Safeguarding Democracy and the Rule of Law by Civil Society Actors? The Case of Poland

Abstract

Abstract A growing body of literature examines the EU’s reactions to illiberal trends in ECE countries. These studies predominantly focus on political instruments such as Article 7 and the Commission’s new rule of law mechanism, and there is a broad consensus on the view that these tools are too weak to combat breaches of liberal principles. This chapter therefore explores the potential of alternative strategies, namely the involvement of civil society actors in backsliding countries. By looking at the Polish case, it explores how much Polish civil society interacts with the European institutions in order to address violations of the rule of law and which strategies these actors unfold. It examines whether this cooperation may help to safeguard democracy in a bottom-up manner. The overall goal of the chapter is to investigate how much the EU’s instruments against democratic backsliding could and should be accompanied effectively by strategies aiming at collaboration with liberal forces within the backsliding member states.