National Memory and Divisive Narrative Building in Poland’s 2010 Presidential Election

Lupion, Miranda

doi:10.1515/ppsr-2015-0039

Abstract

This paper employs the 2010 Polish presidential election as a case study to explore the implications of memory politics, examining the Law and Justice party’s (PiS) use of national memory ahead of the June election. Through process tracing, this paper finds that the Smolensk Air Crash became the central theme of this race, which pitted Civic Platform (PO) candidate Bronisław Komorowski against the late President Lech Kaczynski’s twin brother, PiS’s Jarosław Kaczynski. Amplified by the media, PiS selectively drew on easily recognisable events and figures from Polish history to construct an “Us versus Them” conflict of “true Polish patriots” - those who supported the party and its anti-Russian stance - and “Others” - those who, although sympathetic to the crash victims, favoured Tusk and his push for renewed Polish-Russian relations. The primary goal of this paper is to demonstrate how a historical memory approach can inform the study of contemporary politics - a subject which is too oft en left solely to social scientists.

References

Bell, D (2003). ‘Mythscapes: Memory, Mythology, and National Identity. British Journal of Sociology 54, no. 1, 63-81.10.1080/0007131032000045905
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Bernhard, M and Kubik, J eds. (2014). Twenty Years Aft er Communism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199375134.001.0001
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Bleiker, R and Hoang, Y (2006). ‘Remembering and Forgetting the Korean War: From Trauma to Reconciliation.’ In Memory, Trauma, and World Politics: Reflections on the Relationship between Past and Present, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 195-212.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Cohen, F and Solomon, S (2011). ‘Th e Politics of Mortal Terror.’ Current Directions in Psychological Science 20, no. 5, 316-20.10.1177/0963721411416570
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Cześnik, M (2014). ‘In the Shadow of the Smolensk Catastrophe - Th e 2010 Presidential Election in Poland.’ East European Politics and Societies and Cultures 28, no. 3, 518-39.10.1177/0888325414532492
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Davies, C (2017). ‘‚More girls, fewer skinheads’: Poland’s far right wrestles with changing image.’ The Guardian.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Edkins, J (2006). ‘Remembering Relationality: Trauma Time and Politics.’ In Memory, Trauma, and World Politics: Refl ections on the Relationship between Past and Present, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 99-115.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Etkind A, Finnin R, Blacker U, Fedor J, Lewis S, Mälksoo M, and Mroz M (2012). Remembering Katyn. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Feuchtwang, S (2006). ‘Memorials to Injustice.’ In Memory, Trauma, and World Politics: Refl ections on the Relationship between Past and Present. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 176-94.10.1057/9780230627482_9
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Guillette, D (2013). ‘Media Manipulation of the Tragedy at Smolensk: Nasz Dziennik’s and Gazeta Wyborcza’s Coverage of the 2010 Crash.’ Master of Arts Thesis, Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies, Duke University.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Harper, J (2010). ‘Negating Negation.’ Problems of Post-Communism 57, no. 4, 16-36.10.2753/PPC1075-8216570402
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Hinsey, E (2011). ‘Death in the Forest.” New England Review 32, no. 1, 142-53.10.1353/ner.2011.a433225
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Koczanowicz, L (2012). ‘Th e Politics of Catastrophe: Poland’s Presidential Crash and the Ideology of Post-Postcommunism.’ East European Politics and Societies and Cultures 26, no. 4, 811-28.10.1177/0888325412447643
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Levintova, E (2010). ‘Good Neighbours? Dominant Narratives about the ‘Other’ in Contemporary Polish and Russian Newspapers.’ Europe-Asia Studies 62, no. 8, 1339-61.10.1080/09668136.2010.504386
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Marcinkiewicz, K, and Stegmaier, M (2016). ‘Th e Parliamentary Election in Poland, October 2015.’ Electoral Studies 41, 221-24.10.1016/j.electstud.2016.01.004
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Müller, J ed. (2002). Memory and Power in Post-War Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511491580
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Neumann, I (2002). ‘Europe’s Post-Cold War Memory of Russia: Cui Bono?’ In Memory and Power in Post-War Europe, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 121-36.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Niżyńska, J (2010). ‘Th e Politics of Mourning and the Crisis of Poland’s Symbolic Language after April 10.’ East European Politics and Societies and Cultures 24, no. 4, 467-79.10.1177/0888325410377656
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
‘Poland: Country Outlook.’ EIU ViewsWire, Th e Economist Intelligence Unit, April 13, 2016.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
‘Poland: Duda Will Raise Stakes for Autumn Poll.’ Oxford Analytica Daily Brief Service, May 27, 2015.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Ray, L (2006). ‘Mourning, Melancholia and Violence.’ In Memory, Trauma, and World Politics: Reflections on the Relationship between Past and Present, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 135-56.10.1057/9780230627482_7
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Rosset, J (2011). ‘Th e 2010 Presidential Election in Poland.’ Electoral Studies 30, 241-44.10.1016/j.electstud.2011.01.005
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Snyder, T (2002). ‘Memory of Sovereignty and Sovereignty over Memory: Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine, 1939-1999.’ In Memory and Power in Post-War Europe, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 39-58.10.1017/CBO9780511491580.002
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Stańczyk, E (2013). ‘Caught between German and Russia: Memory and National Identity in Poland’s Right-Wing Media Post-2004.’ Th e Slavonic and East European Review 91, no. 2, 289-316.10.5699/slaveasteurorev2.91.2.0289
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Stanley, B (2016). ‘Confrontation by Default and Confrontation by Design: Strategic and Institutional Responses to Poland’s Populist Coalition Government.’ Democratization 23, no. 2, 263-82.10.1080/13510347.2015.1058782
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Stanley, B (2008). ‘Th e Th in Ideology of Populism.’ Journal of Political Ideologies 13, no. 1, 95-110.10.1080/13569310701822289
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Szeligowska, D (2014). ‘Patriotism in Mourning.’ East European Politics and Societies and Cultures 28, no. 3, 487-517.10.1177/0888325414536609
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
‘The Harbinger; Poland’s Presidential Election.’ Th e Economist, May 9, 2015. “Ukraine/Poland Politics: Policy on Ukraine-Russia aft er October.” Th e Economist Intelligence Unit N.A., Incorporated, July 16, 2015.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Winter, J, and Sivan, E eds. (1999). War and Remembrance in the Twentieth Century. Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare 5. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511599644
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Zarycki, T (2004). ‘Uses of Russia: Th e Role of Russia in the Modern Polish Identity.’ East European Politics and Societies and Cultures 18, no. 4, 595-627.10.1177/0888325404269758
Search in Google Scholar Back to article

National Memory and Divisive Narrative Building in Poland’s 2010 Presidential Election

Abstract

Paradigm

My account