In-Depth Case Study: Poland

Poland is the only one of the Central European post-communist (or rather the so called post-“real socialism”) countries, which experienced a deep and rapid transition shock after the fall of the Soviet Empire as early as in 1989, but was quickly considered a very successful transition country, until 2015 at least. Nevertheless, some specific features of Polish “real socialism” should be brought up in order to explain transition process and further developments.