The Rise of Illiberal Democracy in Post-Communist Poland

บทคัดย่อ

Recent developments on Polish politics indicate the illiberal characteristics of the democratic regime in Poland. In this article, Polish illiberal democracy is examined to explain how and why liberal-originated political system has become illiberal or brought about illiberal outcome in post-communist Poland. The author argues that this is because Polish society has lacked of internalization of liberalism as fundamental emancipative values. This lack has been resulted from the legacy of communist era, in which the ruling party’s policies on social control and nation-building deteriorated social groups and group politics, including inclusive common identification. Also, the post-communist governments’ policies of shock and hollow Westernization have caused socio-economic grievance and, thus, poor reputation of liberalism among lower-class populations. In addition, the non-economic narratives, used by elites to explain such grievance, have emphasized exclusionary discourses in Polish society and obstructed the process of internalization as well.