Topic: 2025 – Authoritarianism and Democracy
Country: Poland
Delegate Name: Elouise Kampfschulte-Geary
Committee: Special Political and Decolonization Committee (SpecPol)
Topic: 2025-Authoritarianism and Democracy
Country: Poland
Delegate name: Elouise Kampfschulte-Geary
School: City High Middle School
Poland struggled under authoritarian rule for decades after the Soviet invasion and previous Nazi invasion during World War 2, and was a satellite state under the Soviet Union up until its collapse, influencing its government for decades to come. Past policies have enforced laws and regulations that were perceived as authoritarian by other countries, governments, and Polish people, but recent elections have moved to amend these policies and let democracy grow in Poland as they move forward. Before the 2023 Polish election, Poland was governed by the authoritarian-nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, and was deemed a “backsliding democracy”. PiS censored the media and used it to spread party propaganda, and used the power of the state to make it extremely difficult for the Polish people to vote against the party in future elections. In 2023, the left-centrist leader, former European Union president and founder of the Civic Coalition (KO) party Donald Tusk swept the popular vote by 73%,defied the PiS rule, and was inaugurated as Prime Minister. Following Tusk’s election, he promised many things such as restoring the rule of law and holding PiS accountable for the damage it’d done to Poland’s democracy, legalizing and making abortion accessible, and reforming public media but delivered on very few of these promises. In 2025, backed by the PiS party Karol Nawrocki won the presidential election, and significantly weakened the Tusk government and democratic reformation in Poland. Some people have questioned the legitimacy of this election, and suggested that the president-elect shouldn’t have been inaugurated. Poland continues to struggle with authoritarianism and the attack on their democracy, and although PM Tusk wants to end it, President Nawrocki continues it.
The Tusk government attempted to depoliticize Poland’s judicial system and reclaim control over its Supreme Court, and has implemented policies that keep government officials and judges from being fired for speaking out against legislation or complying with other European courts such as the ECtHR and ECJ. After the election of Poland’s current president, many of these legislative movements have been vetoed. Many have described the current government in Poland as heavily modeled after the current United States government, being extremely right leaning and having nationalist ideas. While Tusk aimed to give judges and government officials freedom to speak out, Nawrocki aims to keep any judges who question the power of other judges nominated by the PiS party out of the Supreme Court. Poland harbors an ongoing Rule-of-Law crisis even when the KO party promised to roll back on the KRS (National Council of Judiciary) so that its members were nominated by judges and not parliament, but more than 35% of Poles believe the crisis has gotten worse compared to the 24% who believe it’s improved.
Poland is a notoriously Catholic country, which is a key factor in some ruling strategies of the PiS. Often when people protest legislation, like the effective ban on abortion, government officials will use the Catholic Church as leverage against the protesters. Former Prime Minister and co-founder of the PiS party Jaroslaw Kaczinski encouraged his supporters to defend Catholic Churches from protesters and people who opposed the ruling on abortion, causing division and polarization among the Polish people. The separation of church and state is not policy in Poland, the relationship is defined as “separate but cooperative” in the Polish constitution, which alone has significant influence from the Catholic Church. Article 25 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland says church and state are separate, while also emphasizing mutual independence and religious freedom, but the church is still deeply involved in politics and is used by authoritarian-nationalist officials.
To preserve Poland’s democracy and to further move away from an authoritarian government, the main issue is the power Parliament has over the Supreme Court and who is elected into it. If Poland continues to reform the KRS, many of the issues regarding legislation that restricts public media, autonomy, and personal freedom will be decimated. Poland needs to continue to support the pro-democracy coalition fracture so that corrupt government officials can be held accountable, and the damage done by them can be repaired. Poland will continue to push for the end of the long-reigning nationalist, far-right, authoritarian rule that has kept democracy from thriving.
