The process of democratization in Central and Eastern Europe has been shaken by the growth of counter-hegemonic narratives contesting the Western-type model of liberal democracy. The “illiberal turn” in Poland frequently targets progressive values, manifesting as a cultural war around the meaning of the signifier “normality.” This article focuses on an illiberal neo-traditionalist discourse coalition in Poland, analyzing the ideological discursive construction of “normality” from two angles. First, it empirically discloses the effort to replace the liberal collective imaginary with a neo-traditionalist alternative. Neo-traditionalism pictures an idyllic “normal” way of life, invoking a mythical past as a remedy to a perceived failure—the broken promise of the post-1989 transformation. Simultaneously, it creates images of monstrosity and abnormality to exclude different worldviews. Second, illiberal processes of normalization are presented as a demagogic, rather than populist, practice that frames “our normality” as the only scenario a rational individual can desire. Illiberal neo-traditionalism thus emerges as a demagogic and ideological mobilization to redefine what is to be considered normal in response to a performed crisis.

中文翻译：

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波兰新传统主义的煽动常态：构建一个不自由的想象


中欧和东欧的民主化进程已经被反对西方式自由民主模式的反霸权叙事的增长所动摇。波兰的“反自由转向”经常针对进步价值观，表现为围绕“常态”这一能指含义的文化战争。本文聚焦波兰一个不自由的新传统主义话语联盟，从两个角度分析了“常态”的意识形态话语建构。首先，它实证地揭示了用新传统主义替代方案取代自由主义集体想象的努力。新传统主义描绘了一种田园诗般的“正常”生活方式，援引神话般的过去作为对感知失败的补救措施——1989 年后转型的破损承诺。同时，它创造了怪物和异常的图像，以排除不同的世界观。其次，非自由的正常化过程被描述为一种煽动性的，而不是民粹主义的做法，它将“我们的常态”框定为理性个体唯一可以渴望的场景。因此，非自由主义新传统主义以一种煽动和意识形态的动员出现，以重新定义什么是正常的，以应对一场已经发生的危机。