ABSTRACT
Polish regional policy in the pre-accession period is determined by both external and internal factors. In the period 2000-2006 Polish regional policy should, the authors believe, have two principal aims. It should strengthen regional competitiveness and counteract marginalisation. The Silesian working class was privileged economically, and to some extent socially, earning high prestige among other groups of Polish society. Upper Silesia, in its new administrative structure, needs a regional policy that is sensitive to its deep restructuring problems and its particular social and labour tensions. The challenge for a regional policy for Silesia is how to match the highly competitive position of Warsaw and regional centres like Krakow, Poznan and Wroclaw and their successes in higher education, research and development, international co-operation and winning EU funding. Yet all is not gloomy and it is curious that in comparable external and internal socio-economic conditions some Silesian towns have developed dynamically while other is in what seems to be permanent economic stagnation.
