I have been watching developments in Poland from a distance of 4192 kilometers in the past few months. From such distance you can see it differently. Here are some impressions:

  • huge domination of negative news and opinions (destructive criticism) as opposed to more balanced news and opinion (constructive criticism)  in other countries.

  • shallow debate. Key development issues are ignored, instead both politicians and media focus on short-term popularity gain. It is not the case in other countries, compare for example elections coverage in UK and in Poland.

  • themes that divide Poles are all over the place, themes that unite Poles are scarce. Think of the fifth anniversary of the Smolensk tragedy and press coverage. Poles should be together in this sad moment, but media and politicians used this date to tear the nation apart.

Why is it happening? After 25 years of transformation, economic growth and social development, Poland should have a much higher level of development of civic society, social capital, ability to focus on strategic priorities.Or maybe it does not matter. Maybe Poles living in their small comfort zones, furnished with large plasma TVs and celebrity shows do not care, and their small worlds are parallel to what is happening in the public arena.

Meanwhile, I continue the idea of Go Global brand, established by our research team in 2010 (report on innovativeness of Poland, called Go Global), which later mushroomed and now is present at NCBiR Go Global program and Think Tank Poland Go Global. I am working with several Polish companies that have large international presence to establish win-win cooperation with New Economic University, the goal is to help Polish companies expand in Central Asia, while NEU students at the same time have possibility to work on interesting international projects.