Regional and Historic Dimensions of Local Government Performance in Poland

Reintroduction of local government in 1990 was one of the main pillars of the post-socialist transformation in Poland. Municipalities assumed several tasks previously performed by the central administration and its territorial agencies. This paper presents the results of mass surveys conducted among Polish municipalities and compares the findings with similar surveys conducted almost 20 years earlier. The results prove that the learning process among representatives of local governments in Poland is regionally differentiated, and that the differences can be attributed to the historical trajectories of particular macro-regions of Poland.