Rule of Law and a Deep Systemic Change: The Case of Poland

This paper debates the concepts and paradoxes of the rule of law as a simultaneous goal and an instrument of a deep, systemic change. It is focused on Central Eastern Europe, predominantly on Poland. The Polish case presents an empirical background of a debate about the rule of law conceptualizations, along various stages of political process: from the postcommunist transformation, through the later populist counterrevolution, to the present efforts aimed at the rule of law reinstallment. In light of this paper's argument, in the context of a deep, systemic change, various rule of law conceptualizations, and the resulting paradoxes are due to the fundamental inconsistency between the concepts of the rule of law anchored in the prevailing, intellectual epistemes, and social doxas: the crucial, social experiences with law. In its first part, the paper shortly debates the rule of law concepts and the resulting paradoxes characteristic of the so-called "lawful revolutions" of the 1990s. The second part presents the paradox of "statutory lawlessness", i.e. the destruction of constitutionalism and the rule of law carried out quickly thoroughly and brutally, mainly with the use of law treated as a mere instrument of power. That part of the paper concludes with the reflection on the concept of a "militant rule of law" and the contemporary, almost Sisyphean efforts aimed at the rule of law restoration. The third part, based on the recent empirical research carried out in Poland, debates the deep, even existential foundations of the rule of law entrenched in the daily life experiences with the violations of fundamental, personal rights. Finally, the theoretical and normative implications of personal experiences with fundamental rights violations are put to a closer scrutiny, as an empirical foundation of the rule of law in the context of a deep, systemic change.