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Book Discussion: Good Change: The Rise and Fall of Poland's Illiberal Revolution, by Stanley Bill and Ben Stanley

Fri, November 21, 3:30 to 5:15pm EST (3:30 to 5:15pm EST), -

Session Submission Type: Book Discussion Roundtable

Brief Description

The book to be discussed at this roundtable examines the rise and fall of democratic illiberalism in Poland under the populist Law and Justice (PiS)-led government of 2015–2023. It explains why a large part of the electorate welcomed PiS’s “Good Change” — as the party described its program — despite accusations of democratic backsliding and autocratization, and why it subsequently lost power. It presents Poland as a case study for understanding the global tension between liberal and illiberal conceptions of democracy. The party’s success from 2015 is explained through its ability to offer voters a “left-right” combination of economic redistributionism and cultural traditionalism, supplemented with narratives of bolstering Poland’s national prestige and sovereignty. It shows how this agenda reflects or prefigures wider shifts in central cleavages of democratic politics. Finally, the book analyzes the causes of PiS’s defeat in the October 2023 elections, and the initial challenges faced by the “democratic coalition” that replaced it in power. It presents Poland as a bellwether for broader changes to established orthodoxies around the economics of globalization, the role of the state, national sovereignty, the boundaries of politics, and cultural values.

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