Domesticating Neoliberalism: ‘Domification’ and the Contradictions of the Populist Countermovement in Poland

Abstract

This essay asks whether Poland’s populism is evidence of a countermovement to European neoliberal political economy. The electoral success of PiS’s 500+ child benefit policy appears to indicate that state intervention in the form of solidarism is a legitimate response to neoliberalism. The essay argues against this. Taking domification (drawing on the Polish word for home, indicating a shift to greater social solidarism) as a starting point of analysis, it interprets 500+ as a way to co-opt particular social forces to accept the promotion of neoliberal competitiveness in Poland. What at first appears to be a progressive alternative is, in reality, a contribution to further commodification of the reach of capital enabling the reproduction of neoliberalism.

Disclosure statement: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

A much earlier draft of this essay was presented at Cardiff University’s Centre of Law and Society Annual Conference; my thanks to Sara Dezalay for the invitation. Rick Abel, Chris Hann, Chris Leslie, Alex Nunn and Gabor Scheiring offered comments and suggestions on previous versions. The two referees for the journal provided so much generous and in-depth advice that has immeasurably improved the essay. Any remaining errors are my own.

Notes

1 On Central and Eastern Europe see Bryant and Mokrzycki (1994), Drahokoupil (2004). On the renewed interest in Polanyi and the consonance with the triumphalist period of neoliberal globalisation and postcommunist transition, see Hann and Hart (2009), Block and Somers (2016).

2 See also Brannan (2003).

3 See also Einhorn (1993), Funk and Mueller (1993) and, more contemporaneously, Ghodsee (2019, 2021).

4 OECD data show that in the period 1992–2016 the Polish economy had an annual GDP growth of average 4.1 compared to 3.9 in Slovakia, 2.9 in Estonia, 2.4 in the Czech Republic, 1.9 in Hungary and –0.4 in Slovenia. I am grateful to Chris Leslie for pointing this out to me. The IMF estimates that Poland is now richer than Greece and will soon surpass Portuguese GDP per capita corrected for purchasing power parity (PPP), see Shields (2019) and ‘Po 30 latach reform Polska bogatsza od Portugalii’, Rzeczpospolita, 24 February 2020, available at: https://www.rp.pl/Unia-Europejska/200229725-Po-30-latach-reform-Polska-bogatsza-od-Portugalii.html, accessed 2 March 2020. See also, McKinsey’s 2015 forecast: Poland 2025: Europe’s New Growth Engine (London, McKinsey & Company, 2015), available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/business%20functions/economic%20studies%20temp/our%20insights/how%20poland%20can%20become%20a%20european%20growth%20engine/poland%202025_full_report.ashx, accessed 2 March 2021.

5 The unemployment rate is the share of the labour force that is without work but available for and seeking employment. World Bank Group figures, see, ‘Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) (national estimate)—Poland’, International Labour Organization (ILOSTAT) database, available at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.UEM.TOTL.NE.ZS?locations=PL, accessed 14 July 2021.

6 See also OECD (2014).

7 See also Scheiring (2020).

8 The Vienna Initiative was coordinated by the EBRD, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and other IFIs to prevent the 2008 financial crisis escalating. In Central and Eastern Europe, foreign banks had come to dominate, owning over 80% (Epstein 2014, p. 848). With the imminent threat of financial disaster and foreign banks removing funds to their parent states, the Vienna Initiative coordinated home and host states so that the major banks limited their withdrawals from the region’s banks. Rather than being an example of an alternative policy option to the existing neoliberal mainstream, as the then EBRD Chief Economist Erik Berglöf suggested, this was also an opportunity to prevent reform backsliding, an opportunity for further neoliberalisation (Shields 2020).

9 ‘Ruling Party Chief Wants to Make Poland as Rich as West’, PAP (Polska Agencja Prasowa), 7 October 2018, available at: http://archiwum.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/386073, accessed 2 March 2021.

10 Capitalism—the Polish Way. The Socio-Economic Model of the European Union’s 6th Biggest Economy (Warsaw, Polish Economic Institute, 2018).

11 ‘Morawiecki: Solidaryzm—nowy system gospodarczy Polski’, Fakt, 16 November 2017, available at: https://www.fakt.pl/pieniadze/finanse/kongres-590-mateusz-morawicki-o-planie-zrownowazonego-rozwoju/l4318tx, accessed 2 March 2021.

12 ‘New Polish PM Vows to Focus on Economy, Social Solidarity’, PAP (Polska Agencja Prasowa), 12 December 2017, available at: http://archiwum.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/339537,New-Polish-PM-vows-to-focus-on-economy-social-solidarity, last accessed 2 March 2021.

13 In a neat echo of Williamson’s Washington Consensus Piatkowski (2013) identifies ten pillars that support Polish economic prosperity: high domestic savings and investment; a high employment rate; high labour productivity growth driven by innovation, skills and a business-friendly climate; controlled real exchange rate appreciation; openness to immigration; low income inequality; diversified exports; strong supervision of the financial sector; full integration of the EU market and further EU enlargement; and a focus on well-being and happiness beyond GDP.

14 By 2013 Poland had been allotted €67 billion from European Cohesion Policy, more than any other country, and received €77.6 billion from the most recent completed investment cycle (2014–2020). The European Commission also makes a number of claims about the ‘concrete deliverables’ from the funding: more than 43,000 jobs; more than 3.2 million citizens benefit from improved urban transport; 5,800 km of roads (re-)constructed; over 600 research & development projects. More than 800,000 additional people are covered by broadband access and more than 250,000 benefit from wastewater treatment projects. The ESF has provided training for 6.7 million people (European Commission 2014).

15 ‘Rodzina. Praca. Bezpieczeństwo. Dialog. Umowa programowa Andrzeja Dudy z Polakami’, Materiał wyborczy Komitetu Kandydata na Prezydenta RP Andrzeja Dudy, Komitet Wyborczy Andrzej Duda, 2015, available at: http://www.jedrysek.eu/articles/UMOWA_PROGRAMOWA.pdf, accessed 30 July 2021.

16 See also, Zdrowie, Rodzina, Praca. Program Prawa i Sprawiedliwości, 2014, available at: pis.org.pl/document/archive/download/128, accessed 21 July 2021.

17 For details of PiS’s recent tax system changes see, ‘Nowy Ład PiS: Bogatsi mają płacić większe podatki’, Rzeczpospolita, 24 March 2021, available at: https://www.rp.pl/Budzet-i-Podatki/303239903-Nowy-Lad-PiS-Bogatsi-maja-placic-wieksze-podatki.html, accessed 24 March 2021. For reflection on the implications see Bill and Stanley (2020, p. 385).

18 Rocznik Demograficzny. Demographic Yearbook of Poland 2018 (Warsaw, Główny Urząd Statystyczny, 2018, p. 256), available at: https://stat.gov.pl/en/topics/statistical-yearbooks/statistical-yearbooks/demographic-yearbook-of-poland-2018,3,12.html, accessed 21 July 2021.

19 For comparisons and context across the EU see Campisi et al. (2020).

20 See Malewska-Szałygin in this issue.

21 In the elections of 2019, Konfederacja won 7% of the vote with a programme combining extreme nationalism and authoritarianism with neoliberal economics under a social Darwinist umbrella (Rae 2019). Konfederacja is the party of Janusz Korwin-Mikke, the MEP probably best known for declaring that women should earn less than men because they are weaker, smaller and less intelligent; see ‘Janusz Korwin-Mikke: Kobiety i tak podążają za mężczyznami’, Rzeczpospolita, 29 June 2020, available at: https://www.rp.pl/Wybory-prezydenckie-2020/200629260-Janusz-Korwin-Mikke-Kobiety-i-tak-podazaja-za-mezczyznami.html, accessed 5 July 2021.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stuart Shields

Stuart Shields, Politics, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK. Email: [email protected]