In media deliberations, but besides at many tables in Polish homes, the question of whether the winning coalition in the parliamentary elections will cope with the agenda after the outgoing government.
Will it be possible to stitch up the torn political and economical links so as to reconstruct their functionality in accordance with the rules of law and the free market? And at the same time, keep the social functions of the state and do business in creating their own solutions, without blind imitation of Western designs.
To avoid many mistakes, a reliable diagnosis of the state of affairs is needed at the beginning. Various reports on the budgetary situation, about the collapse of education and about the atrophy of command of the Polish army should be presented now. This last unveiling threatens with another shock of the Polish army, but there will be no another option if the fresh Minister of Defence is to clean up this “stand of Augiah”.
A national debate is needed on the improvement prospects, improvement priorities and costs of the "organising" process. It will besides be useful to analyse the state of public awareness and the determination of people to defend their rights. All points to the fact that Poles reject populist xenophobia and reactionary natyvism do not accept uncritically following liberalism. The demolition of native culture (although higher education) resulting from blind copying of abroad designs under the ‘eye’ The West can yet lead to a sense of resentiveness and conflict.
"Experimentation" of the Law and Justice with democracy and the regulation of law led to the failure of the top asset of the Polish state in the image sphere. Poland was set as a model in the democratic and economical transformations, while it fell to the rank of autocracy, obsessively suspicious of its neighbours, quarreled with the European Union and isolated in the world. And besides unpredictable.
What kind of repair?
Repairing this image must not mean a non-reflective return to the "cursing" before the Liberal West, due to the fact that it is simply a simple way to recidivism anti-democracy. The fresh (old) prime minister should not go back unconditionally to a "loyal" attitude for the price of unlocking EU funds, as Brussels bureaucrats are only waiting for this. They will again deny Poland their right to vote. And yet this voice can be more rational and assertive. Hungary does not should be a negative example in this regard. The sooner government bodies propose alternatives and first solutions, the more they will get public support and friendly attention from the outside.
The building government coalition must realise the sources of the anti-liberal retreat of Poland in the last 8 years. This was, as has been repeatedly pointed out, a reaction to replacing communist orthodoxy with liberal orthodoxy. In many regions, opposition to the West's hegemonisation of the world, and especially by the United States, has arisen. advancement in globalisation and integration has started to importantly limit the area of identity freedoms. Without knowing the phenomenon of mobilization of national and spiritual identities against all forms of codification, no return of Poland to the West will succeed.
In Poland there are 2 ideological-political orientations – national-conservative and liberal-cosmopolitical. They show hostility towards each other, but in fact they are 2 sides of the same medal. Despite many appearances, there are more similarities than differences. They are polluted by Atlanticism and disagree only in preference to this or any another patron. They are equally looking at regional geopolitics, noticing the biggest enemy in Russia. Through the ideologicalized “historical policy”, they build a false image of the past, denying the postwar continuity of Polish statehood. erstwhile we add helplessness to this in the sense of modern "diabolical" threats and challenges, including wars in Ukraine, we can conclude that each of the political formations corresponding to these orientations is conflict-ogenic.
In order to reverse negative trends, a rational strategy is needed, connected with identifying one's identity and defending it against the full submission of the global Western liberal hegemony. The Polish government must have the courage to formulate conditions which will become the basis for the restoration of "normality". These include, among another things, rejecting the moral superiority of Western institutions, which usurp the right not only to impose systemic patterns, but besides supervision and assessing advancement in imitating what they themselves program. The opposition to the European Union has mostly been born not due to the fact that society is anti-European, but due to the fact that integration processes are besides much like the old models of submission, especially erstwhile it comes to imposing abroad instruction.
In the current integration process, besides small attention has been paid to the chances of learning from others and taking advantage of the experiences of more developed Western countries. It is about borrowing various ways of organizing in the state and the economy, without following “moral goals”. In this way Japan erstwhile borrowed a “culture of modernization” from the West, maintaining its own identity. China is now a good example of setting its power by utilizing the Western technological achievements to strengthen its autonomy and autonomy.
In Central Europe, including Poland, there was an unprecedented “return” towards the West, which sooner or later must have caused opposition to defenders of native values. How naive it was to believe that people could be eradicated from their own habits, habits, or inherited identities. After all, what is “normal” for the West does not gotta correspond to people in another parts of the world. besides Poles who are uncritical of the West, despite the provincial complex, are not prepared to quit their authenticity.
Kneel before the West
During the integration into the West, people were told that their uniqueness and originality in the overthrow of communism were the most crucial assets, deciding on designation and acceptance in fresh bodies. Meanwhile, it shortly became apparent that democratization meant nothing but the implementation of procedures dictated by Brussels bureaucrats and global lending institutions dominated by American capital. In total, the weakness of the Polish political elite decided that Western politicians began to treat us with disregard, placing us in a position of submission.
The disaster was that the ruling Poland, regardless of the perfect provenience, from the 1990s until today, pretended to regulation the “swingen” Republic of Poland rather well erstwhile they truly directed them and led Western decision-makers. It is adequate to callback the uncritical sanitary policy related to the fight against the smithy pandemic, which was a simple implementation of the instructions of global concerns, to the detriment of its own economy and citizens. As you can see, the political elites – both of PiS and PO – considered the imitation of all ideas, even the stupid ones, to be the quickest way to prosperity and sick understood freedom.
The shallow “papuging” of the West gave especially to the governments of the Law and Justice in the context of the war in Ukraine to show their strength towards the American patron. The boasts of the most many land army in Europe and the largest arms purchases let the weak country to appear stronger than it is in reality. In the context of massive interior and external debt, all of these absurd pro-war investments, in the absence of peaceful doctrine and a coherent global strategy, service alternatively grotesque “slaughter” of powerful powers, with mediocre hope of self-success.
All of this leads to a consensus that the fresh government should focus on a deep re-esteem of the Polish liberal-democratic identity, without a strong imitation of Western patterns. Note the informing that “the more assurance the followers place in the imitators, the more assurance they lose. The imitation pattern becomes inevitably a rival and a threat to self-respect. This is especially actual erstwhile the model is not Jesus Christ, but a neighbour from across the western border" (I. Krastev, S. Holmes The light that went out. How the West Failed His Believers, Warsaw 2020, p. 24).
It is besides essential to draw conclusions from the American protectorate without which it is impossible to keep the Western alliance. In Poland, fewer people are presently dealing with the evolution of American politics, in the context of profound changes in the global strategy of forces. Politicians in Warsaw like to put individual ties with individual presidents of America in their view, alternatively than observe the strategical dilemmas that are taking on this country as a consequence of their rivalry with China. Well, the presidency Donald Trump It clearly showed that the US could erstwhile focus on pragmatic leadership ("transactional") and another times on ideological ("missional"), which in turn shows the presidency Joe Bidena. So alternatively of reflecting from the “wall to the wall” depending on the changes in the White home presidential seat, it is worth developing a “separate” balancing policy between the West and China, distancing from the hegemonic tendencies, which will let to make its own “field of manoeuvre”. It will besides trigger the initiative of the smaller and weaker countries, as in the cold war. At that time, they could not only ‘balance’ between the top but service ‘good services’ in moderating tensions.
The top rivals of the United States – China and Russia – do not want the West to interfere in their political lives. Although they are not blameless in various matters, they want to keep their own influence and keep prestige among regional groups. If the United States resigns from ideological crusades, then competitive visions of life will let to build in global relations a variable of "polgon", a strategy with many centres of force, mutually balanced. From ancient times, nothing smarter has been invented. On the another hand, any hegemonization and imperialization of the global strategy leads to its collapse, i.e. a global disaster.
Today's Poland, experienced by 8 years of intolerant communistism, negation of the Western ideals of political pluralism and resentment towards strangers, dissidents and minorities, should give impetus to broader reflections on the implications of following a strategy. This issue needs to be peculiarly publicised in the context of dragging Ukraine to the western side, without further analysis and reflection, whether the Ukrainians will and can accept the values of liberal order. Will this liberal order, which is expressed by the European Union and NATO, not become, after being accepted into its midst completely unprepared and battered by the war of the state, the reason for the even stronger consensus, disappointments and conflicts that will yet plunge the West?
Psychological drama involving power in Poland is that they must deal with the populist strategy and atrophy of the state as shortly as possible. At the same time, they must unequivocally declare that there will be no place for blind imitation in the “west” policy of Poland. Poles have the right to clearly specify by the authorities the main content of national interest, including the protection of their state of ownership, national traditions and complex identity. The sooner a candidate for Prime Minister from the winning coalition understands this drama, the easier he will gain public assurance and consent to bring Poland out of the antiliberal revolution. Only specified a solution will guarantee the restoration of “national consent”.
‘Third Road’
Perhaps the alternate to liberal imitation is the "third road", which became the winning sign in the parliamentary elections of the second after the civilian Political Formation Coalition. possibly this is just a consequence of political spite and electoral marketing, or a real chance to think alternatively about the Polish improvement path? alternatively of going back to liberal status quo ante, in order to make good the harm to "non-liberal counter-revolution", it is worth betting on "the revolution of normality".
It is time to make through a broad public consultation a programme to reconstruct all standards of democratic life and build a fresh constitutional model of the state, without any burden of historical division into 2 fighting camps. Constitutionalists should embark on the plan of a fresh constitution, which will usage all the mistakes to date and at the same time let effective, transparent and controlling governments. Imitation time is moving out, correction time begins!
Donald Tusk has the chance to make a “great awakening” of the Polish political scene, infected by 30 years of systemic transformation by dogmatic conversion of the full society to imports of “ready” Western patterns. With good cognition of the state of head of Western politicians, who frequently treat Poland in a disrespectful and condescending way, he could bet on "Europeanization through osmosis". alternatively of tipping and listening to the hopeless teachings and lectures of Western partners, the Polish Prime Minister could initiate cooperation in solving circumstantial problems at intergovernmental level, with the exception of the Brussels apparatus. It must be admitted explicitly that an effective EU abroad policy has not yet been built, and the collective vassalisation of the European Union towards the United States is not in the interest of any associate State.
The irony of the Polish political reality is that abroad ministers of fresh years have created from the Ministry of abroad Affairs “a theatre of absurdity, affluence and infirmity”. Failures in abroad service led to a complete failure of its functionality. Today's designation of Polish diplomats in the planet is associated with gross incompetence and intellectual misery. Polish diplomacy is characterized by apathy, failure of initiative, forced reactivity and gross deficiency of discernment in a complex global environment.
Respect for the European Union's “unity” should go hand in hand with respect for “diversity”. Since the relation of forces between countries continues to decide on common treatment, position and position in global relations, Poland should so focus on the restoration of a network of bilateral and multilateral "aliens", complementary to multilateral integration processes. In the hierarchical system, it is only 1 of many average countries. In neighbouring and regional systems, it can take more symmetrical positions, increase negotiation possible and the field of diplomatic manoeuvres.
Poland Road
It is advanced time to make a Polish strategy for reforming the European Union, so that even after its enlargement to Ukraine, all the interests of existing beneficiaries of integration are guaranteed. Otherwise, this phenomenal task of integrating “diversity into unity” will implode.
It is besides time to liberate ingenuity and rise an intellectual ferment around “good governance”, “smart state” and “the best place to live”. It may be worth setting up “happy Poland” centres alternatively of “poisoning minds” for this purpose, which will show people how to learn in the modern planet today, how to be free from the sufferings of the state's infirmities and how to free themselves from stupid propaganda and indoctrination. It is essential to exchange electoral jargon, full of patterns and slogans, excessive talk and emptyness, into a prudent and restrained language of specifics – as at a given time, for what means and how to accomplish circumstantial objectives, which are approved by citizens, well prepared in terms of logistics and under social control.
Finally, we request to start by mitigating the fear that has become the engine of increasing xenophobia, authoritarian populism and militarisation of state borders. This fear, utilized by populists for a long time, will stay a driving force for extremist movements that argue the “globalisation of communication” which resulted in mass migration.
The Polish government is expected to show knowing not only for cultural diversity and the thought of an open society. He should besides draw attention to the difference between his own nation and people who do not belong to the nation. quite a few effort must be made to explain to people and to convince them that cultural and cultural "confusion" does not should be an existential threat to the Polish people. Unfragileness in the approach to assimilation of visitors, including Ukrainians, can origin fast mobilisation of nationalist circles. And then – o horror! – another version of liberalisation will fall again under the force of national populist expansion.
Prof. Stanisław Bielen
Think Poland, No. 45-46 (5-12.11.2023)
