The constitutional crisis in Poland, Schmittian questions and Kaczyński’s political and legal philosophy

Abstract

ABSTRACT Between 2007 and 2015, the ruling party of Poland was the pro-European, liberal-conservative and strict fiscal policy-oriented Civic Platform. In 2015, Civic Platform lost in both the presidential elections (10 May) and the parliamentary elections (25 October). The winner was the conservative-nationalistic and EU-sceptical ‘Law and Justice’ party (PiS) led by Jarosław Kaczyński. A constitutional crisis began when the newly elected parliament changed the five members of the constitutional court, and the crisis deepened as a result of many new reforms, dividing the nation. This paper argues that this division of the citizens has a Schmittian nature. The aim of the article is to analyse the recent constitutional crisis in Poland, focusing on the Schmittian debate that has appeared in the academic, intellectual and judicial discussions and seeking to understand the political and legal philosophy behind the actions of Kaczyński. The paper considers three main questions: (1) What happened between 2015 and 2017? (2) What are the Schmittian questions in the debate about the rule of law? (3) How is Kaczyński’s political philosophy formulated? The language of the debates is at times brutal. This, but not only this, reminds the reader of Schmitt’s friend–enemy division. Moreover, Kaczyński’s political power reminds us of the power of Schmitt’s sovereign.