Aleks Szczerbiak is professor of politics at the University of Sussex.
In December 2023, a new coalition government led by Donald Tusk – former Polish prime minister, former European Council president – was sworn in, ending the eight-year rule of the right-wing Law and Justice party. Tusk leads the liberal Civic Platform, and his new coalition includes the eclectic Third Way alliance made up of the
Poland is heading for a highly divisive and polarised election on October 15th. The country’s right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, which has ruled since 2015, is highly critical of the institutions and elites that emerged following the collapse of communism in 1989. And it has broken with the Polish foreign policy consensus pursued by previous
The Polish government has for years been something of a pariah on the liberal international stage. Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party, which is firmly on the political right, is at odds with the EU establishment, particularly over its judicial reforms, which critics say will threaten the key democratic principle of separation of constitutional powers.
