Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-1991

Publication Title

Washington, DC : National Council for Soviet and East European Research, 1991.

First Page

1

Last Page

32

Additional Publication URL

http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/nceeer/1991-805-11-Mason.pdf

Abstract

Public opinion research has changed dramatically in the last ten years in Poland, in terms of its methodology, scope, and role in political change. During the "first" Solidarity era (1980-81), the genie of public opinion was let out of the bottle, and even martial law could not entirely put it back. Public opinion polling in the 1980s became more sophisticated and more common, and began to tackle increasingly sensitive political issues. Public opinion came to play a role in the political process, and to give the Polish population a sense of its own purpose and values. It also revealed the depth of antipathy to the communist regime and leadership and, in doing so, further eroded the already fragile legitimacy of the regime. When, in the late 1980s, the regime realized it could not succeed at winning back the allegiance, or at least acquiescence, of the Polish population, it agreed to negotiate with the opposition. The result was the emergence of the first non-communist regime in E.astern Europe.

Notes

"Contractor: Butler University"

"Council contract number: 805-11."

"March 1991."

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