Transformation of foreign and domestic Polish politics by conservative national populism: consequences of the rule of “Law and Justice”

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

The article analyzes the transformation of Poland's foreign and domestic policies after the rightwing populist Law and Justice Party (PiS) came to power and established national conservatism as the state ideology. First of all, the article examines the specific historical narratives of the PiS, which justify the policies it pursues, and the transformation of the Polish vision of diplomacy and geopolitics by these narratives. Particular attention is paid to the study of the role of history and the past as a guide to political action for right-wing conservative populists using the example of PiS. The specific populist ideological attitudes of the PiS directly affect Poland's relations with the EU, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. The author proves that the party's rule sowed discord in the European Union, demonstrated the inadequacy of its mechanism for controlling its own members and worsened Poland's relations with Western European countries, established back in the 1990s. In its domestic policy, the PiS openly pursued an illiberal democratic policy. Our focus is on both the specific steps of this policy and the study of the reasons for its support by broad sections of the Polish electorate. The article identifies the political-economic and legal-administrative consequences of the PiS rule, the damage it has caused to the media and court systems, the creation of a developed paternalistic or client-corporatist system in the country. Separately, we study the PiS policy of exclusive ethnic identity, which forms a new party-Polish identity and excludes critics of the regime from the nation, which has led to increased mistrust, intolerance, and rejection of consensus as a method of achieving socio-cultural harmony. This may lead in the long-term, to profoundly disastrous consequences for Polish society, resulting in a dangerous level of social polarization and conflict, entailing violence.