Online Lecture: Memory politics and populist discourse in Poland

Part of the lecture series "Rechtsruck in Europa. Die polnischen Perspektiven"

The politics of memory occupies an important place in the agenda of many European parties classified as right-wing populism. It is used to legitimise state power, reproduce social order, build identity and consolidate various political entities, particularly nations, by taking advantage of or erasing memory of certain events from the past.

The situation is no different in Poland, where the ruling Law and Justice party turned this kind of politics into its hallmark. The mobilization of the collective memory of the imagined past has become an integral part of the great project that was first useful for Law and Justice in the struggle for power, and now serves to maintain and consolidate the party’s status as the ruling force.

What issues concerning the past are at the heart of this political agenda? How are they used? What kind of a collective identity project emerges from this politics of memory? How was it institutionalized and who are its main actors? How does it affect Poland's international relations? The aim of the lecture is to answer these and related questions.

More information on the lecture series hereExterner Link

Registration: johann.wiede@uni-jena.de