Abstract
The indirect, unintended and constitutive effects of populism on foreign policy tend to escape the attention of the growing scholarship on the topic. This chapter purports to shed light on these effects through a case-study on Poland, where the right-wing populist Law and Justice (PiS) party has been in power since 2015. Populism is understood and studied as a set of performative, discursive and stylistic practices that are directly reproduced in, or indirectly spill over onto, foreign policy. As such, they shape the framework of meaning in which policies are formulated and, thereby, enable some while disabling others. In Poland, these effects have varied across policy areas. In some instances, such as on Europe or Germany, the PiS government has contested and redefined some of the core representations, identities and role conceptions in Polish foreign policy tradition. In others, such as on the US or Russia, it has sought to claim this tradition, but its domestic political practice and transgression of diplomatic norms has undermined the realization of its own foreign policy objectives. The chapter’s main argument is that populism, rather than translating into programmatic ideas about foreign policy, shapes the context in which foreign policy is formulated, debated and implemented.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
A significant share of the theoretical and empirical discussion in this chapter draws from this article.
- 2.
This is especially true if, as the authors suggest, we move beyond Laclau’s strictly bottom-up approach to adopt a relational one—and, I would add, if we drop the normative dimension present in Laclau’s (especially later) works.
- 3.
‘The European Union without a hegemon’, Poland.pl, 24 February 2017, https://poland.pl/politics/foreign-affairs/european-union-without-hegemon/
- 4.
Interview with an adviser to the Polish Foreign Minister Waszczykowski, Warsaw, 25 October 2017.
- 5.
‘Poland removes EU flag in Brussels snub’, Financial Times, 24 November 2015.
- 6.
EU Coalition Explorer, European Council on Foreign Relations, London, May 2017, available at https://www.ecfr.eu/page/ECFR209_EU_COALITION_EXPLORER_2017_V2.0.pdf
- 7.
The four conditions were: the integration of Poland in the Normandy format; the abandonment of the Nordstream 2 pipeline project; the modification of the EU’s climate and energy package; and the granting of minority status to Poles living in Germany.
- 8.
‘Trump and Poland: From Love to Hate in Under Nine Months’, Daily Beast, 03/09/2018, https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-and-poland-from-love-to-hate-in-under-nine-months
- 9.
In particular, it has regularly claimed that the 2010 Smolensk plane crash, which had taken the lives of President Lech Kaczyński and 95 others travelling on the Presidential plane (i.e. ministers, advisers, army officers, etc), had been orchestrated by Moscow with the complacency, if not help, of the PO government. While the Polish governmental investigation conducted at the time concluded to an accident, the PiS government has chosen to re-open the file and appointed the former (and controversial) Minister of Defence Antoni Macierewicz as head of the new investigation committee. See: https://notesfrompoland.com/2020/04/10/commemoration-and-controversy-as-poland-marks-tenth-anniversary-of-smolensk-crash/
- 10.
‘Poland’s president signs controversial law despite protests’, The Guardian, 25 July 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/25/polands-president-signs-controversial-law-despite-protests; ‘EU may “misunderstand system that functions in Poland”, says PM’s chief of staff’, Notes from Poland, 18 September 2021, https://notesfrompoland.com/2021/09/08/eu-may-misunderstand-system-that-functions-in-poland-says-pms-chief-of-staff/
- 11.
- 12.
Dryjanska, A., 2017. Zdumiewająca wypowiedź szefa gabinetu Witolda Waszczykowskiego. Ukraina długo nam tego nie zapomni, Natemat, https://natemat.pl/224975,zdumiewajaca-wypowiedz-szefa-gabinetu-witolda-waszczykowskiego-istnienie-ukrainy-nie-jest-warunkiem-istnienia-wolnej-polski
- 13.
‘Waszczykowski dla “wSieci” o stosunkach polsko-ukraińskich: Nasz przekaz jest bardzo jasny: z Banderą do Europy nie wejdziecie’, wPolityce.pl, 3/07/2017, https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/347083-waszczykowski-dla-wsieci-o-stosunkach-polsko-ukrainskich-nasz-przekaz-jest-bardzo-jasny-z-bandera-do-europy-nie-wejdziecie
- 14.
Interview with a Polish diplomat, Warsaw, 17 October 2017; ‘“De-communisation” leads to Foreign Ministry dismissals’, Telewizja Polska (TVP), 23 May 2019, https://polandin.com/42757884/decommunisation-leads-to-foreign-ministry-dismissals
- 15.
‘Projekt ustawy o służbie zagranicznej’, Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland, Adopted in the Council of Minister 21 January 2021, https://www.gov.pl/web/premier/Projekt-ustawy-o-sluzbie-zagranicznej
- 16.
RMF24, 2020. Czarnek: Doszliśmy w Europie do poziomu gorszego niż Związek Radziecki i komunizm,
- 17.
NFP, 2020. “Leftist elites” trying to remove Polish government with western support, warns president, 15/11/2020, https://notesfrompoland.com/2020/11/15/leftist-elites-trying-to-remove-government-with-western-support-warns-polish-president/
References
Balcer, A., Buras, P., Gromadzki, G., & Smolar, E. (2016). Change in Poland, but what change? Assumptions of law and justice party foreign policy. Batory Foundation.
Balcer, A., Buras, P., Gromadzki, G., & Smolar, E. (2017). In a clinch – The European policy of the PiS government. Batory Foundation.
BBC News. (2016). Poland “taught France how to use fork” says deputy minister amid helicopter row. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37634812
Bill, S., & Stanley, B. (2020). Whose Poland is it to be? PiS and the struggle between monism and pluralism. East European Politics, 36(3), 378–394.
Buras, P., & Janning, J. (2018). Divided at the centre: Germany, Poland, and the troubles of the Trump era. European Council on Foreign Relations. https://www.ecfr.eu/page/-/divided_at_the_centre_germany_poland_and_the_troubles_of_the_Trump_era.pdf (June 28, 2019)
Cadier, D. (2021). Populist politics of representation and foreign policy: Evidence from Poland. Comparative European Politics, 19(6), 703–721.
Cadier, D., & Lequesne, C. (Eds.). (2021). Tracing the impact of populism on European foreign policies (special issue). Comparative European Politics, 19(6), 663–795.
Cadier, D., & Szulecki, K. (2020). Populism, historical discourse and foreign policy: The case of Poland’s law and justice government. International politics, 57(6), 990–1011.
Cianciara, A. K. (2022). Between EU’s aspiring saint and disillusioned rebel: Hegemonic narrative and counter-narrative production in Poland. Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 30(1), 84–96.
Day, B. S., & Wedderburn, A. (2022). Wrestlemania! Summit diplomacy and foreign policy performance after Trump. International Studies Quarterly, 66(2), sqac019.
Destradi, S., Cadier, D., & Plagemann, J. (2021). Populism and foreign policy: A research agenda (introduction). Comparative European Politics, 19(6), 663–682.
Duda, A. (2015). Andrzej Duda o Polityce Zagranicznej: Będą Głębokie Korekty (Interview). Wiadomości. https://wiadomosci.wp.pl/andrzej-duda-o-polityce-zagranicznej-beda-glebokie-korekty-6027724287337089a. (June 15, 2019).
Enyedi, Z. (2020). Right-wing authoritarian innovations in Central and Eastern Europe. East European Politics, 36(3), 363–377.
Jankowski, B. (2017). Le revirement de la politique de sécurité de la Pologne depuis l’arrivée au pouvoir du parti Droit et justice (PiS): un examen des sources polonaises. Les Champs de Mars, 29(1), 225–239.
Kuźniar, R. (2016). Retreat from the Polish Raison d’Etre or National Interest. Ruch Prawniczy, Ekonomiczny i Socjologiczny, 78(4), 5–16.
Laclau, E. (2005a). On populist reason. Verso.
Laclau, E. (2005b). Populism: What’s in a name? In F. Panizza (Ed.), Populism and the Mirror of democracy (pp. 32–49). Verso.
Laclau, E., & Mouffe, C. (2001). Hegemony and socialist strategy: Towards a radical democratic politics. Verso.
Lanoszka, A. (2020). Poland in a time of geopolitical flux. Contemporary Politics, 26(4), 458–474.
Larsen, H. (1997). Foreign policy and discourse analysis: France. Routledge.
Longhurst, K. (2013). Where from, where to? New and old configurations in Poland’s foreign and security policy priorities. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 46(3), 363–372.
Longhurst, K., & Zaborowski, M. (2007). The new Atlanticist: Poland’s foreign and security policy priorities. Wiley-Blackwell.
Milliken, J. (1999). The study of discourse in international relations: A critique of research and methods. European Journal of International Relations, 5(2), 225–254.
Moffitt, B. (2017). The global rise of populism: Performance, political style, and representation. Stanford University Press.
Ostiguy, P. (2017). Populism: A socio-cultural approach. In C. R. Kaltwasser, P. Taggart, P. Ochoa, & P. Ostiguy (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of populism (pp. 535–554). Oxford University Press.
Ostiguy, P., & Moffitt, B. (2021). Who would identify with an empty signifier? The relational, performative approach to populism. In P. Ostiguy, F. Panizza, & B. Moffitt (Eds.), Populism in global perspective (pp. 47–72). Routledge.
Ostiguy, P., Panizza, F., & Moffitt, B. (2021). Introduction. In P. Ostiguy, F. Panizza, & B. Moffitt (Eds.), Populism in global perspective (pp. 1–18). Routledge.
Politico. (2018). Proposal for a US Permanent Presence in Poland. Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Poland. https://www.politico.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Proposal-for-a-U.S.-Permanent-Presence-in-Poland-2018.pdf
Szczerski, K. (2017). Utopia europejska: Kryzys integracji i polska inicjatywa naprawy. Bialy Kruk, Cracow.
Taylor, P. (2018). Poland’s risky “America first” policy. POLITICO. https://www.politico.eu/article/poland-risky-america-first-policy-jaroslaw-kaczynski-donald-Trump/ (March 27, 2019)
Varga, M., & Buzogány, A. (2021). The foreign policy of populists in power: Contesting liberalism in Poland and Hungary. Geopolitics, 26(5), 1442–1463.
Washington Post. (2017, January 11). San Escobar: How Poland’s foreign minister helped create a fake country. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/11/san-escobar-how-polands-foreign-minister-helped-create-a-fake-country/
Waszczykowski, W. (2018). We joined PESCO but with Doubts. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland. https://msz.gov.pl/en/news/they_wrote_about_us/minister_witold_waszczykowski__we_joined_pesco_but_with_doubts__pap_dispatch_from_13_november_2017_?printMode=true
Weldes, J. (1999). Constructing National Interests: The United States and the Cuban missile crisis. University of Minnesota Press.
Weldes, J., & Laffey, M. (2004). Methodological reflections on discourse analysis. Qualitative Methods, 2(1), 28–30.
Wojczewski, T. (2019a). Populism, Hindu nationalism, and foreign policy in India: The politics of representing “the people”. International Studies Review, 22(3), 396–422.
Wojczewski, T. (2019b). Trump, populism, and American foreign policy. Foreign Policy Analysis, 16(3), 292–311.
Zając, J. (2017). Poland’s security policy: The West, Russia, and the changing international order. Palgrave Macmillan.
Zięba, R. (2020). Poland’s foreign and security policy: Problems of compatibility with the changing international order. Springer.
Zwolski, K. (2017). Poland’s foreign-policy turn. Survival, 59, 167–182.
Zwolski, K. (2018). European security in integration theory: Contested boundaries. Palgrave Macmillan.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cadier, D. (2023). Populist Representational Practices and Foreign Policy: An Analysis of the Case of Poland. In: Lacatus, C., Meibauer, G., Löfflmann, G. (eds) Political Communication and Performative Leadership. The Palgrave Macmillan Series in International Political Communication. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41640-8_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41640-8_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-41639-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-41640-8
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)