Poland: The Impact of Political Stability on the Political Participation (OLD)
In my previous blog, I talked about how the political participation of the Polish citizens had an impact on the level of democracy. However, it can also be looked at the other way around: How does the political instability in Poland affect the political participation of citizens.
What are the reasons for this political instability?
I found that this political instability can be seen in the elections of 2015, when the Law and Justice party became the first single-party government after the fall of the communist regime in 1989. First of all, it was very unusual that the previous government was voted out of office, since they brought positive economic results forth. In addition, the elected party was considered to be national-conservative, very Eurosceptic and brought the public media and the Constitutional Tribunal under the control of the government.
Now let me tell you, the political instability in Poland did not just occur after the elections in 2015 but have existed since the communist regime took over control after the end of World War II. This permanent instability is caused by the legitimacy crisis. The degree of government legitimacy determines the citizens’ support for politics, which is based on similarity of norms and values of the citizens and government. In Poland, this discrepancy between the norms and values led to a legitimacy crisis which the government faces.
How does this political instability influence political participation?
As I explained in the previous paragraph, citizens’ support is based on their norms and values. These norms and values, along with other factors such as habits, history and culture, are factors that determine the political action. When these factors are in discrepancy with the norms and values of the Polish government, citizens are less likely to participate in politics. I found that when the norms and values of citizens are so deeply rooted in religion, that only the church could motivate them to participate in the political debate.
Furthermore, the fragmented party system of Poland was caused by the legitimacy crisis. This fragmentation caused confusion of the Polish voters. In addition, as I discussed in my previous blog, the low belief in the political system also caused widespread cynicism among Polish citizens. These factors resulted in a low degree of voter turn-out during the elections.
In addition, I found that the weakness and instability of the Polish government caused social fractures. Moreover, the economic reforms of the government resulted in the polarization, social fractures and divisions among Polish citizens. This break of the middle class, who were the most political active, resulted in a decline in voter turn-out.
Moreover, as I discussed in this blog and my colleague discussed in her blog, the low participation rates are the result of restriction of free public media and the restriction of free speech. Therefore, as my colleague states, there is no environment to improve the political literacy for Polish citizens.
Therefore, I can conclude that the low political literacy due to the restrictions of the government, the legitimacy crisis of the political party-system and the widespread cynicism, which are all aspects of political instability, had a negative impact on the political participation of Polish citizens.
Hi Rozemarijn! 😁
I really enjoyed reading your posts and the fact that you adopted this double perspective. The topic especially relevant nowadays, also considering the threat Poland is posing on EU jurisdiction. It looks like he government has been fueling the separation with its people. Do you think there could be a solution to this? Do you think the government is actually taking into account Polish population’s wishes and needs?
Hi Anna! Thank you for your interesting question!
Unfortunately, as is indeed perceived by the recent events in Poland, it is not likely that the government will consider the wishes and needs of the Polish citizens. As I also discussed in my other blog, the government that was formed after the fall of the communist regime has a top-down structure, which entails that there is a very elitist party-system. For example, it is perceived that only young people who have high levels of resources will participate in the political debate and therefore, it seems like the elitist character of the Polish government will persevere.
Regarding your question about possible solutions, the encouragement Polish citizens to vote and the development of this political participation could, in my opinion, be stimulated by economic growth and especially the more equal division of income. This is based on the fact that especially the lower incomes and middle class, that is now socially fractured because of economic inequality, refrain from participation in elections.
However, this should be further analyzed to examine how and which policies could make this happen.
I hope this answers your question!
Hi Rozemarijn, thank you for your reply! I hadn’t thought about the top-down structure of the government in the first place, but now I see that it makes more sense if linked to the development of political participation indeed.
Also, very interesting perspective on the solutions, thank you for sharing your opinion 🙂
Hello, I really enjoyed your “double approach” to the problem, so analyzing it in both ways in your posts. The issues you highlighted are extremely relevant nowadays, also because of the threat Poland is posing to the EU; especially following the latest Polish Court decision to give primacy of the Polish law over the EU one. Do you think that this situation was reached (also) due to crisis of political participation in the country? And do you think religion and its important role in polish people’s lives played a role if we analyze the political and social situation of Poland, where there is still a big fight for social right that should be guaranteed by the EU?
Thank you for your question!
A greater political participation leads to more influence on the government. So to a certain extent, I do think that this situation could have been diminished a little. However, there are a lot of other factors that influenced the decision of the Polish Court to give primacy of the Polish national law over EU law. As I mentioned in my previous blog, the Polish party-system is very elitist and the fact that there is a very conservative nationalist party in office will definitely create other aspects to this decision. Furthermore, regarding your question about the importance of religion in the lives of Polish citizens, I think religion certainly played a part in this. As I also mentioned in my previous blog, the religion is deeply rooted in the lifestyle of Polish citizens. Therefore, it was perceived that only the state could motivate citizens to participate in politics.
I hope this answered your question!
Hi! I really liked your blogpost 🙂 Your post really helped me to better understand the political climate in Poland and the people’s displeasure with politics in this regard. I think you explained the complicated topic in a very understandable and clear way. Given the current situation, I wonder what influence Corona had on the political mood in the country. Would you say that the Polish government’s handling of Corona has once again increased the people’s distrust of politics?
Thank you for your question!
I did a little research for you, since I did not include this in my blog. The covid-19 situation was largely dominated by the postponement of the Polish elections and along with that, a polarising campaign. However, since the election campaign was very polarising, approval of the government was dependent on how they were handling the covid-19 crisis. Furthermore, the low trust in government institutions got even lower at this point. So overall, I would say that you are correct and it did increase the people’s distrust in politics.