In this article the author attempts to describe the social and political reasons of the authoritarian shift in Poland under the Law & Justice (PiS) coalition government. The nationalist and catholic ideology is at the root of dismantling the institutions of the state of law. Unfulfilled economic and social aspirations of large segments of the society were the real reason for the approval of the populist and antidemocratic actions of L&J government. Secondly, the disastrous presidential and parliamentary campaigns of the Civic Platform in 2015 opened the door to power for L&J. There were several self-organized spontaneous protests against antidemocratic policies of the L&J government, but the followers of the governing party have been and still are big enough in number thanks to the support of the Catholic Church hierarchy for the government. Polarization of the Polish society has never been bigger, but prodemocratic attitudes have also been growing recently. Strong prodemocratic local governments and the unanimous support of the majority of the population for the Ukrainian refugees are among the factors of hope for the democratic shift in the Polish electorate, but the opposition parties must undertake a more united and determined action.
