POLISH MEMBERSHIP IN THE EUROPEAN UNION BALANCE - BETWEEN EUROPEANIZATION AND THE INFLUENCE OF POLITICAL CULTURE (Bilans polskiego czlonkostwa w Unii Europejskiej. Miedzy europeizacja a wplywem kultury politycznej)

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,the author is 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. He is 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.