Społeczna gospodarka rynkowa jako model ustroju gospodarczego w świetle Konstytucji RP z 1997 r.
The social market economy as a model for the economic system in the light of the 1997 Constitution of the Republic of Poland

Summary/Abstract: Background: The subject of this article is to delineate, in a non-exhaustive, but representative manner, the framework of the social market economy in the context of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 1997. This category, often vague and partially marginalised, forms the basis of Poland’s economic system. Research purpose: The concept of the social market economy, placed somewhere between ex¬treme economic liberalism and advanced interventionism, has been surrounded by numerous in¬terpretative clichés, understatements, and myths. The aim of the article is to identify these short¬comings in the interpretation of Art. 20 of the Polish Constitution. Methods: The Author uses research methods specific to legal studies, i.e. the formal-dogmatic, historical and – auxiliary and to a lesser extent – the comparative method. Conclusions: The difficulty lies especially in the attempt to balance the three pillars of this prin¬ciple within the meaning of Art. 20 of the Polish Constitution, i.e. the freedom of economic activ¬ity, private ownership and solidarity, and dialogue and cooperation between social partners. The Author points to the need for some reorientation in the perception of the social market economy principle, so that its subsequent elements are characterized by balance, and not by the primacy of one of the three pillars of the aforementioned systemic principle.

• Details
• Contents