Who is fighting populists in power? The ‘pincer movement’ model of international and national opposition to democratic backsliding in Poland

When a populist party controls a government, such as Law and Justice in Poland, some initiatives opposing populists are no longer viable, especially rights-restricting or ostracizing responses which require government intervention or target opposition parties. The Polish case shows that a ‘pincer movement’ model of opposition may nevertheless emerge, involving extensive and sometimes coordinated opposition from domestic and international actors against a governing populist party. This opposition can involve international rights-restricting initiatives, coupled with strategies of opposition using the instruments of normal politics. While we know a great deal about the inter-institutional dynamics of EU institutions and member states form the growing literature on the EU’s ‘rule of law crisis’, we know much less about how these international initiatives interact with opposition at home. In light of attention paid to cooperation between international and domestic actors in studies of democratization, this seems an important shortcoming. Using a case study of opposition to judicial reforms in Poland, the article examines how and why domestic civil society actors use linkages with international actors to exert pressure on populists in power. As the Polish case is pioneering in many aspects, we use the inductive approach to study the phenomenon of internationalization of domestic responses to populists in power. Using data collected from newspaper surveys on international and domestic responses to populists, the article begins by mapping linkages between international and Polish opponents to the PiS government. This was followed by in-depth interviews with representatives of NGOs in Poland. The research results provided a basis for the formulation of hypotheses for further studies.