Regional Political Elite in Poland and the Transformation of Civil Society Organisations' Influence

The presentation focuses on the question how to describe the dynamics of the regional elite 25 years after systemic transition, and if, in the face of changing conditions, it was closer to the reproduction or the circulation. Is the composition of the current regional political elite similar to the composition of the transitional elite, who took over immediately after the collapse of the communist regime or have we experienced the replacement in it? I will also try to describe the elite in terms of main characteristics and most important channels of recruitment - biographic "resources" which allow entry into the elite. One of the resources important in recruitment process is experience gathered in civil society organizations. The oldest part of the elite is largely composed of the leaders of civil society organizations and trade unions, mainly Solidarity itself and connected movements. This elite was replaced by the party elite in two ways. Firstly, the leaders of social organizations and trade unions were joining the party. Secondly, the social leaders were leaving for political retirement and they were replaced by "purely" party candidates. This means that the civil society movements play an auxiliary, preliminary role in the recruitment process. Aspirants to positions in the elite become known on the public forum as activists of civil society organizations and parties or other election committees catch them out and propose the start in elections. In other words, the organizations of the civil society sector define the pool of eligible from which regional elite members are recruited on the next step. Empirical basis for the paper is survey research of the regional elite - councilors of provincial councils and councilors of the largest Polish cities carried out in the spring of 2017, by Institute of Political Studies Polish Academy of Sciences and was financed by Polish National Science Center.