Parties In Poland Research Articles

Genesis of Polish Populism (1945–2023) and its Impact on the Transformation and Support of “Law and Justice”

The article analyzes the formation of Polish populism at the present stage represented by the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS, Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc) using the theoretical apparatus of neoinstitutionalism, as well as historical and comparative approaches. Both general features of populism and those specific to Eastern Europe are considered. The process of development of ideas, practices and results contributing to the rooting of populist values and a picture of the world in the Polish public consciousness is also studied within the framework of the path dependence concept. The final part describes the essential guidelines, ideology, program and electorate of PiS. The party is compared with its main competitor Civic Platform (PO, Platforma Obywatelska) in terms of its strategy, and specific results of PiS rule are also mentioned. Poland is characterized by weak and unstable connections between voters and parties, which leads to the absence of a stable social base and support for parties and, in turn, leads to their constant fragmentation and high party volatility. Parties in Poland have historically been organizations with the lowest level of public trust. In such a context, parties that can truly attract voters will immediately find themselves in a more advantageous position. One of the most suitable methods is therefore simple, often primitive slogans, intransigence of discourse, aggressive rhetoric, unrealistic promises of universal abundance, sharp opposition to everyone else and the rejection of democratic norms of representation in favor of strong leadership, that is, classic populism.

Who are the ‘real’ people? The concept of relational popular identity and the self-identification of populist voters in Poland

Research on national, political, and social identities in the study of populism is typically limited to analysing populist identity framing in political and media discourses and measuring its effects on individual populist attitudes. Thus, the self-identification of populists’ supporters, i.e. how they relate to populist identity framing when reflexively constructing their identities, remains largely unexplored. To address this issue, the article introduces the concept of relational popular identity, capturing the complexities of late-modern political identities, and the relational identity mapping technique used to investigate the web of relations forming these identities. The article also presents a case study of loyal voters of the Law and Justice party in Poland and discusses how a relational right-wing popular identity may serve as an ‘intermediary identity’ that articulates elements of other identities to maintain their integrity and a ‘community of last resort’ that unites the ‘real’ people through an immunitarian mechanism of exclusion.

Wall-building policy: nationalist space management and borderphobia as right-wing populists' tools for doing authoritarian politics

The article analyses the situation that arose after the crisis on the Poland-Belarus border in the second half of 2021. The authors use the term “borderphobia” to describe social, political and propaganda mechanisms that became a form of border space management used to legitimize and gain support for the actions taken by the right-wing populist government in Poland. The phenomenon of borderphobia can be a symbol of the symbiosis between political authoritarianism, nationalism and economic neoliberalism: the combination of these three forces affects the development of the “border industry” in Europe and in the world. The policy based on borderphobia facilitates the suspension of civil rights in the border area: this is what happened in Poland, where a state of emergency was introduced in the border area under the pretext of “border protection.” The case of building the wall on the Polish-Belarusian border can also show how the nationalist right in Poland can use the borderphobic discourse for political mobilization and in an election campaign to maintain their influence and political power in the country. The article indicates that although the leaders of right-wing populist parties believe that the slogans of defending the “security border” and building border walls can bring them political benefits, the example of the Law and Justice (PiS) party in Poland has shown that this is not always the case.

Dwa źródła do poglądów i mentalności katolickiej inteligencji u progu Polski Ludowej

The text presents two sources concerning the political views and mentality of the Polish Catholic intelligentsia in the first years of the People's Republic of Poland. The first is a memorandum from the „Dziś i Jutro” group to Władysław Gomułka, presenting its political aspirations and concepts, aiming to create a co-governing Catholic party in Poland. The second is a study of the situation in the country, addressed to the Polish authorities in exile, with an emphasis on the views of lay Catholics disillusioned with insurrectionist and anti-Russian concepts. These documents allow one to understand not only the dilemmas and ideological choices of Catholics at the time but also provide an important contribution to the genesis of later disputes among Catholic circles in communist Poland.

The importance of Ukraine in the process of ensuring the energy security of Central European countries in the political thought of Polish political parties during the Russian-Ukrainian war. Selected issues

Ukraine has played an extremely important role in ensuring the energy security of Central European countries over the years, mainly due to its position as a transit state. Past energy crises (2006, 2009) have affected the perception of the country in Europe and led to Russian-German energy projects that reduce the level of regional security (e.g., Nord Stream 1, Nord Stream 2). In Poland, various political parties (Law and Justice, Civic Platform, the Left Party, Polish People’s Party) have referred differently to regional cooperation and the function Ukraine might offer in this type of process. In this context, the aim of the article was to analyse the political thought of selected Polish parliamentary parties regarding the importance of Ukraine in ensuring the energy security of Central European countries during Russia’s armed attack on Ukraine in 2022. The starting point of the analyses was the general thesis that political parties in Poland treated Ukraine as a key state in efforts to limit the negatively perceived energy policy of the Russian Federation in the region.

When populists deliver on their promises: the electoral effects of a large cash transfer programme in Poland

AbstractWe estimate the effects of the introduction of a large cash transfer programme on support for the ruling populist party in Poland. We exploit the variation at the municipal level in the annual cash transfer amount received per capita, and use a difference‐in‐differences research design to study the electoral effects of the transfer. Our results show that a cash transfer amount of $100 per capita translated into an increase in the vote share for the ruling party of nearly two percentage points. One‐third of additional votes came from new voters coming off the sidelines, and the remaining electoral gains were due to voters who had previously voted for other parties. The effects of the programme are persistent, as we see no decrease in the magnitude of effects seven years after the introduction.

“Kukiz’15” And “Korwin”: The Essence Of The Polish Populist Rise And Its Possible Causes

The article analyzes the configuration, ideology, program and electorate of two national-populist parties in Poland — “Kukiz’15” and “KORWiN”, which showed significant results in the 2015 and 2019 elections and thereby demonstrated society has a demand for change. Further, the possible reasons for the populist success are considered in terms of the increase in the amount of demand because of the socioeconomic situation, the problem of migration and the high volatility of the party system. And from the point of view of increasing the quality of the proposal the article deals with the development of communication channels “party — voter”, the use of the Internet in electoral campaigns and adaptation to the policies pursued by the ruling party “Law and Justice” (Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc). The 2015 Polish parliamentary elections were characterized by the successful debut of the right-wing populist and anarchist “Kukiz’15”. Nearly a quarter of her voters in 2015 voted for the left-wing populist “Palikot Movement” in 2011, when it debuted in elections and entered parliament. However, ideologically these are diametrically opposite forces. They are related only by aggressive and irreconcilable discourse and, of course, populism. Thus, the success of these parties did not come so much from the ideologies and programs they proposed, but from the fact that in recent years the Polish voter is consciously ready to choose any non-systemic radical alternative protest force, which is expected to be populists, as opposed to the established party establishment.

Communism and communists towards the intelligentsia in interwar Poland. An outline of the issue

As a section of the Comintern and a de facto Soviet agent, the Communist Workers’ Party of Poland (CWPP), and subsequently the Communist Party of Poland (CPP), aimed to effect a revolt of the masses—a revolution—which would culminate in making the dictatorship of the proletariat a reality. Holding hegemonic power, the Communists would thus be able to carry out Moscow’s imperial plans in the guise of Communist slogans and ideals. In that struggle, the communist party active on the territory of the Second Republic of Poland, as well as all sections of the Comintern, relied primarily on the working masses, on the proletariat, and with time found support among the landless and rural smallholders: groups which were susceptible to the most extreme revolutionary slogans. Or was there a place for another force, namely the intelligentsia? What positions with regard to the latter were adopted by the Bolsheviks in Russia, the principal ideologists of the Soviet mir and, by virtue of the CWPP/CPP’s subordination to Moscow, by the communist parties in Poland? This is precisely what this text is concerned with: the varying, fairly flexible policy of the communists towards the intelligentsia, which nonetheless was always calculated to serve the interests and goals of Moscow. One rather important detail should be noted here. The intelligentsia in question was neither a homogeneous group in terms of its social, political or economic views nor was it a national or religious monolith; on the contrary, it was characterized by numerous dividing lines, which is why applying a uniform yardstick to assess its attitudes towards communism and vice versa would be erroneous. Hence, this study only outlines and critically discusses the chief directions adopted by the communist party in its treatment of the intelligentsia, as well as the selected modalities of the latter’s approach to communism: from negation, through conformist subservience, to total subordination. All the same, it is merely a voice in the scholarly debate that should continue.

Pillarized Networks in a Polarized Civil Society: A Structure of Far-Right Networks in Poland

AbstractThe goal of this exploratory article is to examine the specifics and networks within and between conservative organizations at the local, regional, and national levels in Poland. By investigating these connections in 2016 using social network analysis and interviews, we contribute to a better understanding of the growth and structure of these groups, which created the base for right-wing organizations as well as led to the success of right-wing parties in Poland and vice versa. We expect to find that the majority of far-right organization networks is vertically structured, linking those organizations at the local level with national organizations; those at the top sustain them financially and offer popularity, access to politics, and other opportunities. However, although right-wing organizations care more about the linkages with their national counterparts, we expect to find that those few local organizations that form links with like-minded local organizations emphasize grassroots activities unrelated to participation in political party activities and are less radical and more civil in their behavior and attitudes.

Parliamentary political parties in Poland in the face of the climate change issue in the years 2005–2019 (perspective of social networks)

The aim of the article was to define the attitude of Polish parliamentary political parties towards the issue of climate change in the years 2005–2019. Discourse Network Analysis, used in the study, allowed to identify the most frequently co-occurring concepts expressed by different parties over the past fifteen years, as well as, to present the affiliation networks between the parties. The postulates regarding climate policy proposed by Polish election committees were gradually modified in the analyzed period. The gradual convergence of pro-climate positions of Polish parliamentary parties is visible over time, while the structure of anti-climate positions becoming less coherent. However, there is still a visible difference in the approach to climate protection between the centrist and left-wing parties and those identifying themselves as right-wing.

Partie polityczne w Polsce wobec polityki wschodniej i współpracy polsko-ukraińskiej: uwarunkowania, koncepcje, ewolucja

The study addresses the issue of the positions of political parties in Poland on eastern policy, in particular on Polish-Ukrainian cooperation. Therefore, an attempt was made to answer questions about the historical background of these views, the impact of international and internal situation in Poland and Ukraine. The subject of the analysis was the issues of economic relations, views on the European integration of Ukraine, the relevance of historical issues in the programs and decisions of political parties from the early 1990s to 2023.

Business power against redistribution: The case of watered-down tax reform in Poland

AbstractIn 2021 the ruling party in Poland proposed a reform to reverse the regressivity of the Polish tax system. Although the number of potential beneficiaries significantly exceeded the number of sufferers, the media coverage of the reform was strongly negative. This pushed the government to introduce reform adjustments, all of which benefited the high-income self-employed, increasing the cost of the reform and reducing its redistributive effect. To explain this, we analyze articles on the reform published in the three most opinion-forming newspapers. We demonstrate that the negative media coverage stemmed from successful incorporation of business narratives in the public debate by the business lobbying associations. It was supported by the weakness of workers’ organizations and a low level of citizens’ trust in government.

PARTY DOCUMENTS OF THE LUBLIN VOIVODSHIP PARTY COMMITTEE OF THE PZPR: FEATURES OF STORAGE AND USE

The article describes the creation, activities and composition of documents kept in the voivodship archives of the PZPR party, which became the ruling party in Poland after World War II with the support of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Among them, the historical value of the documents of the religious section of the party committee, which was aimed at combating the activities of the Catholic Church, which at that time received great public authority in Poland, is described. The assessment of the value of documents of the Lublin Voivodship Party Archive, types of confidential documents, measures aimed at preserving state and party secrets are considered. The assessment of the value of documents, types of confidential documents, measures aimed at preserving the state and party secrets of the Lublin Voivodeship Party Archive are considered. At the same time, information is provided on the level of access of researchers to archival documents, the number and composition of researchers who worked in the party archives of voivodships in different periods. The normative organizational base regulating the work of the archives of the party committees of the voivodeship is described. The issue of protection of state and party secrets in the work of voivodeship party committees is considered. It describes the difficulties in the process of transferring party documents to state storage after the PZPP was terminated in 1990 and the facts of the destruction of party documents of historical significance. A comparative analysis of secret documents of special importance with documents of "special folders" stored in the fund of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan of the Archive of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan was carried out.

In the Name of “Endangered Nations” and “Unsovereign States”? Official Discourses of Radical Right Movement Parties and Social Movement Organizations in Poland and Germany

AbstractThe political landscape of the radical right has long been a major discussion point in the political and social sciences. By considering the variety of radical right organizations (movement parties and non-parliamentary organizations) and the particular national and transnational political and discursive opportunity structures, the paper aims at a comparative analysis of the main discursive frames present in political programs and manifestoes of radical right social movement organizations and movement parties in Poland (Konfederacja Wolność i Niepodległość and Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny) and Germany (Alternative für Deutschland and Identitäre Bewegung Deutschland). Moreover, based on approaches developed by Cas Mudde and Jens Rydgren, this article analyses how the features presumed essential to the radical right (nativism, authoritarianism and populism) are reflected and interconnected in the official discourses of the selected radical right organizations.

Przywództwo w nowych partiach politycznych w Polsce i jego znaczenie dla przekroczenia progu reprezentacji oraz instytucjonalizacji partii

LEADERSHIP IN NEW POLITICAL PARTIES IN POLAND AND ITS IMPORTANCE FOR OVERCOMING THE THRESHOLD OF PARTY REPRESENTATION AND FOR PARTY INSTITUTIONALIZATION After the period of relative stabilization of the Polish party system at the parliamentary level in the first decade of the 21st century, changes related to the entry of new parties on the political scene took place in the second one. While in 2007 only four established parties (PO, PiS, SLD and PSL) got seats in the parliament, and the party system at the parliamentary level was described as “concreted”. In subsequent elections of 2011, 2015, 2019, newly created parties managed to overcome the threshold of party representation. What they have in common is that they were founded shortly before the election by recognizable leaders and immediately achieved election success, which they were not able to repeat in subsequent elections, they lost their importance and were replaced by newer parties. The aim of the article is to define what role the leader plays in achieving electoral success of new parties and what is the importance of leadership for the party’s survival and further election success. These issues are considered in the context of changing the organizational model and the concepts of party institutionalization.

US-Polish Relations: Stability of the Euro-Atlantic Community in the Focus of NATO

The issue of stability in the Euro-Atlantic community is related to NATO’s activities and the interaction of European states with the United States. In turn, an important place in the security environment of the European subcontinent is occupied by Poland, due to the geopolitical position of the state (critical influence on the stability in Central and Eastern Europe) and its activities in cooperation with the United States within NATO.
 US cooperation with Poland has some conceptual background and determined by Warsaw’s participation in NATO operations, military and defense cooperation with NATO allies. There is a certain cyclical nature in US-Polish relations, given the political priorities of both countries (priorities of American Presidents’ administrations and activities especially of the Law and Justice (PiS) party in Poland), however, the security sphere is becoming an element of expanding allied relations. In connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, US cooperation with Poland has gained new significance both in the format of strengthening bilateral cooperation and in the regional context.
 In turn, a tendency to change the European architecture of regional security due to the transformation of the Western European security complex in accordance with the theory of B. Buzan is existed, given the military threat from Russia, which determines the strengthening of Poland’s role in NATO, cooperation with the United States in the Euro-Atlantic community.

"They attack the family and order": Right-wing media about feminists and the political consequences of the women's strike in Poland.

The goals of this article are to describe and analyze the main themes in the narratives about feminists that can be found in the populist right-wing press in Poland. Although feminists-alongside LGBT circles, refugees and the left-had been treated as a threat to the existing order before, it was the women's revolt on Polish streets in late autumn 2020 that triggered a series of reports on the women's movement in the right-wing press. In addition to analyzing the content of right-wing weeklies on women's protests, the article also shows how these protests later influenced changes in the political attitudes of young people, social activism and the attitudes of opposition parties in Poland toward cultural and moral issues. The analysis is based on the content analysis of articles published in right-wing weeklies and survey data. The authors conclude that in contemporary Poland the women's movement can contribute to overthrowing not only the rule of the populist right but also the entire conservative order resulting from the post-1989 neoliberal transformation.

Right-wing Nationalist Parties (Narodovtsy) in Poland in the 1990s

The article examines the emergence and activities of right-wing nationalist parties in Poland, which appealed to the traditions of national democracy by R. Dmowski, during the period of post-communist transformation. Their methods of activity, relations between them and with other political forces, participation in election campaigns, as well as their ideas and political demands are shown. The author analyzes the reasons, why in the 1990s these parties failed to take a strong position on the Polish political scene.

W dwadzieścia lat później – uwagi o finansowaniu partii politycznych w Polsce

Financing of parties is an issue that interests and excites many, not only members of specific parties, but also, or perhaps especially, the so-called regular Joes. Emotions may not come as a surprise, as financing parties has provided material for many surprising stories in the past. After 1989, the rules for financing of political parties in Poland were modified several times until they were regulated in the fullest way in 2001, with the introduction of party financing from the state budget. The article takes a closer look at the evolution of the rules on the financing of political parties and analyses the doubts that have arisen during more than 20 years of the current statutory regulation.

A Local Government Party in Poland? Casus of National League Association

The purpose of this paper was to present ideas related to the creation of a self-government party in Poland, bringing together representatives of local authorities, community activists and all those for whom the idea of local self-government built „from the bottom up” was close to their hearts. The idea of creating a local government party appeared several times in discussions of members of Liga Krajowa association, which was an active entity on the political scene, a member of Electoral Action Solidarity of the Right, from the list of which League had its parliamentary representation. These concepts first appeared at the basis of the association's formation and then had a close connection with its further presence on the political scene. The local government party was supposed to be an electoral platform with a specific right-wing and centre-right political orientation, as well as to be the most important support for representatives of local authorities, but all efforts in this regard failed.