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A mere four years ago, Poland was widely viewed as an exemplar of democratic transformation in Central and Eastern Europe and a prodemocracy force on the international stage. Polish democracy was held in such high regard that in 2014 the country's European partners elected then–prime minister Donald Tusk (2007–14) as president of the European Council. By 2018, however, Poland had become the first EU country to be threatened with sanctions under Article 7 of the Lisbon Treaty over infringements of the rule of law. A series of dramatic legislative and institutional changes, set in motion by the governing right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, have evoked fears that the accomplishments of Poland's decades of transition are in danger of being reversed.
For many, the magnitude of the change that has occurred over such a short period is difficult to fathom. Is today's increasingly illiberal Poland, politically dominated since 2015 by PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński, the same country that burnished its democratic image under former prime minister Tusk? To understand the stakes of the ongoing process of erosion, we must recognize how much Poland has developed since it first embarked on the path of democratic reforms. But to understand the roots of Poland's recent flirtation with illiberal democracy, we must also take into account the existence within Polish society of mutually conflicting, popularly legitimate national narratives.
Today, skepticism regarding the country's record of postcommunist achievements is widespread in Poland. So, too, are doubts about the institutional foundations that have enabled this success. The transition's initial stages were difficult for all, and not everyone who supported it has flourished in the new system. In 1989, the year of the collapse of the former communist regime, inflation hit 640 percent, and the radical measures that were introduced left many people in dire straits. Some ended up losing their property, especially if they had loans. These unlucky citizens saw their wealth stripped away along with their social status, and their trust in Poland's new institutional arrangements crumbled.
In an effort not only to lift itself up from economic misery, but also to enhance its geopolitical security and fulfill a longstanding dream of returning to Europe, Poland sought to join Western institutions such as NATO (which it did in 1999)...