Spójność społeczno-ekonomiczna jako wyzwanie dla polityki gospodarczej. Z perspektywy procesu transformacji

The article looks at the lack of socio-economic cohesion in the post-World War Two Polish economy from both a regional and European point of view. The author traces the sources of this lack to the defective mechanisms of economic, social and regional policies based on a centrally coordinated strategy until system transformation occurred, and then on autonomous processes until the country’s entrance to the EU. Transition to mixed policy based on economic competition, in which cohesion in the economic, social and territorial spheres is supported by open methods of coordination cultivated on the EU, national, regional, and sub-regional levels, has numerous weaknesses. It is not enough to treat socio-economic cohesion as a process of eliminating disproportions in regional development. It becomes possible only as a result of the harmonisation of development of all spheres of human existence and demands the specifics of local material resources, human and social capital all be respected.