<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>This article investigates the rise of populism in Poland, applying an interdisciplinary method, with political, social, and economic factors as the compound reason for the turn from liberalism towards populism. The methodology of the study is the exploratory analysis of research, historical materials on Poland's transition to capitalism, and calculation of the selected empirical data of household incomes, linked to election results, in the regional cross-section. The household economic condition was validated by a report on deprivation and the presented growth of households’ disposable income, exposing regional differences between the selected voivodeships. The populist party Law and Justice (PiS) won the two last elections, with the majority of votes in low-income regions, which proved the hypothesis that economic inequality, amplified by globalisation and transition disparities were the main reasons for populism's prevalence. The democratic backsliding has not changed party-political scenery for very long, which revealed that for the majority of Polish voters, economic upgrading counted more, despite the violation of democracy. Therefore, the advance of knowledge about measures to reduce the in-country socioeconomic disparities between regions has become more important.</p>
</abstract>

This article investigates the rise of populism in Poland, applying an interdisciplinary method, with political, social, and economic factors as the compound reason for the turn from liberalism towards populism. The methodology of the study is the exploratory analysis of research, historical materials on Poland's transition to capitalism, and calculation of the selected empirical data of household incomes, linked to election results, in the regional cross-section. The household economic condition was validated by a report on deprivation and the presented growth of households’ disposable income, exposing regional differences between the selected voivodeships. The populist party Law and Justice (PiS) won the two last elections, with the majority of votes in low-income regions, which proved the hypothesis that economic inequality, amplified by globalisation and transition disparities were the main reasons for populism's prevalence. The democratic backsliding has not changed party-political scenery for very long, which revealed that for the majority of Polish voters, economic upgrading counted more, despite the violation of democracy. Therefore, the advance of knowledge about measures to reduce the in-country socioeconomic disparities between regions has become more important.

The Unpredicted Rise of Populism: The Case of Poland

Central European Economic Journal

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"The Unpredicted Rise of Populism: The Case of Poland"}

This article investigates the rise of populism in Poland, applying an interdisciplinary method, with political, social, and economic factors as the compound...

Candidates	Podkarpackie	Lubelskie	Swietokrzyskie	Podlaskie	Malopolskie	Łódzkie	Mazowieckie
Andrzej Duda	70.9	66.3	64.4	60.1	59.6	54.5	47.7
Rafał Trzaskowski	29.3	33.7	35.6	39.9	40.4	45.5	52.3

Disposable income	Podkarpackie	Lubelskie	Swietokrzyskie	Podlaskie	Malopolskie	Mazowieckie	Poland
2010 in zloty	866	930	997	1067	1069	1539	1147
2010–2015 % increase	19	26	17	13	19	10	17
2015–2019 % increase	39	28	35	41	37	20	32

The Unpredicted Rise of Populism: The Case of Poland

Published Online: Oct 21, 2023

Page range: 304 - 322

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ceej-2023-0018

Keywords
globalisation, inequality, populism, democracy

© 2023 Danuta A. Tomczak, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Voting results in the presidential election in selected voivodeships in 2020 (in percentage of votes)

Family disposable net income per person per month in selected voivodeships (family budgets data, BGD) 2010, 2010–2015 and 2015–2019 (in PLN, % increase)

The Unpredicted Rise of Populism: The Case of Poland

Published Online: Oct 21, 2023

Page range: 304 - 322

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ceej-2023-0018

Keywordsglobalisation, inequality, populism, democracy

© 2023 Danuta A. Tomczak, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Voting results in the presidential election in selected voivodeships in 2020 (in percentage of votes)

Family disposable net income per person per month in selected voivodeships (family budgets data, BGD) 2010, 2010–2015 and 2015–2019 (in PLN, % increase)

Keywords
globalisation, inequality, populism, democracy