Przemiany instytucji w krajach postsocjalistycznych

Changes are an inherent element of development. They determine the necessity of constant adjustment of all the institutions that control functioning of societies in all aspects. This usually happens in an evolutionary way. According to adopted constitutional assumptions, in the countries in transformation, the changes are of a radical character that breaks off with formal regulations and numerous informal principles of behaviour that existed before. Formal institutions inherited from the previous system significantly influence the speed of adaptation of the countries to changing external and internal conditions of functioning. A growing interest in the role of institutions in economic processes of the systems in transformation results from: - ambiguities as for the reasons for differences between the countries that start with the same initial position (that is hard to explain in categories of traditional models of growth); - differences in economic reforms, processes that accompany them and their consequences. In the countries in transformation the awareness of the influence of institutions on economic development is common. However, the institutions are changed in a chaotic and slow way, and they are often politicised. Institutions created in such way do not favour levelling the delays in development associated with malfunctions of the previous system.