Democratic Backsliding and Resistance: Poland’s Civil Society, Electoral Strategies, and Institutional Levers
About this episode
The episode discusses the challenges and successes of Poland's opposition coalition in the context of democratic backsliding and civil society efforts.
This week on Democracy Dialogues, Frances Cayton speaks with four experts on Polish politics about the success of Poland’s opposition coalition in 2023, and the headwinds that democracy continues to face today. What challenges do parties and civil society face in building pro-democracy electoral coalitions? If victorious, how do these challenges affect post-election governance and efforts at pursuing democratic renewal? This episode brings together politicians, political scientists, and civil society leaders who each played a critical role in the 2023 elections to examine what made Poland’s pro-democracy mobilization possible, the gains the 2023 coalition has achieved since entering power, and the challenges it continues to face in pursuing democratic renewal.This episode was originally recorded as a part of the Lessons from Global Democratic Resistance panel series. The series brings together frontline activists, civic leaders, institutional actors, and field‑informed scholars to examine how democratic actors have resisted, responded to, and learned from democratic backsliding across countries. The series aims to identify practical lessons and comparative insights for those…
People in this episode
Host: Frances Cayton
Topics covered
- democratic backsliding
- Poland politics
- civil society
- electoral strategies
- pro-democracy movements
- post-election governance
Keywords
- democracy
- Poland
- opposition coalition
- civil society
- electoral challenges
- democratic renewal
- political science
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Perry World House, Kellogg Institute for International Studies, Democratic Futures Project
Places: Poland
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