“Conservative modernization” and the rise of Law and Justice in Poland

Abstract

Conservatism has enjoyed a political renaissance in many East Central European (ECE) countries since the EU enlargement of 2004. The problem of conservatism in ECE has gained new meaning as the Law and Justice Party (PiS) won the 2015 presidential and parliamentary elections in Poland, the largest post-communist state in the EU. This chapter studies the PiS strategy for changing the constitutional system of the state, with reference to the “varieties of capitalism” (VoC) debate and to the criticism of the ECE “dependent-market” economic model and Poland’s peripheral position vis-a-vis the old EU members, and in particular Germany. The analysis of the PiS strategy follows several dimensions: (1) the main objectives of its ascension to power (the creation of a new national state, an exchange of elites, and the redistribution of benefits and prestige); (2) the political and socio-economic agenda of the PiS government since 2015; and (3) the fundamental controversy surrounding its implementation and consequences.