{"id":27111,"date":"2024-10-17T20:20:01","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T20:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/z6frttwr.ordoiuris.io\/aktualnosc\/liberals-testing-militant-democracy-against-right-wing-populists-and-sovereigntists-in-donald-tusks-poland\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T09:55:51","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T08:55:51","slug":"liberals-testing-militant-democracy-against-right-wing-populists-and-sovereigntists-in-donald-tusks-poland","status":"publish","type":"informacje","link":"https:\/\/ordoiuris.pl\/en\/press-newsdesk\/liberals-testing-militant-democracy-against-right-wing-populists-and-sovereigntists-in-donald-tusks-poland\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberals testing \u201cmilitant democracy\u201d against right-wing populists and sovereigntists in Donald Tusk\u2019s Poland"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00b7 When liberal, pro-EU Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk tossed around the slogan \u201cmilitant democracy\u201d in early September, many commentators saw it as nothing more than another example of rhetorical exaggeration. This is a big mistake.<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7 The concept of \u201cmilitant democracy\u201d (also sometimes known as \u201cdefensive democracy\u201d) emerged as a reaction to the experience of Nazism, whose adherents came to power in Germany through democratic processes.<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7 Limited elements of \u201cmilitant democracy\u201d are found in many legal systems \u2013 this includes the ban on the propagation of totalitarian ideologies.<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7 Referring to the concept of \u201cmilitant democracy\u201d is always risky because it lacks clear limits.<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7 Since \u201cmilitant democracy\u201d implies potential acquiescence to arbitrary actions, it can easily turn into authoritarianism, even when invoked in the name of liberal ideas.<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7 It is not clear why it would be applied in Poland, where the threat of totalitarianism does not exist \u2013 except maybe from those who precisely want to replace constitutional democracy with militant democracy.<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b7 Perhaps it is a matter of finding new \u201cNazis,\u201d and labeling as such all those opposing greater centralization of the European Union at the expense of national sovereignty.<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Author: Tomasz Rowi\u0144ski<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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When liberal, Euro-enthusiastic Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk tossed around the slogan \u201cmilitant democracy,\u201d<\/a> many commentators saw it as nothing more than another example of rhetorical exaggeration. And since we live in a time of coarse rhetorical exaggeration in politics, especially in Poland, it might have seemed like no big deal. Sometimes, however, amid the empty rhetoric of our country\u2019s politicians, some words cannot be ignored. This is precisely the case here. The Polish Prime Minister\u2019s declaration, according to which his government must \u201cact in terms of a militant democracy,\u201d could have serious consequences and should raise a red flag in conservative, right-wing circles in other Western countries in which liberal democracy exists.<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Radical rhetoric<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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But what exactly did Prime Minister Tusk say, and why should his words be taken seriously? Let\u2019s start with a quote:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we want to restore the constitutional order, if we want to restore those foundations of liberal democracy, we have a need today to act in these terms of militant democracy<\/u>.<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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We will probably make mistakes more than once, or commit acts that, according to some legal authorities, will be incompatible or not fully in accordance with the provisions of the law, but nothing relieves us of the responsibility to act\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/b>\u2013 <\/span><\/span><\/span>said the Polish Prime Minister<\/a> during a meeting with members of the legal community on September 10 of this year.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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It would be more accurate to say that this was a meeting with the part of the legal community that supports the actions of the current left-liberal ruling coalition in further dismantling the system of government in Poland. It would not be an exaggeration to add that, for some in these Polish left-liberal circles, Prime Minister Tusk and Minister of Justice Adam Bodnar are acting too softly and too slowly. For them, Tusk probably intended, on the one hand, \u201cstrong words\u201d about militant democracy, and on the other, an almost apologetic sentence about \u201cprobable mistakes.\u201d Even if Tusk spoke about \u201cmilitant democracy\u201d to a specifically radicalized audience, this should not be taken lightly. Since Poland\u2019s prime minister chose to use this kind of rhetoric, it means that groups of his radical supporters influence him and that he fears them to at least some extent.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Against the Nazis<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cMilitant democracy\u201d (sometimes also called \u201cdefensive democracy\u201d) is itself a historical concept, formulated in two articles by the Jewish German Karl Loewenstein as a response to the totalitarian temptation threatening liberal democracy. The concept was developed under specific conditions in 1937, at a time when Adolf Hitler had long been in power in Germany. His political goals were then increasingly understood, and so there ensued an attempt, at least intellectually, to find a remedy for the situation in which a totalitarian dictatorship is born in the heart of democracy. However we look at it, this is what happened in the Weimar Republic. It is worth adding that Loewenstein published his writings not in Germany, but on the pages of the American Political Science Association\u2019s journal The American Political Science Review<\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The theory of \u201cmilitant democracy\u201d advanced by Loewenstein can be reduced to a few points<\/a>:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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