EUROPEAN STUDIES IN POLAND: AREAS OF RESEARCH, METHODS AND THEORETICAL APPROACHES

Abstract

This article analyses European studies in Poland a quarter-century after the fall of communism. Based on the quantitative and qualitative examination of research articles and PhD dissertations, as well as the results of the latest Teaching, Research and International Policy survey, it concludes that ES in Poland is a multi-disciplinary field of research. There is a great variety of topics, the most popular being the EU political system, the EU external relations and member-state policy towards the EU. Most of the texts are descriptive or focused solely on policy analysis. This lack of explanatory ambitions is usually accompanied by an atheoretical approach to research. It must be noted, however, that there are valuable papers, often written by representatives of the younger generation of Polish researchers, that embrace clearly defined theoretical approaches and use advanced research methods.