The Inclusive Methods in an Exclusive Club – about the Character of Some Conditions Hindering Co-Deciding in Local Communities

Abstract

The text constitutes a voice in the discussion pending in Poland on the issue of the possibility of deliberative ‘opening’ of public decision- making processes. In the metaphor used in the title the expression ‘the inclusive methods’ refers to public, participatory decision-making procedures, ‘an exclusive club’, on the other hand, denotes party-political and bureaucratic-administrative elites (nota bene in accordance with the content of the variant of political culture dominating, among others, in Poland) favouring the top-down model of making decisions. The exclusive club constitutes a kind of game-trap, which has the powers of poaching even their most devoted, social opponents – the leaders of everyday life – into their elitist circle of institutional leaders. This issue still breaks through with difficulty and remains rather in the background of the themes dominating in the Polish public debate. At the current level of Polish democratisation, the mechanisms, the task of which is the inclusion of the inhabitants into public decision-making processes, are perhaps not ideal, but they seem sufficient. The main problem seems to be residing in the fact that generalised knowledge about deliberative ways of making decisions in this country is still low – and at this stage it cannot be different due to lack of patterns favouring deliberation in Polish political and administrative culture. We may say that we deal with a certain paradox, which is based on the fact that participatory procedures ‘overtook’ culture changes in Poland, from which (as in consolidated democracies) they should stem. The completion of this gap could assist in practising formal solutions by common application from procedural participatory possibilities. Their low application will favour, however, the consolidation of discouragement for participation.