International studies, Vol. IX No. 4, 2009.
Original scientific paper
'Law Request Justice'. Populism in Poland
Tihomir Cipek
orcid.org/0000-0002-3253-7326
; Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The texts analyses the relation between populism and democracy on the background of the Polish politics. The focus is on the analyses of the politics and ideology of Polish Populist party 'Law and Justice', especially in the relation to the party's idea of moral revolution. The party's political positioning in the Polish politics is presented by the analyses of the ideological clashes in the Polish society, especially with, respect to the results of the last parliamentary elections. 'Law and Justice' is the advocate of the radical lustration, the traditional Catholicism and the family, the Euro-scepticism, as well scepticism towards the German and the Russian contemporary foreign politics. The main principle of the party's politics is the claim for the preservation of the Polish national identity. However, the text shows that populism is not an exclusive phenomenon of the transition politics, since it grows simultaneously with the democratic consolidation process. It grows from the internal discrepancy of democratic political system called a paradox of democratic legitimacy - which originates from the tension between liberal constitutionalism and democratic 'will of the people' principle. Neglecting the liberal principles by the parallel insisting on the 'will of the people', populism contests stability of liberal-democratic political system. However, populism goes side by side with democracy. Hence the only way to reconcile populism and democracy is to maintain the balance between liberal and democratic constituents of democratic political system.
Keywords
populism; democracy; Polish politics; Political Parties; 'Law and Justice'
Hrčak ID:
291405
URI
Publication date:
17.12.2009.
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