Paper long abstract:

When seen from the core-(semi)peripheral perspective most of the postsocialist countries in East and Central Europe seem to non-reflectively adopt directives from the hegemonic core countries and supranational institutions. This process occurs also in the academic world, where the period of division of Eastern Europe from the rest of the continent behind the Iron Curtain is perceived as an era of isolation of scholars from the global circulation of knowledge. Political and economic transition after 1989, which in Poland is identified with the Balcerowicz Plan, introduced neoliberal market's logic also to the academic world. However, instead of enhancing the postsocialist academia to join the core, this process pushed it to the (semi)peripheral position. Hence, research among a group of young scholars (interviews) and my own practice in organizational activity in a Polish university (participant observation) show that modern transformation of academic institutions were subjects not to the neoliberal logic but technocratic. It became a clear trend especially after the accession to the EU. Hence, the state of affairs is distant from the real liberal free market and instead it relies on the bureaucratic and technocratic apparatus from both - local (postsocialist remains) as well as supranational levels (the EU). As a consequence we can observe that Polish universities are not on the straight way to the core/center, but rather in opposite direction - to the peripheries. But what about the active role of the civil society? What about the tradition of resistance to the authoritarian power? What about the Solidarity ethos?