REGIONALISM AND FREE-MARKET REFORM: THE CASE OF POLAND

In Poland, there is a widening gap between well-developed core regions and depressed peripheral ones. This article argues, on the one hand, that any EU- or government-funded assistance to less developed areas should be accompanied by nationwide liberalisation and, on the other, that lack of reform and increasing regional disparities might fuel discontent in the worst-off regions, which, in turn, might make politicians adopt a fully-blown interventionist policy.