Undoing Legal Authoritarianism in Poland and Elsewhere

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

In late 2023 in Poland, after eight years of government by the Law and Justice Party, marked by far-right politics aimed at undoing post-1989 liberal governance, an opposition coalition made up of liberals, social democrats, and moderate conservatives won a clear electoral victory. This panel looks at the difficulties, challenges, successes, and failures in the new government’s efforts to undo the authoritarian tendencies of PiS rule. Legally, PiS had set political “minefields” throughout key institutions aimed at maintaining power even if/when they lost power. Culturally, it openly promoted bigotry in public media and supported ultra-nationalist civil society institutions with large state subsidies. It took an isolationist stance in international politics, deriding cooperation with the European Union as “surrender to Germany.” This round-table explores the new coalition government’s responses to these challenges. We look at its efforts to break PiS’s legal stranglehold on state institutions, reverse the cultural domination of the far right, counter PiS’s state-sponsored homophobia, and reshape foreign policy. We examine the apparent contradictions of restoring rule of law by flouting laws introduced by PiS. Finally, we consider to what extent the new government’s efforts might constitute a test case in undoing legal authoritarianism in general, crucially important in a world where “right-wing populists” aim at imitating PiS-style politics in their own countries, including in the United States. We organize this as a round-table in order to enable speakers to take into account late-breaking events. Things change very fast.

Sub Unit

• Politics/Law

Chair

• Mieke Meurs, American U

Roundtable Members

• Agnieszka Kubal, U College London (UK)

• Jan Kubik, Rutgers, The State U of New Jersey / U College London (UK)

• Richard Mole, U College London (UK)

• David Ost, Hobart & William Smith Colleges

• Kim Lane Scheppele, Princeton U