ARAISING Hell

The images from Warsaw tonight are difficult to stomach, and it is hard to believe what is happening right now. Poland is a country whose economy is growing faster than almost any other in Europe, a country that has none of the migration problems plaguing most of the continent because it maintains secure borders and a sensible policy towards immigration that is incompatible with its society, and a country that spends more on defence as a share of GDP than nearly any other NATO member. Yet the same country is tearing itself apart politically and experiencing a degree of institutional instability that is hard to match. The prime minister is fighting the president, police are being used by the government to remove judges from office, and one half of the judiciary is battling the other half tooth and nail. It seems you cannot have everything. Countries such as Germany, France and the UK have political systems that have proved institutionally resilient over decades and generations, yet they suffer from major economic difficulties and the consequences of leftist open-border policies and subsequent large-scale immigration. Newer democracies such as Poland, by contrast, are thriving economically and maintaining effective border controls while simultaneously devouring themselves politically. Their weak institutions are openly fighting one another, damaging their countries’ international reputations and inflicting harm on the very societies they are supposed to serve. This will not end well.