Central European Management Journal
How Do External Interdependencies Work? The Example of Geopolitics and Democracy in Poland
Kozminski University
Abstract
There is no alternative to the development of external interdependencies in the era of globalization. An alternative was even less conceivable when Poland switched from Communism to Western-style capitalism in the course of political transformation that began in 1989. Globalization projects may differ in terms of their institutional and ideological context, but they share common foundations, namely the objectively increasing interdependencies caused by the scientific and technical revolution; particularly apparent in the field of information and communication technologies, the growing openness of economic markets, soaring social expectations of mobility – especially the mobility of human resources – as well as the readiness to coexist with fellow humans that represent diverse cultures. Even in conditions of partial de-globalization – resulting from the protectionist economic policy of governments like the Trump administration – nobody really regards the idea of reversing the globalization trend as realistic or rational. Only those who hoped that globalization – albeit exclusively neoliberal! – would imminently diminish the importance of the nation-state are bitterly disappointed, given that the process merely redefined our understanding of the latter notion.