Authors

Discussion

This paper examines the relationship between civic activism and electoral participation in Poland. During the Law and Justice (PiS) government (2015–2023), we have witnessed mass civil society mobilisation around issues such as women’s rights, judicial independence, and humanitarian relief for Ukrainian refugees. Against the prevailing narrative of post-communist social apathy, I argue that Poland has experienced a revival of civil society, which influenced the norms of political participation, including the most conventional one – voting.

Methodologically, the study employs a quantitative approach to trace the interaction between civic and electoral engagement. It draws on a protest catalogue data alongside the Polish POLPAN panel survey. Using regression analysis, the paper explores how various forms of civic participation—ranging from protest involvement to informal volunteering—predict electoral turnout and shifts in civic attitudes. Additionally, the paper seeks to quantify the extent to which bottom-up mobilisation under constraining political conditions contributed to the record 74% voter turnout and the electoral success of the opposition in 2023.

In doing so, the study advances an empirically grounded understanding of how collective action can reinforce democratic resilience in post-communist contexts and challenges existing assumptions about the weakness of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe.