Abstract
This paper examines the recent backlash against gay rights in Poland and Latvia as a test case of the depth and breadth of ‘europeanization’ in the new postcommunist member-states of the European Union (EU). We argue that antigay mobilization in these countries constitutes illiberal governance (and thus a failure of europeanization) on three grounds: failure of institutional protections for sexual minorities, broad inclusion of illiberal elites in mainstream politics and virulence of antigay rhetoric by political elites in the public sphere. To explain the stalled europeanization of nondiscrimination norms regarding sexual minorities, we apply two analytical models widely used to explain successful norm adoption in other policy areas: the ‘external incentives’ and ‘social learning’ models. We find that in the case of gay rights, EU conditionality was weak, and national identity and ‘resonance’ operated against norm adoption, as did domestic institutions (namely, weakly institutionalized party systems). The EU might have overcome these obstacles through persuasion, but deliberative processes were lacking. Our analysis suggests that some of the key factors underlying both models of norm adoption operate differently in the new, postaccession context, and that social learning is likely to play a greater role in postaccession europeanization.
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Notes
Piotr Kaczyński, an analyst with Poland's Institute of Public Affairs (quoted in Associated Press, ‘Pride Marches: Gay rights march in Warsaw comes amid intensified struggle’, www.ilga.org/news_results.asp?LanguageID=1&FileCategory=50&ZoneID=4&FileID=827).
Even prior to the Eastern enlargement, the EU's effectiveness in combating intolerant populists had, at critical moments like the ascent of Jörg Haider's Freedom Party in Austria, received skeptical evaluations from scholars. For a description of the debate over the EU's handling of Haider, see Howard (2000).
According to ILGA-Europe, in 2004–2006, 10 Pride marches were banned in postcommunist countries. Half of these were in Poland (four separate events) and Latvia; the others were in non-EU member-states (Moldova and Russia) or candidates (Romania). Of the ‘at least 10 occasions’ in which ‘leading politicians have used inflammatory language,’ seven were in Poland, one in Latvia and the other two in Romania and Russia. Pride-related events were met with violence on six separate occasions in Poland, twice in Latvia and once each in Croatia, Estonia, Romania, Russia and Serbia. Police forces ‘failed to provide adequate protection on seven occasions’: three times in Poland and once each in Latvia, Estonia, Russia and Serbia. Finally, police ‘have broken up a peaceful demonstration’ on only two occasions, in Poland and Russia (ILGA-Europe, 2006, pp. 44–45).
To cite one telling example, the Soviets treated Tchaikovsky's sexual orientation as a state secret, and to publicly label him gay was considered an anti-Soviet act.
In October 2006, the sexual orientation language was finally incorporated into the law.
This section draws on participant observation in Riga's 2005 parade and in the organization of the (banned) 2006 parade.
Of the six parliamentary parties, outsider-populists (PiS, LPR and Self-Defense) collectively polled 46.4 per cent, whereas the rest (SLD, PO and PSL) polled 42.4 per cent.
As the strongest voice promoting this discourse, the right wing in East Central Europe differs from its counterpart in Western Europe, where Islam has become the internal Other. As the case of Holland's Pim Fortuyn illustrates, in Western Europe tolerance of homosexuality is seen as a European value to be defended against Islam. Historically, East Central Europe's far right has located the threat to the nation in a ‘cosmopolitan-Masonic-Jewish’ conspiracy centered in Moscow. As sexual minorities have come to represent the Other, the locus of the perceived threat to the nation has shifted from Moscow to Brussels. For a description of this shift in Poland, see Ostolski (2007).
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Acknowledgements
For their support and feedback, we thank Michael Bernhard, David Ost, Cynthia Burack, Daunis Auers, the Rev. Dr. Juris Cālītis, Lārs Grava, Juris Lavrikovs, Viktors Makarovs, Aivars Ozoliņš, the staff of Mozaīka (especially Kristíne Garina), Anna Gruszczynska, Dominika Ferens, the members of the ‘Postcommunist Politics and Economics Workshop’ at Harvard University and the Harvard Academy Scholars Program.
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O'Dwyer, C., Schwartz, K. Minority rights after EU enlargement: A comparison of antigay politics in Poland and Latvia. Comp Eur Polit 8, 220–243 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1057/cep.2008.31
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/cep.2008.31