Local horizons of governance. Social conditions for good governance in rural development in Poland

Abstract

The last thirty years have radically changed the nature of local resource management in rural communities throughout Poland (as well as in some other Central and Eastern European countries). New metamorphosis, policy, and funding mechanisms related to Poland’s political transformation and accession to the European Union have radically changed the character of institutions and tools available in rural development. Local communities have evolved along with improved education levels, decline in agricultural employment rates, and increased migrations to cities and Western Europe. This article presents the social conditions for the good governance processes in a selected region of Poland. Based on their extended quantitative and qualitative research, the authors discuss a number of phenomena such as the low effectiveness of collective actions, dense networks of informal relations, and the lack of trust in public service institutions despite the deregulation of certain powers. The ethnographic study reveals that while their overall picture may seem quite uniform, local rural communities in Poland tend to differ depending on the economic structure, history, and cultural identity of their inhabitants. Finally, the article analyses difficulties in the implementation of the good governance mechanisms within the country’s local rural communities.