Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T21:46:57.343Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Nationalism and political competition in Central Europe: The case of Poland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Peter Vermeersch
Peter Vermeersch*
Affiliation:
University of Leuven, Belgium
*
∗Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

To explain nationalist politics in Poland, researchers and observers have sometimes speculated about the dispositions of the electorate, popular sentiments, public fears for the loss of sovereignty, the people's historically ingrained preference for nationalist rhetoric, and their feelings of discontent about the economy. This article argues that hypotheses about the existence of nationalist sentiments within the electorate have tended to eclipse an important question about the main producers of nationalist rhetoric: Why do certain mainstream parties at certain points in time decide to frame their program as nationalist, even when there is no objective reality that seems conducive to the creation of great public concern about typically nationalist issues? This article explores this question by looking at various campaigns for Polish parliamentary elections since 1997. My argument is that when seeking to explain the motivations behind major campaign turns toward nationalism we should not merely understand them as responses to voter sentiment and voting behavior. Instead, we should see them as crucially driven by the transactional logic of inter-party competition in a party system that is in constant flux.

Keywords

Polandnationalist politicsparty competition
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , January 2013 , pp. 128 - 145
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Avery, William P. 1988. “Political Legitimacy and Crisis in Poland.” Political Science Quarterly 103 (1): 111–130.Google Scholar
Avineri, Shlomo. 2008. “After Communism: Travails of Democratization.” Dissent 55 (3): 16–21.Google Scholar
Bardi, Luciano, and Mair, Peter. 2008. “The Parameters of Party Systems.” Party Politics 14 (2): 147–166.Google Scholar
Berezin, Mabel. 2009. Illiberal Politics in Neoliberal Times: Cultures, Security, and Populism in a New Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Borowik, Irina. 2002. “The Roman Catholic Church in the Process of Democratic Transformation: The Case of Poland.” Social Compass 49 (2): 239–252.Google Scholar
Davies, Norman. 1997. “Polish National Mythologies.” In Myths and Nationhood, edited by Hosking, G. and Schöpflin, G., 141–157. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Derczyński, Włodzimierz. 1998. “Rozmowy o polityce.” Report. Warszawa: CBOS.Google Scholar
Dębska, Agnieszka. 2006. Solidarność 1980-81: A Carnival under Sentence. Warsaw: KARTA Centre, City of Warsaw Museum of History.Google Scholar
Diani, Mario, and McAdam, Doug, eds. 2003. Social Movements and Networks: Relational Approaches to Collective Action. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dudek, Antoni. 2007. Historia polityczna Polski, 1989-2005. Kraków: Arcana.Google Scholar
Emirbayer, Mustafa. 1997. “Manifesto for a Relational Sociology.” American Journal of Sociology 103 (2): 218–317.Google Scholar
Grzymala-Busse, Anna, and Innes, Abby. 2003. “Great Expectations: The EU and Domestic Political Competition in East Central Europe.” East European Politics and Societies 17 (1): 64–73.Google Scholar
Grzymała-Kazłowkska, Aleksandra. 2009. “Clashes of Discourse: The Representations of Immigrants in Poland.” Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies 7 (1): 58–81.Google Scholar
Iglicka, Krystyna, and Wienar, Agnieszka. 2005. Wplyw rozszerzenia Unii Europejskiej na ruchy migracyjne na terenie Polski. Warszawa: Centrum Stosunków Międzynarodowych. http://www.csm.org.pl.Google Scholar
Jackson, John E., Mach, Bogdan W., and Miller-Gonzales, Jeniffer L. 2011. “Buying Support and Regime Change: The Evolution of Polish Attitudes towards the EU and Voting between Accession and 2008.” European Union Politics 12 (2): 147–167.Google Scholar
Jasiewicz, Krzysztof. 2009. “'The Past Is Never Dead': Identity, Class, and Voting Behavior in Contemporary Poland.” East European Politics and Societies 23 (4): 491–508.Google Scholar
Jasiewicz, Krzysztof, and Jasiewicz-Betkiewicz, Agnieszka. 2003. “Poland.” European Journal of Political Research 42 (7-8): 1052–1057.Google Scholar
Jasiewicz, Krzysztof, and Jasiewicz-Betkiewicz, Agnieszka. 2004. “Poland.” European Journal of Political Research 43 (7-8): 1106–1115.Google Scholar
Jasiewicz, Krzysztof, and Jasiewicz-Betkiewicz, Agnieszka. 2006. “Poland.” European Journal of Political Research 45 (7-8): 1231–1246.Google Scholar
Jasiewicz, Krzysztof, and Jasiewicz-Betkiewicz, Agnieszka. 2007. “Poland.” European Journal of Political Research 46 (7-8): 1063–1074.Google Scholar
Kochanowicz, Jacek. 2007. “Right Turn: Polish Politics at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century.” Eurozine 14 (September). http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-09-14-kochanowicz-en.html.Google Scholar
Krastev, Ivan. 2007. “Sleepless in Szczecin: What's the Matter with Poland?” Open Democracy, 19 October 3-4. http://www.opendemocracy.net.Google Scholar
Laver, Michael, and Benoit, Kenneth. 2003. “The Evolution of Party Systems between Elections.” American Journal of Political Science 47 (2): 215–233.Google Scholar
Lewandowski, Jerzy. 1982. Naród w nauczaniu kardynala Stefana Wyszyńskiego. Warszawa: Ośrodek Dokumentacji i Studiów Spolecznych.Google Scholar
Łodziński, Sławomir. 2005. Równość i różnica. Mniejszości narodowe w porządku demokratycznym w Polsce po 1989 roku. Warszawa: Scholar.Google Scholar
Mair, Peter. 1998. Party System Change: Approaches and Interpretations. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Markowski, Radosław. 2006. “The Polish Elections of 2005: Pure Chaos or a Restructuring of the Party System?” West-European Politics 29 (4): 814–832.Google Scholar
Michnik, Adam. 1993. The Church and the Left. Edited, translated, and with an introduction by David Ost. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Millard, Frances. 1996. “The Failure of Nationalism in Post-Communist Poland.” In Nation and Identity in Contemporary Europe, edited by Jenkins, B. and Sofos, S.A., 201–221. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Millard, Frances. 1999. Polish Politics and Society. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Norris, Pipa. 2005. Radical Right: Voters and Parties in the Electoral Market. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Osa, Maryjane. 1997. “Creating Solidarity: The Religious Foundation of the Polish Social Movement.” East European Politics and Societies 11 (2): 339–365.Google Scholar
Ost, David. 2006. The Defeat of Solidarity: Anger and Politics in Postcommunist Europe. Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Paczkowski, Andrzej. 2003. The Spring Will Be Ours: Poland and the Poles from Occupation to Freedom. Translated by Jane Cave. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Pankowski, Krzysztof. 2005. “Jakiej partii polacy potrzebuj.” Report. Warszawa: CBOS.Google Scholar
Piasecki, Andrzej Konrad. 2012. Wybory w Polsce: 1989-2011. Kraków: Arcana.Google Scholar
PiS (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość) 2005. Program 2005. http://www.pis.org.pl/dokumenty.php.Google Scholar
PiS (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość). 2011. Nowoczesna, Solidarna, Bezpieczna Polska. http://www.pis.org.pl/dokumenty.php.Google Scholar
Porter, Brian. 2005. “Hetmanka and Mother: Representing the Virgin Mary in Modern Poland.” Contemporary European History 14 (2): 151–170.Google Scholar
Rupnik, Jacques. 2007. “From Democracy Fatigue to Populist Backlash.” Journal of Democracy 18 (4): 17–25.Google Scholar
Rydgren, Jens. 2004. The Populist Challenge: Political Protest and Ethno-nationalist Mobilization in France. New York: Berghahn.Google Scholar
Sanford, George. 2002. Democratic Government in Poland: Constitutional Politics since 1989. Basingstoke: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Sartori, Giovanni. 1976. Parties and Party Systems: A Framework for Analysis. Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Skłodowska, Inka, and Dołbakowska, Magdalena, eds. 2004. Wybory 1997. Partie i ich programy. Warszawa: Instytut Studiów Politycznych Polskiej Akademii Nauk.Google Scholar
Szczerbiak, Aleks. 2001. Poles Together? The Emergence and Development of Political Parties in Post-Communist Poland. Budapest: Central European University Press.Google Scholar
Szczerbiak, Aleks. 2008. “The Birth of a Bipolar Party System or a Referendum on a Polarizing Government? The October 2007 Polish Parliamentary Election.” Journal of Communist Studies & Transition Politics 24 (3): 415–443.Google Scholar
Tilly, Charles. 1998. “Social Movements and (All Sorts of) Other Political Interactions - Local, National, and International - Including Identities.” Theory and Society 27: 453–480.Google Scholar
Torańska, Teresa. 2006. Byli. Warszawa: Świat Książki.Google Scholar
Vermeersch, Peter. 2008. “Poland: Minority Rights in a Homogenized State.” In Minority Rights in Central and Eastern Europe: Success or Failure of EU Conditionality, edited by Rechel, B., 166–179. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Vermeersch, Peter. 2010. “Contesting Europe: Strategies and Legacies in Polish Political Competition.” Europe-Asia Studies 62 (3): 503–522.Google Scholar
Walaszek, Zdzislawa. 1986. “An Open Issue of Legitimacy: The State and the Church in Poland.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 483 (Jan.): 118–134.Google Scholar
White, Harrison C. 2008. Identity and Control: How Social Formations Emerge. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Zubrzycki, Geneviève. 2006. The Crosses of Auschwitz: Nationalism and Religion in Poland. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar