Of bureaucracies and motorways: administrative reform and infrastructure policy for national roads in Poland
type: CreativeWork
description: 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. This dissertation examines the course of administrative reform in the Ministry of Transport, Construction and Maritime Economy (MTBiGM), the General Directorate of National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA), and the Ministry of Regional Development (MRR) in Poland. Additionally, it discusses some consequences of the recent merger of the MTBiGM and MRR into the new Ministry of Infrastructure and Development (MIR) in November 2013. 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? The hypotheses corresponding to the research questions were the following: 1) The central element of a legacy explanation, politicization, was…
abstract: 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. This dissertation examines the course of administrative reform in the Ministry of Transport, Construction and Maritime Economy (MTBiGM), the General Directorate of National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA), and the Ministry of Regional Development (MRR) in Poland. Additionally, it discusses some consequences of the recent merger of the MTBiGM and MRR into the new Ministry of Infrastructure and Development (MIR) in November 2013. 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? The hypotheses corresponding to the research questions were the following: 1) The central element of a legacy explanation, politicization, was…
author: Lechtenberg, Devon
language: en
keywords: Transportation Policy in Poland, Administrative Legacy, Policy Capacity, Administrative Reform in Poland
date published: 2014-09-16T17:25:21Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:25:41Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/50695