In March of this year, a documentary came out that presented new evidence to support the claims that former Pope John Paul II was aware of sexual abuse happening within the Catholic Church of Poland during his time as archbishop and chose to cover it up. The specific allegations claim that the late pope knew […]
Tag: poland
Kaczyński’s Mazurka
Since 2015, Poland has experienced a period of democratic backsliding. This trend has greatly worried European observers; developments in Poland are troubling enough on their own, but they also presaged a tremendous resurgence of the nationalist right across Europe, and ruling governments are concerned that they might be next. Hungary elected a similar ethnonationalist, rightist […]
Poland’s Illiberal Trajectory Continues to Challenge the European Union
Every year in Poland, Narodowe Święto Niepodległości, or the Polish Independence Day, is celebrated in Warsaw, commemorating the anniversary of the restoration of a sovereign Poland after over a century of invasion and domination by the German, Russian and Austrian empires. In 2017, however, the tone of the festivities soured, making international headlines as it […]
Defective Democracies
With a friendly slap in the face and shake of the hand, the president of the European Commission addressed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as “dictator” during his visit to Latvia in 2015. This name-calling was most likely in response to Orban’s recent appeals for an illiberal democracy, professing his plan to separate Hungary from “Western European […]