Participative environmental management and social capital in Poland

摘要

Eastern European countries, such as Poland, often illustrate socialcapital studies. Upon entering the European Union, social capital in Polandwas seen as a problem in implementing new regulations, particularly in thefield of environmental policy. Equally important, environmental issues oftenpresent a high degree of complexity – and European legislation requiresmulti-stakeholder involvement in decision-making processes. Thus, thedilemma: on the one hand, there is a demand to engage and consult manyactors; on the other hand, the actors function in administrative culture witha ubiquitous top-down approach taken by institutional decision makers.This paper attempts to address the problem from the perspective of socialcapital theory. An overview of administrative culture and examples ofdecision-making processes shows the way decisions are currently made. We alsopropose a way to achieve more participative environmental management.