Children as an Object of the Right-Wing Populist Politics and Discourse in Poland

• Authors: Mikołaj Rakusa-Suszczewski

Abstracts

EN

In Central and Eastern Europe populist regimes are attracting attention as are sult of the traumatic legacy of communism, the subsequent overburdening reforms and exhausting systemic transformation, resurgence of ever-lurking nationalism, regional conservatism, parochialism and cultural chauvinism, and/or as an example of the structural shortcomings of young democracies at the borders of civilization. The subject literature also indicates numerous and universal elements of populist governments, present as well in this part of Europe. Without prejudging the aptness and strength of these various concepts and arguments, this article is an attempt to include in these wideranging themes a particular issue that absorbs conservative populists, namely “childhood” and “children”. While the problem of children in politics has already received numerous interpretations, the importance of childhood in the right-wing populist discourse and politics has so far remained an issue discussed only occasionally. We put forward the thesis that children play an important and specific role in the right-wing populist superstructure - they constitute an illusory picture of the nation, an allegory of its renewal, as well as a convenient, though inconsistently used, instrument for achieving political, ideological and propaganda goals. Attitudes towards children can be an important characteristic of populism as such, and should be taken into account in research on the subject. We will illustrate these problems using the example of Poland and the populist Law and Justice (PiS) Party that is in power there now.

Keywords

EN

Populism; Children; Biopolitics; Central Europe; Eastern Europe; Law and Justice; Poland

• Publisher: Centre for Europe, University of Warsaw
• Journal: Studia Europejskie-Studies in European Affairs
• Year: 2021
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 67-91

Contributors

author

Mikołaj Rakusa-Suszczewski

• Uniwersytet Warszawski

• https://orcid.org/0000000301847839

Identifiers

DOI

10.33067/SE.2.2021.4

Biblioteka Nauki

1633766