Title: Political meanings of national belonging: tracing the evolution of 'Polishness' in the Third Republic of Poland

Authors: Maryla Klajn

Addresses: Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society, Leiden Law School, Leiden University, Steenschuur 25, 2311 ES Leiden, The Netherlands

Abstract: Recent years have been marked by the rise of populist anti-immigrant movements throughout the world. Poland has become one of the most notorious anti-immigration states in the European Union, with its current government continuously calling for stricter border controls and systematically embracing a hard-line nationalist discourse. The concept of 'Polishness', or Polish national identity, is frequently used to legitimise political decision-making and belief in protection of a socio-cultural homogeneity fuels discussions for securitisation of the national borders. This article analyses the evolution of the meaning of Polishness and its instrumentalisation in the political discussions about border protection in the Third Republic of Poland. Deploying critical discourse analysis in examination of the Polish Sejm parliamentary debates on border-related laws 1989-2018, this paper links the political discussions about the physical national borders with the broader political discourse of Polishness and national belonging.

Keywords: Poland; borders; national identity; Polishness; discourse analysis; 'othering'; parliamentary debates; Polonia; socio-legal studies.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMBS.2020.113951

International Journal of Migration and Border Studies, 2020 Vol.6 No.4, pp.259 - 279

Received: 10 Oct 2019
Accepted: 12 May 2020
Published online: 05 Apr 2021 *

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