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Under socialism, Poland suffered massive environmental destruction. After socialism, Poland's environmental performance has improved remarkably. This book explains that system-specific institutions of socialism undermined environmental protection by creating regulatory conflicts of interest that led the Party/state to soften budget and law constraints on polluters. Those problems have diminished in post-Communist Poland as socialist legal, political and economic institutions have been replaced by liberal-democratic institutions and competitive markets. The analysis includes important implications for an institutional theory of environmental protection.