‘Defence of Democracy’ in Post-Communist Poland: Militant Measures and Implementation

The growth of various forms of political radicalisation in recent decades doubtlessly poses a challenge to contemporary democracies. States have yet to develop a single model of reaction; their reactions are diverse, and stretch from more liberal to more repressive. A fundamental dilemma that appears in the face of the reaction to ‘democratic threats’ is how to protect democracy from dangers without undermining the foundational principals of liberal democracy: freedom, equality, and tolerance. This problem is particularly acute in relation to repressive instruments for defence of democracy posited in the form of the concept of ‘militant democracy’ as developed by German legal scholars. In this context, particularly interesting is the question of how ‘young’ European democracies that have experience of totalitarianism are coping with this ‘democratic dilemma’, and how do they perceive the role and scope of state intervention to protect against political radicalism? In order to discuss this issue the present study builds on historical, social and legal developments in Poland and scrutinizes the genesis and implementation of repressive measures in the post-communist history of the country, assuming a specific sensitivity for transitional democracies to the introduction of repressive measures. The analysis of political discourse and jurisprudence regarding enactment (successful and failed) of different measures such as: banning political parties and associations, restrictions on freedom of assembly, and laws against hate-speech allows us to follow the arguments for and against repressive means employed by state actors, thereby showing their approaches to particular values and threats. This will also reveal when the state (its actors) is willing to limit political and civic freedoms, and how choices and compromises are justified. Finally, the analysis also considers the practical difficulties in the application of militant democracy measures and formulates hypothesis relating to the conditions under which successful use of repressive measures may occur.