First to Act - How and Why Polish Civil Society Actors Mobilised to Defend Liberal Democracy?

The international academic debate on the possibilities of democracy protection is state-centered and only recently draws attention to civilian democracy protection, especially the work of civil society actors, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs). As the Polish experience demonstrates, populists can become a genuine challenge for liberal democracy. Data on initiatives opposing the Law and Justice government between 2015 and 2020 show that reactions of civil society actors constitute a significant proportion of actions opposing the illiberal policies of the ruling party and that they are of a 'tolerant' nature. This is undoubtedly a new area of activity for civil society actors who have been growing in the Polish public space after 1989. This raises further question about the specifies of their opposition and mobilising factors. Thus we firstly ask how (and when) non-governmental organisations reoriented their activities to democracy protection and what strategies they have applied. Secondly by using the social movement theories, we indicate factors facilitating and constraining the mobilisation of social organisations to counteract populist policies. We argue that among other the opportunities and threats at the national and international level, strategic partnerships and the NGOs capabilities to adjust as well as their democratic commitment were of particular importance to mobilise democratic defence in Poland. The paper applies a thematic content analysis based on press articles and semi-structured interviews conducted with Polish NGOs.