Of bureaucracies and motorways: Administrative reform and infrastructure policy for national roads in Poland

The construction and improvement of roadway infrastructure has been the dominant direction of transportation policy throughout East-Central Europe (ECE) since the democratic transition began in 1989. In Poland, the government has been developing a nationwide network of motorways and expressways in order to meet economic and social demand. The Polish government has pursued a construction program with the political and financial support of the European Union, which it joined in May 2004. Reforms in government administration have been necessary for ensuring the proper development and implementation of infrastructure policy. The central question guiding the dissertation research has been whether an administrative legacy from state socialism continues to affect policy implementation. The question of an administrative legacy is addressed by the following four research questions: 1) Which mechanisms reproduced the administrative legacy of state-socialism in the national roads policy area in Poland after 1989? 2) Have mechanisms of accountability successfully compelled the Polish administration to undertake reforms? 3) Has decentralization empowered self-governments (regional and local governments) in Poland to fully participate in the policy process of national roads? 4) Have the Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Regional Development nurtured internal policy capacity in response to the need for coordination?;This dissertation research argues and demonstrates that an administrative legacy, defined as a reactionary cadre of officials from the socialist regime, no longer has a meaningful influence on the outcomes of national roads infrastructure policy in Poland. If, however, an administrative legacy is defined as the politicization of the government administration in Poland by political leaders, then there is a discernable and persistent legacy within the units of government administration responsible for the transportation policy, albeit to varying degrees. Furthermore, there is anecdotal evidence of a lingering mentality (i.e. the lack of a sense of public duty) among some public employees as constituting a legacy of state socialism. Addressing Research Question 1, Chapter 5 demonstrates that politicization is the primary remaining administrative legacy of state socialism. Analytically speaking, politicization is both an objective of the political leadership and a mechanism by which to achieve other goals. Politicization has been maintained by successive governments determined to utilize the administration as a means to realize their transportation policies, although the ability of ruling parties to politicize the whole of the administration has been curtailed by civil service laws passed in 1998 and 2008. Politicization as a legacy was maintained by the mechanism of rational-historical institutionalism proposed by Meyer-Sahling (2009). On the other hand, a lingering mentality as an administrative legacy of state socialism was maintained by social-constructivist institutionalism, an alternative also proposed by Meyer-Sahling (2009), as it centered on the beliefs of individual employees. Chapter 6, focusing on Research Question 2, demonstrates that government administration has been compelled to undertake reforms primarily by political mechanisms of accountability, which are used by the domestic political leadership and the European Union to enforce their policies. Political accountability is almost exclusively vertical. Internal mechanisms of accountability, such as investigations and professional norms, also compel government administration to pursue reforms. Chapter 7 addresses Research Question 3 and finds that, counter to initial expectations, decentralization has not empowered regional and local governments to have a major and consistent voice in national roads policy in Poland. However, in light of the fact that some spatial planning powers were recentralized, a government policy of the centralization of planning powers related to national roads can be explained as a rational process through which central government ministries and agencies will be more effective as policymakers and implementers. Chapter 8, addressing Research Question 4, demonstrates that the Ministry of Transport, Construction and Maritime Economy (MTBiGM) and Ministry of Regional Development (MRR) nurtured internal policy capacity in order to better coordinate planning and implementation activities, a process that was aided by recentralization. Policy capacity also provided the legitimacy needed by civil servants of the MTBiGM and MRR to resist politicization by the political leadership. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).