On Monday, December 5, 2022, Columbia University’s East Central European Center with its Harriman Institute sponsored two lectures on: Central European Populism: Citizen Demand for Democratic Backsliding? Both lectures reported the findings of the authors’ public opinion surveys on the attitudes of Poles toward liberal democracy versus majoritarian democracy. These lectures of high contemporary importance for Poland’s bi-lateral relationship with the United States were delivered by Tsveta Petrova, Lecturer in Political Science at Columbia University, and by Natasha Wunsch, Assistant Professor of Political Science and European Integration at the Paris Institute of Political Studies.
Over the past several years, some members of Congress have asserted that Poland has been “backsliding” on democracy after the Law and Justice Party won a majority in the National Assembly with Mateusz Morawiecki as Prime Minister. Is this true? The answer depends on the preference for majoritarian democracy, which almost all Poles support, versus liberal democracy. The latter, as most Poles agree, wrongfully protects communist appointed judges from removal and gives mass media license to distort Polish history.
Members of Congress receive their information and opinions on contemporary Poland from their staffers, who listen to lectures on this subject delivered at top American universities. Most of the recent academic events on contemporary Polish politics assert that Poland is “backsliding” on democracy, without noting the tension between majoritarian democracy and liberal democracy. This negative view is especially harmful in the present context marked by the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine which may spill over into Poland. Americans may ask if Poland is living up to her democratic commitments as a NATO ally. Poland certainly is doing so based on a majoritarian view of democracy which is the preference of almost all Poles.
Both Wunsch and Petrova divided their lectures into five parts: overview, theory, research design, findings, and conclusion. Wunsch never mentioned the word communism in her lecture; Petrova mentioned communism only once as an element that marks the present Polish political context. Both agreed that the findings of their research based on public opinion surveys show: “lack of consolidation around liberal democratic norms.” That is most Poles prefer a majoritarian view of democracy, and see no reason why, for example, communist appointed judges, who refuse to assign responsibility for misuse of European Union funds by those who played key roles in appointing them to the bench should continue to be magistrates. Moreover, a majority of Poles surveyed by the authors registered their dislike for the mass media in Poland, which is largely owned by German companies, and presents tendentious views on the history of Poland and the Poles during World War II. The Discovery Channel, which is owned by a company with headquarters in the United States also broadcasts similar distortions.
Four questions from auditors, all students, asked the authors to give more information on their research methods. This writer asked Professor Wunsch the fifth and final question that led to an animated exchange of views: is it fair to consider “backsliding” on liberal democracy as lustration, the effort to remove former communists/transformed communists from positions of influence in Polish society. Pease read below this writer’s article which describes Prime Minister Morawiecki’s speech at New York University Law School in the spring of 2019 in which he announced POLAND’S SECOND SOLIDARITY REVOLUTION. Also see below Polish American Congress President Francis J. Spula’s OPEN LETTER TO THE FRIENDS OF POLAND which supports POLAND’S SECOND SOLIDARITY REVOLUTION.
Professor Wunsch answered that she is preparing a monograph which will be published in the Summer of 2023 that shows how Conservative and Christian Democrat Polish leaders are using lustration as a way to justify their backsliding on liberal democracy. Professor Petrova observed that Polish citizens were not consulted on the transformation of communism in Poland in which continuity in personnel strongly outweighed change and that popular support for lustration may be seen as the reason why most Poles prefer a majoritarian view of democracy.
It is important for members of the Polish American Congress to participate in academic events and express in their questions and comments the positions of the Polish American Congress. POLAND’S SECOND SOLIDARITY REVOLUTION never would have been considered at the December 5 lectures if this writer had not mentioned it as an alternative explanation for contemporary Polish policy that too many uncritically call: “Backsliding on Democracy”.
by John D.A. Czop