Energy transformation in Poland – the perspective of the discourse network analysis of political party manifestos and the social perception of changes in the energy sector

Abstract

The aim of the article is to define the attitude of Polish parliamentary political parties towards the method of energy production, as well as to present the social perception of changes in the energy sector. The structural connections between parties, based on their energy concepts, were presented by the so called “affiliation networks”. Discourse Network Analysis, used in the study, also allowed to identify the most frequently co-occurring concepts expressed by different parties over the past fifteen years (coal, natural gas and renewable energy sources). As a result of the analysis, differences in the parties` approach to the energy issues were determined (among others: division between Law and Justice and Civic Platform since 2011; support for the exclusion of coal as an energy source made by Left and Civic Coalition in the year 2019). In order to present social attitudes towards the energy transformation data created by the Public Opinion Research Centre were used. According to the data, the main concern revealed by Poles regarding the energy transformation process is the possible rising cost of the energy.