‘We, the people’ in Poland: democracy of ‘ordinary people’ in the statements of politicians and posts on social media

ABSTRACT

In this research constructivist grounded theory was used to explore the style and content of 300 posts on the subject of democracy on the Facebook pages of the main political parties in Poland. Analysis of the data, collected from 2016 to mid-2017, resulted in the construction of two typologies that identify distinct rhetorical and thematic types of popular political discourse. In stark contrast to previous forecasts of the ultimate triumph of liberal democracy in Eastern Europe, Polish netizens’ conceptualisation of democracy is often procedural, tribal and majoritarianist. Furthermore, a comparison of such social media posts with diverse pronouncements of leading politicians reveals that popular discourse on democracy is largely generated and shaped top-down by the country’s political elite.

KEYWORDS:

• Populism
• Polish political parties
• Law and Justice
• democracy
• political discourse
• grounded theory
• social media

Notes

1 I would like to thank Jan Pakulski for his review of the draft text and his insightful comments.

2 https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/403727-cale-przemowienie-prezydenta-dudy?strona=2 (All referenced websites were accessed on 22 August 2019).

3 https://www.gazetaprawna.pl/artykuly/949242,kaczynski-panstwo-prawa-nie-musi-byc-panstwem-demokratycznym.html.

4 https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/403727-cale-przemowienie-prezydenta-dudy?strona=2.

5 http://www.gazetaprawna.pl/artykuly/949242,kaczynski-panstwo-prawa-nie-musi-byc-panstwem-demokratycznym.html.

6 https://fakty.interia.pl/raporty/raport-wybory-samorzadowe-2018/aktualnosci/news-konwencja-wyborcza-pis-piec-propozycji-dla-samorzadu,nId,2625926.

7 http://300polityka.pl/live/2018/10/04/kaczynski-jezeli-pytac-o-miare-wolnosci-i-demokracji-w-polsce-i-europie-to-jestesmy-w-czolowce-a-ja-nawet-bym-zaryzykowal-ze-na-pierwszym-miejscu/.

8 https://wiadomosci.radiozet.pl/Swiat/Andrzej-Duda-przemawial-z-Zurychu-o-demokracji.-Na-sali-towarzyszyly-mu-protesty.

9 https://www.wprost.pl/kraj/10027754/duda-demokracja-w-polsce-czuje-sie-bardzo-dobrze.html.

10 https://www.pap.pl/aktualnosci/news%2C1493194%2Cpremier-nikt-nas-nie-musi-uczyc-czym-jest-demokracja.html.

11 https://www.rmf24.pl/fakty/news-witold-waszczykowski-nie-bedzie-nowej-jalty-spojrzenie-trump,nId,2336817.

12 In parentheses at the end of the quotes, the party profile from which the quote originates is indicated by the party symbol at the beginning, but this does not mean that the statement is made by the party's supporter because access to these profiles is open. Quotes have not been modified in any way.