DISPLACING ELECTIONS IN THE "JUMP TO THE MARKET": DISPERSED TRACES OF NEOLIBERALISM IN POLAND'S TRANSITION FROM SOCIALISM.

Poland is often viewed to as a special case of transition from state socialism: it was early in developing counter-hegemonic forces and in forcing the regime into negotiations, but late with the conduct of foundational elections. This paper addresses the question of why and how democratic elections...

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Publicado en:Topos (18150047) no. 1; pp. 87 - 107
Autor principal: Langenohl, Andreas
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: European Humanities University 2021
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: DISPLACING ELECTIONS IN THE "JUMP TO THE MARKET": DISPERSED TRACES OF NEOLIBERALISM IN POLAND'S TRANSITION FROM SOCIALISM.
      aug:
        au: Langenohl, Andreas
        affil: Professor of Sociology, Focus General Comparative Studies, Justus Liebig University Giessen Karl-Glöckner-Str. 21E, D-35394 Giessen, Germany
      su:
        Elections
        Friedman, Milton, 1912-2006
        Socialism
        Neoliberalism
        Political systems
        Civil society
        Economic policy
        Poland
      sug:
        subj:
          Poland
          Elections
          Friedman, Milton, 1912-2006
          Socialism
          Neoliberalism
          Political systems
          Civil society
          Economic policy
      keyword:
        democracy
        elections
        neoliberalism
        transition from state socialism
        uncertainty
        voting
      ab: Poland is often viewed to as a special case of transition from state socialism: it was early in developing counter-hegemonic forces and in forcing the regime into negotiations, but late with the conduct of foundational elections. This paper addresses the question of why and how democratic elections played this rather marginal role in early post-socialist Poland, in particular with a view to the role of political conceptions with a neoliberal genealogy that factored into those elections and their interpretation by politicians, theorists, and political commentators. Thereby, the article will discuss three such conceptions: the legacy of Milton Friedman's thoughts on elections and the competitive market, a legacy whose influence can be traced in the ways in which elections in Poland became imbricated with the 'shock doctrine'; the significance of a counter-hegemonic discourse on 'civil society' in Poland and East Central Europe that radically juxtaposed state and society, leaving virtually no role for elections as a legitimate and reasonable hinge between society and the political system; and the structural presence of neo-liberal frame conceptions that guided important critiques of the non-foundational and no-choice elections between 1989 and 1991. In conclusion, the paper suggests that the traces of neoliberalism in the processes that ended state socialism in Poland be understood in a twofold way: first, as doctrinal artifacts that could be connected to quite heterogeneous political motivations and serve both hegemonic and counter-hegemonic aims; second, as ideas that by far surpass the realm of economic policies or the economy as such, amalgamated as they are with fundamental axioms regarding human decision-making and social coordination.
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    language: English
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