The embarrassing problem of vote counting in local elections – when due to the failure of computer system it took Polish authorities almost a week to count votes in local elections – has only strengthened an already popular conviction of the total weakness of the Polish state. Romantic dreams of power fade in confrontation with gloomy reality. Soon after the“Voting-gate” broke out the famous bon mot by Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, former minister of internal affairs – about the Polish state “existing only in theory”, has again recaptured public attention. Obviously not only politicians from ruling parties have something to say on the matter. Parliamentary opposition uses the crisis to regain popular support. However, hardly anyone seems to understand that our disputes on statism are actually a part of a broader discussion on revolutionary changes affecting all states, without exception.
Current decline of many western states can be seen in many areas – education, healthcare, public transport or social security systems. Attempts to implement reforms, based on new technologies, usually fail spectacularly. Clumsy efforts to computerize Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) or National Health Service (NFZ) are examples well-known only in Poland, but other EU states share similar experiences, no less discrediting. Quite often modern computers introduced to public administration systems are used as just new models of… typewriters. In other words, we change only the tools, but the way we think of the tasks ahead remains the same. Repeatedly announced technological revolution in this context sounds more like a grim joke than reality.
At the same time our expectations towards state intitutions are rising, especially after 2008 financial crisis. The good old statism seems to be back into favour. Over a few postwar decades western societies have managed to get rich, get old and get in enormous debts. These unprecedented conditions put in question the usefulness of traditional recipes for reforming the state. Therefore, intead of engaging in idle discussions weather to expand or ‘roll back’ state’s power, it is better to rethink our expectations towards the state, bearing in mind its real capacities.
Nowadays young people expect support in searching for employment. For many of them a post in public administration with all its fringe benefits has become a dream job. On the other hand older generations yearn for a sense of stability and social security in the late stages of their lifes. Can all these demands from different social groups be met? What can we realistically expect from the state in the future? What lessons for our own “battered Leviathan” can be drawn from the experiences of other states? How can we effectively remodel our institutions in order to maintain trust towards them?
We have invited the following panellists to our debate:
Marek Belka – economist, President of the National Bank of Poland (NBP).
Anna Giza – sociologist, vice-chancellor of the University of Warsaw.
Adrian Wooldridge – “The Economist” journalist, editor of the Schumpeter section, co-author of “The Fourth Revolution. The Global Race to Reinvent the State”
Chair:
Jarosław Kuisz, Łukasz Pawłowski („Kultura Liberalna”)
Date: December 4 (Thursday) – 6.00 PM.
Place: „Kultura Liberalna” Editorial Office, „Poddasze Kultury”, ul. Chmielna 15/9, Warszawa.