Authors

Discussion

Poland has witnessed a significant increase in collective action in the last eight years. During the Law and Justice (PiS) government, people overwhelmingly took to the streets to stand up against the crackdown on women’s reproductive rights, oppression and hate speech aimed the LGBTQ+ community, or reforms infringing on judiciary freedom and independence. Movements have used wide framings to diagnose the problems and find responsible actors, and to motivate people to take part in collective action. The potential of these frames is best exemplified by the Women’s Strike that gathered nearly half a million participants.

Despite the fact that much time has passed since the height of these civic mobilisations, the 2023 election witnessed many political parties employing similar frames as those used by collective actors. Existing research into the reasons behind the extraordinarily high turnout (74.6%) reveals that many voters were mobilised by these frames.

In my paper, I analyse the Polish parliamentary election campaign to understand how collective action frames evolved, adapted and were used by main opposition parties. I focus on language used in politicians’ speeches through conducting a discourse analysis.  Then, relying on collective action frames, I examine the link between people’s motivation to partake in protest movements of 2016-2023 and the 2023 election. I argue that sentiments appealed to by movements such as the Women Strike are still live in the Polish society and are still capable of motivating people to participate in politics. My paper offers a contribution to literature on social movements and their effects on electoral participation.