Published May 20, 2025
The Brussels elites were surely dismayed at how well conservative populist candidates fared in Sunday’s first round of Poland’s presidential election. They would probably be even more surprised to discover a likely cause: abortion.
Poland’s ruling coalition was openly backed by the establishment powers that be in the run-up to the 2023 parliamentary vote. The European Commission had feuded for years with the conservative-populist Law and Justice party, alleging that it was suppressing the rule of law and threatening democracy.
They were relieved when Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s coalition took power. Surely, they believed, democracy was saved, and modernity was coming to backwards little Poland.
Click here to continue reading.
Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, studies and provides commentary on American politics. His work focuses on how America’s political order is being upended by populist challenges, from the left and the right. He also studies populism’s impact in other democracies in the developed world.
