Poland: From Civil Society to Political Nation
Poland: From Civil Society to Political Nation

Author(s): Jan Tomasz Gross
Subject(s): Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Post-Communist Transformation
Published by: CEEOL Digital Reproductions / Collections
Summary/Abstract: The notion of civil society has been elucidated over the last decade in numerous writings stemming from (and generated by interest in) East Central Europe. Narrowly constructed, civil society refers to society outside the framework of official institutions provided by the Communist state. It emphasizes, with perhaps a certain myopia (after all, official establishments ought to be given some credit for contributing to their own demise), that the emancipation of East Central Europe did not require taking over the extant institutions. From the Workers’ Defense Committee, through Charter 77 and Solidarity, up to the Neues Forum and the Obcanske Forum, enclaves of freedom where collective action took place were deliberately constructed apart from and outside of them. A new phase in the political articulation of liberty has currently taken hold of East Central Europe. It involves the enfranchisement of the state. The nations of East Central Europe, which at the civil society stage of their emancipation have demonstrated that they are real, living entities, are now constituting themselves as polities. They are in the process of authenticating their institutions. This is what I have in mind when I speak about the transition from civil society to political nation.

• Details
• Contents