Interest groups and trade unions

Abstract

Polish interest groups and trade unions have faced a tremendous transformation over the last thirty years. As the collapse of Communism provided new opportunities for organized society, it also led to the new challenges. Those include new access points for influencing public policies, institutionalization of social dialogue, Europeanization, as well as, democratic backsliding. Apart from an overview of the historical developments when it comes to the engagement of interest groups and trade unions in Poland’s political system, this chapter investigates the impact of most recent developments on the groups’ activity and opportunity structures. Drawing on survey data from national-level interest groups and trade unions, the analysis argues that especially the most recent changes (in particular, democratic backsliding) pose the real threat to the democratic representation of organized interests in Poland.