"As the largest and most strategically important country in Central-Eastern Europe, Poland's transformation from socialism to capitalism has brought with it immense political changes. Poland was the first Eastern European country to return to capitalism, with its shock-therapy economic reforms replicated throughout the region. Here, Gavin Rae analyses the changes to the country since 1989 in their historical and geo-political framework. He looks at both how the absorption of Poland into the international capitalist system has transformed the country and how this process is contributing to developments globally. This book considers the importance of the development of European Union expansion and at its expected results within Poland and an enlarged EU."--Bloomsbury Publishing.