Abstract
The aim of the article is to indicate the causes of a new phenomenon in Polish domestic politics, namely the "Teflon" power elite. This term denotes the resistance of the groups making up the United Right camp to scandalous accusations made publicly by the media, that are unprecedented on such a scale. The scandals resulting from journalistic investigations, unlike in the times of previous ruling teams in Poland, did not cause a clear decline in the support of the current ruling elite, let alone its collapse. The article presents the definition of a political scandal. Moreover, the author discusses the reasons for the unflagging popularity of the current government, including: economic, propaganda and educational issues, the ruling populism, the opposition's communication inefficiency, society's fatigue with scandals and citizens' lack of sensitivity to the manifestations of the pathology of the government institutions. In the study of this issue, the microsystem analysis and the decision-making method were used.
Highlights
During over three decades of the functioning of the Third Republic of Poland, one could often observe cabinet crises caused by the disclosure by the media of political scandals
The result of unmasking the results of journalistic investigations in most cases were turning points within the ruling elite, which led to the self-dissolution of the Sejm, the collapse of governments, or the resignation of specific politicians1
This state of affairs changed dramatically in 2015, when the elections resulted in the formation of a parliamentary majority based on the parties forming the United Right (UR)
Summary
During over three decades of the functioning of the Third Republic of Poland, one could often observe cabinet crises caused by the disclosure by the media of political scandals. The result of unmasking the results of journalistic investigations in most cases were turning points within the ruling elite, which led to the self-dissolution of the Sejm, the collapse of governments, or the resignation of specific politicians1 In this aspect, Poland resembled developed democracies where the politicians are responsible for their actions. Due to the extremely high level of resistance to political crises of the current government, observed in this regard, this power elite was referred to as “Teflon” This term should be regarded as accurate, because none of the previous political camps ruling Poland has developed to such a degree a lack of susceptibility to publicly made accusations of high gravity.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
