 6.5
health or welfare 229 5.8
public sector (unspecified) 189 4.8
service industries 187 4.7

• manual workers protest the most
• youth local groups consistently strong

12
Protesting groups (no. of events)
workers
farmers
service industries
public sector

• relative importance of workers diminish
• 1996-98 rise in protests by public sector
  employees and healthcare specialist coincides
  with reform preparation
• farmers active during early transformation and
  late 1990s (Samoobrona), later fade away

200
150
100
50
0
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
13
Methods of protest
most common
less common
Strike
Demonstration. march. rally
pen letters.appeals
Riots
Occupationof public buildings
Blockadeof road. picket
Symbolicmanifestation
60
180
160
50
140
40
120
100
30
80
20
60
40
10
20
0
0
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
00
01
02
03
04
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
00
01
02
03
04

• strikes diminish in importance (from 1st to 5th
  most common method)

• methods become less disruptive

14
Methods of protest by type of organization
leading or sponsoring ( of events)
Labor unions Political parties Youth organizations None (spontaneous events)
Demonstration, march, rally 30.4 Demonstration, march, rally 59.6 Demonstration, march, rally 75.2 Demonstration, march, rally 34.4
Threat to undertake protest action 26.6 Open letters, statements and appeals 23.5 Open letters, statements and appeals 32.0 Open letters, statements and appeals 25.3
Strike 20.9 Blockade of road, picket 14.6 Threat to undertake protest action 8.0 Threat to undertake protest action 17.7

• demonstration most common method regardless of
  organizer
• only 21 of union protests are strikes

15
Demands
N Percent of Cases
Change domestic economic policies 920 22.8
Material compensation 860 21.3
Change domestic policies 762 18.9
General dissatisfaction with policies 391 9.7
General economic demands 303 7.5
Increased influence in decision making 140 3.5
Change external/foreign policies 128 3.2
Ecological demands 121 3.0
Recognition of identity 60 1.5
Abortion debate 48 1.2
Problems of ethnic minorities 36 0.9
Religious demands 26 0.6
Other demands 840 20.8

• economic demands most common

16
Economic demands
No. of events with ec. dem.
Material compens.
Events with economic demands as pct. of all
events in a year
200
80
150
60
100
40
50
20
0
0
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
... but becoming gradually less important
17
Size Pct. of cases
37.0
16.4
17.2
9.4
7.6
7.2
5.2
0-20
21-200
201-500
501--1000
1001--2000
2001--10.000
over 10.000
No. of participants
Data are available for 45.3 of events.
Descriptions suggest that many events for which
size was not recorded were small

• small events predominate

18
Intervention by authorities ( of events)
Intervention without force 4.0
Intervention with force 5.7
No intervention 42.2
Data unavailable 39.6

• authorities intervene in 10 of cases

19
Intervention ( of events)
20
15
10
5
0
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004

• attitude of authorities to protests changed, but
  there is no clear trend

20
Intervention ( of events in which intervention
was recorded)
Protesting groups Protesting groups Protesting groups Protesting groups Protesting groups Protesting groups
workers service sector neighborhood, local youth farmers health or welfare
Intervention without force 4.0 2.1 4.7 5.3 5.0 3.1
Intervention with force 4.7 2.7 6.6 16.5 6.9 4.4

• young people are at the receiving end of the stick

21
Protest activities in Europe
Respondent had taken part in lawful public
demonstration ( of adults)
22,4
17,3
14,5
11,2
9,3
7,5
7,1
7.0
6,3
5,8
4,5
4,2
3,7

• culture of protest weakly developed in CEE
• Poland at the bottom of the ranking

3,7
3,4
3,3
2,8
2,8
2,1
2
1,5
ESS data 2002-2007
22
Activity in organizations
Worked in non-political organization or
association in last 12 months ( of adults)

• this time, Hungary is at the bottom

ESS data
23
Civic activity in organizations
79
80
77
76
76
77
23
24
24
21
23
20
1998
1999
2002
2004
2006
2008
Source CBOS

• while ESS surveys prove NGOs are weak in CEE,
  actual number of activists is almost certainly
  higher than recorded in them
• CBOS surveys indicate that up to 20 of adults
  may be performing some type of civic activity in
  organizations, many in more than one area.

24
Membership in trade unions
( of employees)
81,9
74,4
68,1
43,6
42,2
39,6
33,8
28,8
27,1
25,9
23,6
19,8
16,3
15,9
15,1

• unionization in CEE is low, but comparable with
  many "old" EU countries

14,1
14,0
14,0
13,5
11,0
10,2
ESS data
25
Trade union membership in Poland 1989-2008
( of adults in Poland)
Total
OPZZ
25
20
15
10
5
0
V1989
III 990
IV1991
VI1992
XII1993
III1994
IX1995
VI1996
III1999
V2000
VII2001
VII2002
X2003
IX2004
IX2005
II2006
XI2007
XII2008
CBOS data

• membership falls almost everywhere, but in Poland
  the drop was steeper than in developed countries
• drop in membership stopped and now the rate is
  constant

26
Trust
Most people can be trusted OR You can't be too
careful (10-point scale)

• very low level of trust in CEE

ESS data
27
The end of the transformation?
1. In a long-term perspective, protest density
diminishes due to falling stakes. 2.
Satisfaction with country situation coincides
with  strong protest activity psycho-social
factors must be taken into account as potential
explanatory variables 3. Labor mobilization
steadily decreases due to consolidation of the
economic system on the one hand, and to the
weakness of unions on the other 4. In the early
years, protesting groups defined by professional
status. Later,  young people and neighbors/locals
became major players formation of civil society
based on post-material values? 5. Identity
articulation rare, occurs in the early
transformation years. Early 1990s were formative
also in the cultural sphere, pre-determined
long-term collective ideological and cultural
definitions 6. If the generally accepted
indicators are considered, civil society is weak
in Central and Eastern Europe in comparison with
other EU or OECD countries, and is not
improving. 7. Need for other indicators informal
networks may constitute core of civil society in
the region. Picture not so bleak if other
dimensions are considered