The Rise of European Right-Wing Populism and its Implications for LGBTQ+ Rights: A Comparative Analysis of Poland Versus Sweden’s Attitudes Toward Queer Communities

Abstract

This paper examines the factors causing some European Union (EU) member states to enforce queer rights while others do not, drawing on Sweden and Poland as countries on opposite ends of the LGBTQ+ norm pioneer spectrum. The paper finds Poland’s corrosion of public trust through the Law and Justice party contrasts with Sweden, a country built on a foundation of social trust in democratic practices. This paper concludes that the EU must take action to enforce LGBTQ+ rights by earmarking a sector of its funds to uplift LGBTQ+ NGOs and conduct dialogue with member states like Poland that harbour oppressive policies.

Introduction: The Rise of European Populism as a Threat to LGBTQ+ Communities

From France's National Rally to Poland's Law and Justice Party, parties formerly viewed as ideologically extreme have now made space for themselves in the political mainstream (Bastow, 2018). I argue that sexual minorities are a population whose rights are explicitly jeopardised by the existence of right-wing populist groups.
Europe is the only region in the world to boast internationally binding protections based on sexual identity. However, within the EU, states exhibit great variety in the degree to which they institutionalise the rights of their queer population. In this paper, I will examine the factors leading some EU member states to make a conscious effort to foster equality and inclusion for their LGBTQ+ population. In contrast, other member states lag and continue to hold and defend their homophobic attitudes, drawing on Sweden and Poland as examples of countries that are on opposite ends of the LGBTQ+ norm pioneer spectrum.

Poland’s Historical Context
Post-Communism and the Creation of ‘Transition Losers’

Poland, three decades after communism collapsed, is a country still subjected to the tribulations of transitioning from communism to a liberal democracy. Poland's transition policies, despite being well-intentioned, created what Stanley terms "transition losers": groups who were more likely to be disturbed by the rise of a challenge to traditional values created by the transition and whose economic and social positions made them less likely to be able to take advantage of new opportunities presented by the transition (Stanley, 2023). Transition losers include the elderly, people living in rural areas, lower-income people, and people of lower educational attainment. By creating a population of people disillusioned by Poland's democratic system, there is, therefore, a sector of Polish society that is especially susceptible to populist rhetoric and thus adopting homophobic attitudes toward queer people.
 
Role of the Catholic Church

Similarly, in the years after 1989, the Catholic Church made its presence known and asserted itself as a political actor. Given the fact that most Poles identified strongly with Catholicism and that the Solidarity party was already closely tied to the church, the Catholic Church was able to juxtapose itself against liberalism and a desire to protect individual rights and instead offered a comprehensive ethical model that could be embraced by the masses, offering a prescribed set of attitudes regarding minority rights, gender relations, as well as attitudes to capitalism and Westernization. The two depict Western values as a threat to the prosperity of Poland, portraying LGBTQ+ equality policies as a cover for a network of ‘corrupt global elites’ (Stanley, 2023) and thus fuel homophobia by further ostracizing sexual minorities.

Poland’s Contemporary Context
Law and Justice

Poland's context as a nation struggling to assert itself democratically has lent itself to its current reputation as a country that has fallen victim to populism. The Law and Justice party has experienced astonishing success since intolerantly reconfiguring Poland when it came to power in 2015. Its popularity, in large part, is owed to the illusion of a moral revolution it promotes, using populist rhetoric to posit PiS as the defender of traditional Christian values and of a Polish national identity. The party invokes an image of cleansing, with a promise to rid Poland of post-communist corruption, which involves demonising sexual minorities and positioning queer people as a force trying to corrupt the Catholic traditional family model.

Defending the Nation

There is a clash between Poland’s traditionalism, largely driven by the Catholic Church, and the European Union's conscious efforts to bring Poland into sexual modernity. Poland uses its reputation for homophobia as a mark of difference within Europe, asserting itself as a force that will not fall victim to the EU's Westernised conceptions of sexuality. When Poland entered the EU, the right-wing attitude was that their nation would not adopt the European Union's 'loose' attitude toward sex (Graff, 2006). This sentiment directly posits Poland against a perceived global corruption that it has to resist. This idea of a pressing necessity to defend the nation builds on the foundation of Poland’s context as a country that transitioned out of communism.

Sweden’s Historical Context
The Scandinavian Social Welfare State

Sweden’s success as a strong democracy is due in large part to its development of a successful social welfare state in the early 20th century. The Scandinavian “middle way” was a unique welfare state model created in the Nordic countries that offered a middle way between the polar opposite extremes of right-wing fascism and left-wing communism. The Scandinavian middle way, along with the Kanslergade Compromise, created a standard of state intervention to manage the market economy, meaning the compromise became not just a practical tactic but an ideal in itself, cementing a national consensus around an inclusive democratic society that was obligated to support its citizens when necessary (Einhorn, 2023). Solidarity and trust in the democratic system are thus key pillars of Sweden's social welfare state and a large part of why the country can offer its citizens social rights in addition to economic ones.

Sweden as a Human Rights Pioneer

Sweden, and more broadly, the Nordic nations, have a longstanding history of pushing new norms in international relations and disputing the status quo. Sweden's reputation as a human rights pioneer can also be traced back to its domestic civil society actors, who are deeply committed to promoting democracy as a result of the Nordic welfare state. Sweden is one of the world’s largest donors of democracy assistance (Freedom House, 2023) and is intentional about promoting human rights in every realm of the country’s foreign policy.

Gender Equality and a Feminist Foreign Policy

Most influential among Sweden's norm challenging has been its controversial decision to explicitly declare that it will centre women and queer people in the country's bilateral and multilateral relations, making it the first country ever to do so. This decision, first articulated by Sweden's former foreign minister Margot Wallstrom in 2015, is a foreign policy concept known as a feminist foreign policy, or the idea that broadly speaking, gender equality should be a pillar of foreign policy in an attempt to disrupt male-dominated power structures (Patel et al, 2020). Sweden has historically been unwavering in this belief, sometimes prioritizing human rights at the expense of economic interests, for example, in its bilateral relations with countries such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Uganda.

Sweden’s Contemporary Context
Shifting Governments

With the ousting of Sweden's Social Democrat party and the election of current prime minister Ulf Kristersson, many are left wondering what the future of Sweden looks like. Even the feminist foreign policy that Margot Wallstrom so proudly declared has since been denounced by her predecessor, Tobias Billström, who ended the policy by saying that Sweden’s foreign policy initiatives should instead prioritize the nation’s interests and values. The Sweden Democrats specifically are not only standing firmly on their anti-immigrant rhetoric, but they have also begun to invoke other socially conservative ideas, including homophobic rhetoric increasingly. This rhetoric is quite disconcerting given Sweden's general tolerance regarding freedom of expression, especially for LGBTQ+ individuals, and creates concern for the future of queer Swedish civil society. 

Comparison
The Distinction between POL v. SWED Contexts

In Poland, the Catholic Church was able to create a role for itself as a symbol of the nation, taking advantage of Poland's vulnerability post-World War Two to make itself a symbol of freedom and democracy, causing Polish society to feel obligated to maintain and spread Catholic values, therefore likening sexual minorities to an external force that threatened national values (Ayoub, 2014). Poland's current illiberal democracy and corrosion of public trust through the rule of the Law and Justice party is in direct contrast to Sweden, a country whose smooth and nonviolent path to democracy allowed its citizens to trust in liberal institutions and thus be less vulnerable to rhetoric that scapegoats a minority group. The distinction between Poland and Sweden is in the strength of their democracies and how trust in political institutions leads Sweden's civil society to be committed to promoting democracy and fostering human rights within the country. In contrast, Poland's civil society is more likely to feel disillusioned by the democratic system and thus adopt hateful attitudes towards minority groups.

Relevance and Recommendations
Recommendations and EU Involvement

With a legal framework that enshrines the existence of LGBTQ+ people and the rights they are entitled to, the EU should more strongly enforce the norms that they hold member states to. The hollowing out of formerly democratic institutions calls into question the rights of a range of minority groups. To spread and diffuse the acceptance norm, nations should invest in civil society and ensure that the right to organize and protest is being fulfilled. The EU should earmark a sector of its funds to uplift LGBTQ+ civil society organizations and conduct political dialogue with member states like Poland, whose repressive policies directly harm queer individuals. The rise of right-wing populism is disconcerting and threatens the existence of queer civil society. Thus, the EU must take action to enshrine LGBTQ+ rights on a regional level.

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About the Author:

Jaya Field is a second-year undergraduate student at the University of Washington, majoring in Global and Regional Studies and double-minoring in Law, Societies, Justice and Public Policy. In her studies, Jaya is passionate about participating in research and currently holds a position as a research assistant for the Jean Monnet Chair at her university. This April, Jaya presented at the European Union Undergraduate Research Conference, and hopes to continue exploring and monitoring human rights policies within the EU.