Search

The article discusses populism in Poland. The major political parties are the Law and Justice Party, Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland, League of Polish Families Party, Civic Platform, Polish Peasant Party, and Democratic Left Alliance/Left and Democrats. The different ideologies, the parliamentary-election campaigns, and decommunization are mentioned. The doctrines influencing Polish politics such as pro-market, anti-market, particularistic, and universalistic ideals are discussed in relation to the liberal-democratic, conservative or Christian-democratic, socialist or social-democratic, and populist movements. Statistics are given for six political parties in the parliamentary elections in 2001, 2005, and 2007.

The article focuses on the voting pattern of the European Union (EU) accession referendum in Poland. Poland's quest for the membership of EU had enjoyed wide support since the demise of the Soviet Union in 1989. Throughout the 1990s, Polish political elites and all the major political parties, from the post-communist Alliance of the Democratic Left to the centrist Freedom Union and the Electoral Action Solidarity on the right, shared a consensus in favor of quick accession to European and Atlantic structures. After the 2001 elections in Poland, the Euro-skeptical forces recorded significant gains.