jacek9520@gmail.com
Jacek Kwaśniewski
Jacek Kwaśniewski is the author of eight books (the titles are listed at the bottom), dozens of scientific articles and reviews, the creator and editor of Poland’s first privatization textbook and the author of numerous conference and symposium presentations, as well as hundreds of journalistic articles, primarily in the underground press during martial law in Poland (1981-1988). He holds a PhD in economics.
He was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta by the President of Poland (info) and received the US Secretary of Defense Award for Exceptional Public Service for his contributions to national security (Citation). Kwaśniewski was an active member of the democratic opposition and the first Solidarity movement until 1989.
Areas of Academic Interest
- Current: Theory and history of civilization, philosophy of science, cultural anthropology, theology
- Past: Functioning of communist systems, economics, privatization.
Professional Experience
Since 2012 Independent scholarly work without institutional affiliation
2006-2011 Independent economic consultant and expert. Continued academic research
2004-2005 Fabryka Samochodów Osobowych SA, FSO (a major Polish manufacturer of passenger cars). Head of the advisory team for FSO’s privatization process
2003-2004 Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), Iraq, Baghdad. Deputy Director of the Department of Private Sector Development. Developed a privatization program for the state sector, a privatization guide for the Iraqi government, and a program to prepare Iraqi companies to participate in international tenders for rebuilding Iraq’s economy
1992-2003 Business Management & Finance SA (BMF). It was one of leading Polish M&A advisory firms. Engaged in investment banking, primarily privatization, mergers, and acquisitions. Between 1992 and 2002, the company facilitated transactions totaling $10 billion. Director and Board Member
1990-1991 Office of the Government Plenipotentiary for Ownership Transformations (Ministry of Finance). Later the Ministry of Ownership Transformations (Privatization). Department Director and next acting Secretary of State in the Ministry
1975-1990 University of Łódź, Institute of Economics. Held academic positions up to Assistant Professor. Research focused on the political and economic systems of communist countries. Completed PhD in 1981, but defense was blocked due to martial law and internment. Defended a PhD in 1982, but it was immediately annulled by university authorities as ‘anti-socialist nonsense’. Published the full PhD in underground presses and excerpts in Praeger Publishers (1986). Successfully defended the dissertation again in 1988, only to have it annulled by the Ministry of Science. Finally awarded the doctoral degree in 1989. The work was published in 1992 by PWN (Polish renowned scholarly publisher) under the title The (Un)real Socialism (see “Socialism” section)
- The (Un)real Socialism
- Privatization Textbook (editor)
- How I Sold the Gdańsk Shipyard
- Western Civilization and Time
- Merchant Ships of the Middle Ages
- The Influence of the Church and Christianity on Technological Progress in Medieval Europe
- The Next Hundred, Two Hundred Years – Will Death Gradually Disappear?
- On the Evolution of Western Civilization
(All except the second and third are available on this site.)
A note about me on Freedom of Speech Society page (in Polish)
About my stay in Iraq in Karl Zinsmeister’s book „Dawn Over Baghdad” (pp. 122-124)