Populism and the politics of human rights

Abstract

The article reflects on the relationship between human rights discourse and popu-lism. First, the authors present a review of theoretical positions regarding populism. Then they define the concept of human rights policy. This leads to the conclusion that populism must accept, at least rhetorically, human rights to preserve populism’s democratic character. In the next part, the authors look at actions against human rights taken during populist regimes, via the example of the rule of Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość) in the years 2015–2020. They mainly take into account politicians’ statements and actions against LGBT persons, reproductive rights, immigrant rights, as well as social policies. The analysis leads to the conclusion that populists pursue their own, different from liberal, politics of human rights. Populism violates minority rights and strengthens social rights and distributes recognition based on national identity. Therefore, popu-lism's attitude to human rights is not explicit and does not consist of simple rejection.