The Effect of Political Polarisation on Lobbying Opportunities in Poland: the Case of Energy Sector and Creative Industry

Over twenty years after EU accession, lobbying opportunities in Poland can still be defined as highly complex. Differentiated interest groups’ resources and institutional settings for lobbying, recently aggravated by democratic backsliding, set specific conditions for exerting influence and translate to inequalities in terms of participation in policymaking. Since democratic backsliding has been accompanied by increasing political polarisation, with this research we want to uncover whether and in what way political polarisation has affected (institutional) participation opportunities across different sectors, as well as actors’ subsequent behaviour (e.g. strategic use of resources). Consequently, we ask: Whether and how exactly does the growing political polarisation in Poland affect institutional opportunities for lobbying? Do interest groups adapt their strategies to growing political polarisation? We offer an exploratory study of two different policy areas, namely the energy sector and the creative industry. With our case selection we want to check whether political polarisation has an effect on lobbying opportunities (institutional setting) and lobbying strategies of interest groups in chosen public policies, what is the nature and extent of this influence. We rely on a new dataset of in-depth semi-structured interviews with key interest groups in particular area. We argue that polarisation is a game changer in terms of access to policymakers and leads to a redefinition of lobbying strategies and the value of lobbying resources.