Rola współpracy organizacji pozarzaądowych z samorządem lokalnym w budowaniu społeczenstwa obywatelskiego w Polsce po 1989 roku

The intention of the author is to present the sectorial partnership and civil society after 1989 as exemplified by the cooperation of the local authorities in the town of Wyszkow and various NGOs. The formulated thesis is based on relations between social initiatives stemming from voluntative involvement of the local community and the public authorities who allow other entities to have influence on the social life. The paper consists of three parts: the first being an analysis of, and an attempt to define what civil society is, and what legal regulations of NGOs’ functioning in Poland are. The second part outlines the problem of law-making in relation to sectorial cooperation, with focus on the Acts on Public Benefit Organizations (Polish: Organizacja pozytku publicznego). The public administration is not an obstacle but a partner for the NGOs. The third and final part presents the cooperation between the two sectors in question on the basis of a local example.