Is it possible to defeat right-wing populist authorities by winning elections? The erosion of democracy and the system of the triple-masters class in Poland

Abstract

The article poses an extremely important question of whether it is possible to remove authoritarian authorities using the methods of parliamentary democracy in a situation where the government has weakened or dismantled democratic mechanisms and institutions. The article treats the rule of right-wing populists as a comprehensive ruling system of the triple-masters class (identified with the apparatus of the ruling party), who fully controls the political, cultural, and economic spheres. The nationalist cultural and ideological superstructure legitimizes the rule of right-wing populists, but it is only a means to build the economic hegemony of the triple-masters class and strengthen their political power. Based on the material gathered during focus group interviews with opposition party activists, the article outlines the main problems faced by the opposition in the state of the triple-masters class.

Wall-building policy: nationalist space management and borderphobia as right-wing populists' tools for doing authoritarian politics

“…However, this political strategy proved to be completely ineffective in the case of elections in Poland. Although the PiS government used various tricks to maintain power and, as opposition activists expected, the election campaign was unfair ( Żuk and Pacześniak, 2022), the propaganda based on borderphobia and hatred toward refugees turned out to be ineffective. As the article shows, the referendum (the main goal of which was to mobilize government supporters by using the mechanisms of borderphobia) was invalid as it was boycotted by the majority of society.…”

“They attack the family and order”: Right-wing media about feminists and the political consequences of the women's strike in Poland

“…Whether the women's issue will help to remove the right-wing populists from power in Poland will be revealed in the autumn of 2023. Certainly, however, the activists of the opposition parties noticed the importance of grassroots protest movements under the conditions of the progressive erosion of democratic principles (Żuk and Pacześniak, 2022 ). Social movements can transform existing political parties and their programs, establish new political parties and create new hybrid political organizations that have the characteristics of a social movement and parties that contest the entire existing political system (Hutter et al, 2019 ).…”