This talk reflects on the structural shift in the Polish political landscape that occurred in the aftermath of Poland's accession to the European Union, beginning in 2005. At that juncture, the so-called post-communist cleavage, pitting former communists against former anti-communists, began to recede, giving way to a divide structured around attitudes toward the West, and toward the European Union in particular. This realignment was consolidated by 2015, and the question of its durability, as well as the prospects for further structural transformation, has since become pressing.

The talk revisits my earlier analysis within the context of the broader geopolitical and geoeconomic conditions that position Poland as a semi-peripheral state, or internal EU periphery, a structural circumstance that also shapes the distinctive character of its elites, in which the intelligentsia continues to occupy a central role. The continued relevance of this framework will be assessed, alongside possible structural interpretations of more recent trends in Polish politics. The analysis will further incorporate a comparative dimension, drawing on analogous developments in other countries in the region as well as on earlier historical contexts.

Gastvortrag
Freitag, 03.07.2026, 12:30–14:00
SR 221, Fürstengraben 1, Jena

Prof. Dr. Tomasz Zarycki
University of Warsaw
t.zarycki@uw.edu.pl

Professor and Deputy Director of Institute for Social Studies at the University of Warsaw, Head of the Center for Sociological Research, specialises in sociology of politics, culture, elites and knowledge, discourse analysis, historical sociology, social geography.

His books include »The Polish Elite and Language Sciences. A Perspective of Global Historical Sociology« (Palgrave, 2022), »Ideologies of Eastness in Central and Eastern Europe« (Routledge, 2014) and »New Regional Identities and Strategic Essentialism. Case studies from Poland, Italy and Germany« (co-author, Münster: LIT Verlag, 2007). He publishes in journals such as »Current Sociology«, »Communist and Post-Communist Studies«, »East European Politics and Societies«, »European Journal of Social Theory«, »Europe-Asia Studies«, »GeoForum«, »Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics«, »Osteuropa«, »Russian Education & Society«, »Theory and Society«, »Social Science Information« and several others.