Protest Politics Under Democratic Backsliding: Left- And Right-Wing Mobilization Before And After Government Change in Poland

Our contribution takes a comparative look at the influence of a change in government on politically diverse protests in a highly polarized political field. Drawing on theories of contentious politics and political opportunity structures, we analyse how social movements from different political camps adapt to evolving institutional and discursive opportunity structures. In a broader sense, the paper examines the evolving relationship between protest politics and democracy amid democratic backsliding. Rather than viewing protest as merely a reactive response to illiberal governance, we conceptualise it as a dynamic arena in which democratic values, practices, and citizen–state relations are negotiated and redefined. Methodologically, our multi-method approach combines in-depths biographical interviews with activists and organizers from across the ideological spectrum, including liberal, progressive, conservative, and nationalist mobilizations. These interviews are complemented by content analyses of media coverage and digital communication, allowing us to trace both self-articulated motivations and the public representation of protest. We capture the declared motivations and strategies, their practices, emotional repertoires, and public reception. Based on this, we explore two central questions: (1) How do the repertoires, frames, and emotional registers of progressive and right-wing mobilizations differ?; (2) How do political and discursive opportunity structures shape these strategies under conditions of democratic backsliding, polarization and regime change? To address these questions, we examine three interrelated dimensions: (1) how activists formulate and disseminate framing strategies in constrained democratic settings; (2) how state authorities articulate their responses through legal, policy, and communicative mechanisms, and how these are represented in media and public narratives; (3) how citizens’ attitudes towards protest vary according to their political beliefs, ideological alignments and democratic self-understanding. Our results show both the innovative power of protest actors under shrinking civic spaces and their ability to mobilize emotions and gain public visibility despite limited resources. Within this dynamic, protest emerges as both expressive and instrumental: a mode of self-affirmation and identity-building, and a strategic tool to negotiate visibility, legitimacy, and policy responsiveness. The Polish case thus illustrates the ambivalent role of protest culture as both a reactive adaptation to illiberal constraints and a proactive driver of democratic transformation. Our analysis adds to the debates on contentious politics in narrowing political opportunity structures, the resilience of civil society in polarized contexts, and the future of democratic participation in CEE.