Democratic backsliding against a rising wave of support for democracy? Explaining trends in attitudes toward democracy in Poland (1995-2021)

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2356321
AutoresIreneusz Sadowski (0000-0003-1811-9619, Institute of Political Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland, autor correspondente)
Ano2024
Volume39
Fascículo6
Páginas698-720
Data de publicação2024-11-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoInternational Sociology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0268-5809 • E-ISSN: 1461-7242
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/02685809241284284
OpenAlexW4403202550
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas5
Referências citadas49

The analysis presented in this article tries to address a puzzle - the widely recognized process of democratic backsliding in Poland was accompanied by a steady increase in popular support for democracy. It poses a question if the two phenomena are substantively related. To establish possible connections between them, I test three hypotheses involving populist winner effect, deepening of socio-political cleavage, and generational change. The first one assumes that democracy is more supported by populists when they form a government; the second one - to the contrary - states that populist polarization creates a wider gap in support for democracy, while the third one proposes that the relation is spurious, as trends in attitudes represent a gradual, long-term social change, at least in part related to generational replacement. Results show that the direct link between populist democratic backsliding and pro-democracy surge is relatively weak, while both processes can be related to a deeper sociological process of 'splintering' within Polish society

Democracy · Development economics · Economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Populism, Right-Wing Movements