Liberal Centrism Won’t Stop Poland’s Descent Into Authoritarianism
For decades, Poland was held up as a successful example of transition to liberal democracy. But faced with the country’s slide into right-wing authoritarianism, the pitfalls of centrist politics are plain to see.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Law and Justice ruling party, giving a speech during a final convention of elections campaign in Krakow, Poland, on October 11, 2023. (Beata Zawrzel / NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Since Poland’s Law and Justice party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS) came to power in 2015, civil liberties and democratic standards have suffered a catastrophic decline. Key state institutions, including the constitutional court, part of the judiciary, civil service, and public media, have been purged and packed with subservient political appointees. A near-total abortion ban has tragically resulted in deaths of numerous women, while others suspected of performing abortions are being targeted by the police.
With the introduction of so-called LGBT-free zones, Law and Justice has fueled discrimination and hatred against the Polish LGBTQ community, leading to real tragedies. Under the leadership of Jarosław Kaczyński, Law and Justice consistently pursues its agenda of transforming the country into a hard-right, ultraconservative oligarchy. How did Poland reach this dramatic point?
Jarosław Kuisz seeks to answer this question in his newest book, The New Politics of Poland. Clearly tailored for an international audience, his account revisits the principal events in recent Polish politics to explain the continued public support for what he calls Poland’s “populist turn.” Kuisz interprets Law and Justice’s rise to power as part of the “global wave of illiberal populism” that swept through world politics in 2015 and 2016, from the Brexit vote to the election of Donald Trump.
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