The book analyzes the theoretical and practical aspects of civil service in Polish public administration and discusses it in a European context. While civil service is explored from a comparative, historical and systemic perspective, the study takes a close look at the history of Polish civil service from 1922 to 2014, civil service in the Second Republic, the status of civil servants during the Polish People’s Republic and the formation of civil service after 1989. There is a special focus on solutions adopted in the light of the Civil Service Act of November 21st, 2008, and the importance of civil service for the modernisation process of public administration in Poland.