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Monthly Archives: September 2016

Europe’s Last Dictator Steps Into the Unknown

16 Friday Sep 2016

Posted by Christian Davies in Foreign Affairs

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Belarus

Lukashenka remarked that if Crimea was an historically Russian territory, then virtually all of Russia itself should be given back to Mongolia and Kazakhstan because it had once been ruled by the Golden Horde

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My latest article, co-authored with Belarus specialist Paul Hansbury for Foreign Policy’s Democracy Lab, takes a look at how Belarusian President Aliaksandr Lukashenka (in the article, his name is written using the latin-Russian transliteration, Alexander Lukashenko) has tried to cope with the regional economic fallout of the Ukraine crisis. The article can be found here.

Paul and I describe Lukashenka’s dilemma: heavily dependent on Russia for its security and for much of its prosperity, Belarus cannot stray too far from Russian orbit, and yet its economy is being dragged down by a Russian economy suffering grievous harm from a combination of low oil prices and Western sanctions imposed since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

But there is a strong political dimension to this issue too. Russia’s behaviour in Ukraine, and its use of the language of having the right to ‘defend’ not only ‘ethnic Russians’ but ‘Russian speakers’ has spooked the leaders of many post-Soviet countries, especially those of Belarus and Kazakhstan.

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Poland’s New Nationalism: In Conversation with Aleks Szczerbiak

11 Sunday Sep 2016

Posted by Christian Davies in Politics

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Poland

In the 1990s, the feeling was very much that if you learned how to speak English, if you got good qualifications, if you worked hard, lots of opportunities would be available to you – and I think a lot of young people have found that that’s simply not the case.

When Poland joined the European Union in 2004, it was widely assumed that young Poles afforded the opportunity to work and study abroad would go forth and liberalise.

But for many, the European Dream has long since turned sour. This has had significant implications for the country’s ruling Law and Justice party (PiS), which I examine in my most recent article for Politico Europe.

Earlier this year, I had a fascinating conversation with Professor Aleks Szczerbiak, Professor of European Politics at the University of Sussex and the author of The Polish Politics Blog, a respected English-language source of commentary on Polish affairs.

We discussed the rise of nationalist and eurosceptic sentiment amongst the young, the disillusionment of many young Poles with Poland’s European future, why so many young Poles appear to be turning to the radical right – not the radical left, as in many other European countries – and the idea of defending Poland from EU influence as a means to defend ‘Western Civilisation’. Our conversation was as follows:

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Poles to the Right of Jarosław Kaczyński

07 Wednesday Sep 2016

Posted by Christian Davies in Politics

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Poland

We had a situation in Poland where for 20 years we were pushed to change the national culture to reach so-called ‘European standards.’ But this point of view has completely collapsed — people understand that we can be different, and that’s OK.

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My latest article, for Politico Europe, takes a look at how Poland’s ruling party has responded to the challenge of the far-right by turning a blind eye to its increasingly visible activity. It can be found here.

There’s a new force rising in Polish politics, and it isn’t the fragmented and dispirited centrist and left-wing opposition. Since sweeping to power in 2015, Law and Justice has had to contend with a political challenge that has received little attention outside of Poland – a surge in nationalist sentiment, particularly amongst the young.

Fuelled by a perceived lack of economic opportunity at home and resentment at often menial and unfulfilling work abroad, youthful hostility towards liberal elites was ignited by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and the onset of Europe’s migrant crisis.

The phenomenon has proved awkward for PiS, which portrays itself as engaged in a patriotic struggle for the reclamation of national independence from the forces of liberalism, but which has found itself under pressure from radical voices even further to its right like the National Movement (RN), a coalition of national-Catholic and far-right organisations, including the ONR and All-Polish Youth.

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Recent Posts

  • Polish PM Angers Human Rights Campaigners with Plans to Shake Up NGOs
  • New Polish Military Force Worries Political Opposition
  • Poland Exhumes President Lech Kaczyński’s Remains
  • Polish Women Vow to Step Up Pressure Over Abortion Restrictions
  • Poland’s Abortion Ban Proposal Near Collapse After Mass Protests
  • Women To Go On Strike in Poland in Protest at Planned Abortion Law
  • Europe’s Last Dictator Steps Into the Unknown
  • Poland’s New Nationalism: In Conversation with Aleks Szczerbiak
  • Poles to the Right of Jarosław Kaczyński
  • Britain: An Unhappy Country Seeking Catharsis

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Recent Posts

  • Polish PM Angers Human Rights Campaigners with Plans to Shake Up NGOs
  • New Polish Military Force Worries Political Opposition
  • Poland Exhumes President Lech Kaczyński’s Remains
  • Polish Women Vow to Step Up Pressure Over Abortion Restrictions
  • Poland’s Abortion Ban Proposal Near Collapse After Mass Protests

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Kenton on The Ghosts of Smolensk

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