Polarization and rule of law crisis—insights from Poland

Most scholarly arguments related to the judicial reform in Poland highlight intentional demolition of democratic standards by the PiS-led government and the subordination of the judiciary to the executive. This article puts forward a theoretical argument that factors polarizing strategy of incumbents and opposition into the analysis of the rule of law crisis. Whereas PiS-led government is responsible for devastation of the judiciary undermining the rule of law in the country, the new government's continued polarizing strategy is counterproductive to the strengthening of the rule of law. This is linked to the very nature of rule of law, which implies an unwritten compromise between legal and political elite regarding their role in law creation in the constitutional praxis.