Poland Essay ⋆ Business Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Poland traditionally has been a major center of agriculture in eastern Europe, and in the late Middle Ages, it was one of the largest political entities in the region. In the early modern period, it started to develop some industrial potential with the location of coal and iron ore in Silesia, at that time a part of Austria. However, in 1740, Frederick II “The Great” of Prussia invaded and annexed Silesia, holding it through the War of the Austrian Succession that resulted. By that time, Poland was waning as a power, and with the three partitions (in 1772, 1792, and 1793), Poland ceased to exist as an independent entity, being divided between Russia, Prussia, and Austria. During the 19th century, Poland prospered and Warsaw became a major city in the Russian Empire, although it was devastated in World War I.

In November 1918 Poland emerged again as an independent country, bringing together lands previously held by Prussia, Russia, and Austria. It started to build up its economic base, with emphasis on heavy industry, and also a shipbuilding industry—the latter partly to secure the employment of people in the northern part of the “Polish Corridor.” This helped sustain Poland in the 1920s and 1930s, with the country exporting much agricultural produce and also building up a significant shipping industry and merchant navy. In addition, Poland, for strategic reasons, had also established its own munitions industry. The German invasion of Poland in September 1939 and the subsequent Soviet attack wrecked the country, and by the end of World War II, most of the country was in ruins. The boundaries of the country also changed dramatically.

From 1945, the economy of Poland was under the control of Communists who introduced a system of central planning, and also placed a great reliance on heavy industry, exploiting the coal fields and iron, with the shipyards at Gdansk helping build up Poland’s industrial base. Although the economic situation was relatively bleak, Poland was able to rebuild after the devastation in war, with full employment, although foreign observers claimed there was large-scale underemployment. It remained a part of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) until 1991 when there were major changes in the Polish economy.

It had been labor demonstrations at the Gdansk shipyards that resulted in problems in 1970, and Edward Girek, who came to power during this period, started embarking on a policy of borrowing from foreign banks. This was partially successful, but there were still many underlying problems. In 1980 a new wave of protests at the Gdansk shipyards led to the emergence of Lech Walesa and the Solidarity Trade Union movement. Initially, the Polish government reacted harshly against Solidarity, but it was gradually forced to make concessions.

After the end of Communism in Poland in 1989, the new government introduced free market reforms and this resulted in large-scale unemployment, and in a surprise twist, the closing of many of the shipyards where the workers had forced concessions from the Communists in the 1980s. The new Polish government has seen its future as lying in closer relations with the West, and Poland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1999 and the European Union on May 1, 2004.

After a process of economic liberalization in the country during the 1990s and early 2000s, Poland has experienced one of the fastest rates of growth of any of the economies in central Europe, with an extensive private sector. There have been problems in the agricultural sector with the maintenance of many inefficient small farms, which have also been hurt by a lack of investment. However, for industry, with extensive industrial retooling, and beneficial export agreements, including the Generalized System of Preferences program helping Polish exports to the United States, Poland has significantly increased its export sector.

Poland has also been important for investors as it is part of the major road network, has a significant local economy of its own, and has some 250 million consumers within 1,000 km. of the country. Machinery and transport equipment make up 30 percent of the country’s exports, with the remainder largely from intermediate manufactured goods, food (especially jams), and live animals. Some 30 percent of Poland’s exports go to Germany, with German goods making up 24 percent of imports, which are largely made up of manufactured toys, and also chemicals.

Bibliography:

Céline Allard and Anthony Annett, Republic of Poland: Selected Issues (International Monetary Fund, 2008);
Gavin Rae Anglo, Poland’s Return to Capitalism: From the Socialist Bloc to the European Union (Tauris Academic Studies, 2008);
Frank Bönker, The Political Economy of Fiscal Reform in Central-Eastern Europe: Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic From 1989 to EU Accession (Edward Elgar, 2006);
John S. Garland, Industrial Co-operation Between Poland and the West (University Microfilms International, 1985);
Andrzej Korbonski, Politics of Socialist Agriculture in Poland 1945–60 (Columbia University Press, 1965);
T. Lane and Marian Wolanski, Poland and European Unity: Ideas and Reality (Wydawn Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, 2007);
R. Myant and Terry Cox, Reinventing Poland: Economic and Political Transformation and Evolving National Identity (Routledge, 2008);
Agnieszka Paczynska, State, Labor, and the Transition to a Market Economy: Egypt, Poland, Mexico, and the Czech Republic (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009);
Janusz G. Zielinski, Economic Reforms in Polish Industry (Oxford University Press, 1973

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