Academic literature on the topic 'Manpower policy – Poland'

Defence Date: 13/11/2009
Examining Board: Colin Crouch (University of Warwick, formerly EUI) (Supervisor); Virginie Guiraudon (CERAPS-CNRS); Francois Bafoil (CERI-Sciences-Po, External Co-Supervisor); Maurizio Ferrera (University of Milan)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
In the face of an exogenous economic crisis or systemic political and economic transformations leading to multiple pressures for adaptation, social and labour market policies are the cornerstone of employment adjustment. Because they can pool and redistribute individual risks, these policies are likely to embody or facilitate a change of paradigm or economic system. However, the orientation of policies is also a matter of negotiation between the government and various interest groups. This is well illustrated in Poland, where post- 1989 transformations involved a redefinition of the relationship between the state and the community of citizens and provide an opportunity to observe the dynamics of large-scale change over a relatively condensed period. The thesis investigates three issues in this context: the nature of the emerging welfare system; the factors accounting for policy change, and the existence of a new socio-political compromise underlying the emerging work and welfare nexus. The analysis builds on a conceptual framework drawing on two streams of literature: the comparative studies of the welfare state in Western Europe and theories of public policy making. The first leads to a set of hypothesis that seek to explain change in the perspective of ‘regime politics’ while the second suggests on the contrary that conflicts and compromises are arising in different arenas defined by a configurations of actors and power relationships that are specific to each policy domain (employment regulation, labour market policies and pensions). The thesis uses original and secondary empirical material to assesses, on one hand, the validity of theories of the welfare state based on power resources, class cleavages and institutional pathdependence to explain the orientation of social policies in the post-communist context, and on the other, the idea that the representation of interests and the actors involved in the decisionmaking process are being shaped by the nature of the policy at stake. The analysis considers especially the role of pre-existing institutions, trade unions, employers associations and government, as well as specific categories of beneficiaries.

This chapter recounts how New Zealand's initial role in the Second World War was precipitated by Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939. It discusses how New Zealand aligned itself with Britain, stating that it would go wherever it goes and stand wherever it stands, which was an acknowledgment that New Zealand's fate depended on the outcome of the British Commonwealth's war effort. It also refers to New Zealand's contribution to the Allied military effort overseas, which included supplying Britain with vital food and other resources. The chapter talks about the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF), which was initially formed on the basis of voluntary enlistments in 1914. It elaborates New Zealand's need to provide for its own physical security, which introduced a new element that involved major strategic and domestic policy decisions.

This chapter discusses the vision for Bieszczady needing help from the Union of Polish Scouting due to being chronically low on manpower and funds. Prime Minister Piotr Jaroszewicz plans to take on the operation called Bieszczady-40, which includes the understanding of the importance of the wilderness. Foresters were instructed to care for the wildlife in what was to become Europe's most exclusive hunting grounds. The chapter explores the importance and criticisms of a book called ‘The Dispute over the Bieszczady’ which covered the rediscovery of the region. However, Poland is expected to shed its socialist nature for capitalism in a decade.