Twelfth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

The year 2015 marked a significant shift in Polish politics. The new set of reforms put forward by conservative right-wing government regardless of their nature were all based on the same principle: the departure from international cosmopolitan values and a focus on national and domestic interests. This paper focuses on one particular set of processes, that especially well embodies this logic, i.e. the process of “repolonisation”, which has gained momentum after 2015. “Repolonisation” is a form of economic nationalism and as such is based on two fundamental assumptions. The first is that globalization has its limitations, it leads to the deepening of income gaps and favors some countries/social groups at the expense of others. The second argument is that capital is not nationally-neutral, and does in fact have nationality. In Poland those arguments have been used to legitimize certain forms of actions, i.e. the substitution of foreign private capital by Polish national public one. This process of domestication understood here as nationalization was not only intended to change the banking system, but was also planned to affect the energy sector and possibly the media. In this paper I suggest to analyze “repolonisation” not as a mechanism based on economic rationality, but as an ideological tool, a certain form of narrative. Through the analysis of public appearances of key Polish opinion leaders during the years 2015-2018, I aim to determine different narratives (stories) of “repolonisation”, trying to establish key narrative arguments used to either legitimize or delegitimize various policies and actions.