The State as a Challenger to Civil Society Elites: The Case of Poland

In recent decades, we can observe significant changes in states’ approaches towards civil society around the globe, including efforts to control civil society organisations, closing communication channels between the state and citizens, and redirecting financial support towards organisations that have been co-opted by the state. These changes are often part of a broader process of state-sponsored elite change. The charge of being a corrupted elite, alienated from the people and financed by foreign powers is routinely used by the right-wing populists in Poland in relation to liberal and left-leaning civil society actors. Thus, the Polish context is suitable for analysing the ways in which the state becomes civil society’s biggest challenger in autocratising countries. This chapter examines the changes in state–civil society relations in contemporary Poland, focusing specifically on the shifting patterns of cooperation and communication between the state and civil society actors.