External and Intra-party Context of National Conservative Populism: the Case of “Law and Justice” in Poland
https://doi.org/10.24833/2782-7062-2024-3-4-88-107
Abstract
The article explores the consequences of the rule of the conservative and national-populist «Law and Justice» (PiS) (Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc) in Poland. The focus is on the specifics of the political space and spectrum of political forces in Poland, the attitudes of voters, as well as the internal party structure of PiS itself. It is shown how the leader oriented and centralized intra-party system distinguished by the deep rootedness of paternalistic relations and the almost complete absence of intra-party democracy, which is little compatible with the image chosen by the party as “the only people’s force in the country.” The anti-elite discourse of PiS collides with the sacred role of senior officials and directly the chairman in the party itself. PiS is characterized by the priority of informal practices over official institutions and procedures; this is rooted in internal party life and is actively used by PiS also outside of it. Further, the article analyzes how the populist ideological aspiration pushes PiS to carry out a large-scale policy of transformation of Polish soci ety which includes the policy of exclusion, the policy of submission, instrumentalizing the country’s courts and state media; a policy of searching for enemies, cultivating in society an atmosphere of fear and mistrust; a policy of dogmatization, bringing social life to full compliance with the moral guidelines of the party, eradicating any pluralism of opinions; politics of public partisanship, integrating party structure and aspirations into co-opted public organizations and social movements. Finally, the article reveals how PiS, politicizing sociocultural issues and the environment, influences civil society with party and state resources, infrastructure and influence, seeking to monopolize social consensus, establish party agenda and, most importantly, replace the sociocultural elite with co-opted and allied to party. In this way, the article pays special attention to the analysisng of PiS’s youth policy.
About the Author
T. E. Mirzadzhanov
MGIMO University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Tamerlan E. Mirzadzhanov, Postgraduate Student, Department of Comparative Political Science
Vernadskogo Avenue, 76, Moscow, 119454
References
1. Applebaum, A. (2020). Twilight of Democracy: The Failure of Politics and the Parting of Friends. New York: Penguin Random House LLC.
2. Bolleyer, N. (2013). New parties in old party systems. Persistence and decline in seventeen democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
3. Bolleyer, N. (2012). New party organization in Western Europe: Of party hierarchies, stratarchies and federations. Party Politics, 18(3), 315–336.
4. Cywinski, P., Katner F., & Ziółkowski, J. (2019). Zarza dzanie Strachem. Jak Prawica Wygrywa Debate Publiczna w Polsce. Warszawa: Fundacja Batorego. (In Polish)
5. Dąbrowska, E. (2018). New Conservatism in Poland. In K. Bluhm, & M. Varga (Ed.), New Conservatives in Russia and East Central Europe (pp. 92-112). Oxfordshire: Routledge. DOI:10.4324/9781351020305-5
6. Ekiert, G., Kubik J., & Wenzel, M. (2017). Civil Society and Three Dimensions of Inequality in Post - 1989 Poland. Comparative Politics, 49(3), 337–39.
7. Ekiert, G., & Kubik J. (2017) Civil Society in Postcommunist Europe: Poland in a Comparative Perspective. In K. Jacobsson, & E. Korolczuk (Ed.), Civil Society Revisited: Lessons from Poland (pp. 39-62). New York: Berghahn Books.
8. Gawin, D., & Gliński P. (2006). Civil Society in the Making. Warsaw: IFiS Publishers.
9. Gherghina, S., Mişcoiu, S., & Soare, S. (2013). Contemporary Populism: A Controversial Concept and Its Diverse Forms. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
10. Gliński, P. (2011). Twenty Years of Civil Society in Poland? Polish Sociological Review, 175, 271-300.
11. Grzebalska, W., & Pető, A. (2017) The gendered modus operandi of the illiberal transformation in Hungary and Poland. Women s Studies International Forum, 68(3). DOI:10.1016/j.wsif.2017.12.001
12. Guerra S. (2017) Without Losing My Religion: The Dilemmas of EU Integration in Poland. Kultūra ir visuomenė: socialinių tyrimų žurnalas, 2, 51-68.
13. Heinisch, R., & Mazzoleni, O. (2016). Understanding Populist Party Organization: The Radical Right in Western Europe. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
14. Holmøyvik, E. (2020). For Norway It’s Official: The Rule of Law is No More in Poland, Verfassungsblog on Matters Constitutional.
15. Jacobsson, K., & Korolczuk E. (2017a). Civil Society Revisited: Lessons from Poland. New York: Berghahn Books.
16. Jacobsson, K. & Korolczuk, E. (2017b). Introduction. In K. Jacobsson, & E. Korolczuk (Ed.), Civil Society Revisited: Lessons from Poland, New York: Berghahn Books.
17. Kaltwasser, C., & Taggart, P. (2016). Dealing with Populists in Government: A Framework for Analysis. Democratization, 23(2), 201-220. DOI:10.1080/13510347.2015.1058785
18. Kelemen, D. (2017). Europe’s Other Democratic Deficit: National Authoritarianism in Europe’s Democratic Union. Government and Opposition, 52(2), 211–38.
19. Kinowska, Z. (2021). The Polish Paradox: From a Fight for Democracy to the Political Radicalization and Social Exclusion. Social Sciences, 10(3), 112-128. DOI: 10.3390/socsci10030112
20. Klauzinski, S. (2020) Miliony Złotych od Ziobry dla Rydzyka na “Ochron˛e Praw Chrze´scijan”. Warsaw: OKO Press.
21. Kopinska, G. (2018). Stanowiska Publiczne Jako Łup Polityczny: Polityka Personalna w Okresie od 16 Listopada 2015 do 31 Paz´dziernika 2017 Roku. Warszawa: Fundacja Batorego. (In Polish)
22. Krzemiński, I. (2017). Radio Maryja and Fr. Rydzyk as a Creator of the National-Catholic Ideology. In S. Ramet., & I. Borowik (Ed.), Religion, Politics and Values in Poland, (pp. 85-112). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
23. Mazurczak, A., Mrowicki, M., & Adamczewska-Stachura, M. (2019). Sytuacja Prawna Osób Nieheteroseksualnych i Transpłciowych w Polsce. Biuletyn Rzecznika Praw Obywatelskich. (In Polish)
24. Miszalska, A. (1996). O apatii politycznej Polaków. Kultura i Społeczenstwo, 2, 131-48. (In Polish)
25. Nyzio, A. (2014). With Strength Comes Weakness. The Evolution of Political Parties in Poland, 1989-2013. Poliarchia, 2(2), 199-232.
26. Pacześniak, A., & Wincławska, M. (2017). Czy współczesne partie potrzebują jeszcze członków? Wnioski z badań empirycznych w polskich partiach politycznych. Political Preferences, 17, 7-26. (In Polish)
27. Pacześniak, A., & Wincławska, M. (2018). Leadership in Polish political parties. e‐Politikon, 28, 92-114.
28. Pedziwiatr, K. (2017). Islamophobia in Poland: National Report 2016. In E. Bayralki, & F. Hafez (Ed.), European Islamophobia Report 2016. (pp. 411–43). Istanbul: SETA.
29. Pirrò, A., & Stanley, B. (2021) Forging, Bending, and Breaking: Enacting the “Illiberal Playbook” in Hungary and Poland. Perspectives on Politics, 20(1), 1-16. DOI:10.1017/S1537592721001924
30. Pytlas, B. (2021). Party Organisation of PiS in Poland: Between Electoral Rhetoric and Absolutist Practice. Politics and Governance, 9(4), 340-353. DOI: 10.17645/pag.v9i4.4479
31. Pytlas, B. (2015). Radical Right Parties in Central and Eastern Europe. Mainstream Party Competition and Electoral Fortune. Oxfordshire: Routledge.
32. Sadurski, W. (2019a). Poland’s Constitutional Breakdown. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
33. Sadurski, W. (2019b). Polish Constitutional Tribunal under PiS: From an Activist Court, to a Paralysed Tribunal, to a Governmental Enabler. The Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, 11, 63-84.
34. Scheppele, K. (2018). Autocratic Legalism. University of Chicago Law Review, 85(2), 545-583.
35. Sedelmeier, U. (2016). Political Safeguards against Democratic Backsliding in the EU: The Limits of Material Sanctions and the Scope of Social Pressure. Journal of European Public Policy, 24(3), 337-351.
36. Smith, B. Polish (2018). Civil Society: Adapting to New Pressures. A Report of the CSIS Human Rights Initiative. Washington DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies.
37. Stanley, B. (2022) Counter-Elite Populism and Civil Society in Poland: PiS’s Strategies of Elite Replacement. East European Politics and Societies and Cultures, 36(1), 118-140. DOI: 10.1177/0888325420950800
38. Stanley B., & Stanley B. (2020). Whose Poland Is It to be? PiS and the struggle between monism and pluralism. East European Politics 36: 378-94.
39. Sztompka, P. (2000). Trauma Wielkiej Zmiany. Społeczne Koszty Transformacji. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Znak. (In Polish)
40. Tischner, J. (1990). Homo Sovieticus między Wawelem a Jasna Góra. Tygodnik Powszechny, 25, 1-20. (In Polish)
41. Tomczak, Ł. (2015). Czy polskie partie są demokratyczne? Athenaeum Polskie Studia Politologiczne, 47(3), 84-97. (In Polish)
42. Uziębło, P. (2016). Aspekty ustrojowe stosunków wewnątrzpartyjnych. Toruńskie Studia Polsko-Włoskie, 12, 107-122. (In Polish)
43. Wincławska, M. (2020). Obszary aktywności członków polskich partii politycznych z perspektywy zadań partii i aspiracji jej działaczy. Przegląd Politologiczny, 1, 119-130. (In Polish)
44. Wincławska, M., et. al. (2021). Party management from the perspective of party members: Evidence from Poland. Problems of Post‐Communism, 68(4), 315-326. DOI: 10.1080/10758216.2020.1757466
45. Żuk, P. (2018). Nation, National Remembrance, and Education – Polish Schools as Factories of Nationalism and Prejudice. Nationalities Papers, 46(6), 1046-1063. DOI: 10.1080/00905992.2017.1381079
Review
For citations:
Mirzadzhanov T.E. External and Intra-party Context of National Conservative Populism: the Case of “Law and Justice” in Poland. Governance and Politics. 2024;3(4):88-107. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24833/2782-7062-2024-3-4-88-107
Views:
118
Email this article 