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Poland
Index
At the end of the 1980s, Poland, like the other
countries of
Eastern Europe, underwent a rather sudden shift away from
communist rule and into an uncertain new world of
democracy and
economic reform. The events spurred by the repudiation of
Poland's last communist regime in 1989 demanded a new and
updated
version of Poland: A Country Study. Because the
emergence
of the opposition Solidarity movement in 1980 increased
the flow
of information from communist Poland, reliable coverage of
the
1980s has been possible. Thus, this new treatment of
Poland is
based on a number of authoritative monographs and a host
of
scholarly articles. The most useful of those sources are
cited in
a bibliographic summary at the end of each chapter.
The authors of this edition have described changes in
the
past ten years against the historical, political, and
social
background of Poland. Particular emphasis falls on the
transition
period that began in 1989 with the rejection of the last
communist government. This period, a historic watershed
not yet
concluded in 1993, promises to have permanent impact on
all
aspects of Polish life. The authors have attempted to
present a
compact, accessible, and unbiased treatment of five main
topics:
historical setting, society and its environment, the
economy,
government and politics, and national security.
Polish personal names are rendered with full
diacritics. The
spelling of geographical names conforms to that approved
by the
United States Board on Geographic Names, including the use
of
diacritics, with the exception of commonly used
international
spellings such as Warsaw (Warzawa) and Oder (Odra). On
maps
English-language generic designations such as river,
plain, and
mountain are used. In the text, organizations commonly
known by
their acronyms (such as PZPR, the Polish United Workers'
Party)
are introduced first by their full English and Polish
names.
Measurements are given in metric units; a conversion
table is
provided in the Appendix. To amplify points in the text,
tables
in the Appendix provide information on various aspects of
Polish
society, economic performance indicators, Polish political
parties, and military strength. A glossary and a
bibliography are
also included at the end of the book.
The body of the text reflects information available as
of
October 1992. Certain other portions of the text, however,
have
been updated. The Introduction discusses significant
events that
have occurred since the completion of research; the
Chronology,
Country Profile, and Glossary include updated information
as
available; and the Bibliography includes recently
published
sources thought to be particularly helpful to the reader.
Data as of October 1992
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