TY - THES ID - 134811828 TI - 'History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, then as a farce': Polish Catholic identity against the world. AU - Jabłońska, Sandra AU - Coudenys, Wim AU - KU Leuven. Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen. Opleiding Master of European Studies. Transnational and Global Perspectives (Programme for students started as from 2020-2021) (Leuven) PY - 2022 PB - Leuven KU Leuven. Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen DB - UniCat UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:134811828 AB - The thesis will undertake a closer analysis of the electoral programmes of the Law and Justice party in the 2015 and 2019 parliamentary elections. The main focus will be the use of Catholic-oriented discourse by the party, which has dominated the Polish political scene since their victory in 2015. This discourse is, as will be argued, one of the main contributing factors for the domestic success of the party. While much study has been dedicated to the analysis of the influence of the Polish Catholic Church over Polish politics, and how it fulfils a role of a political actor, less attention has been given to how the government weaponises the Church’s willingness to invade the public sphere for its own political gain. The central question this thesis attempts to answer is how are Catholic identitarian politics used in Polish society as a contributory factor towards Law and Justice’s success. What becomes apparent is that Law and Justice, commonly described as conservative and nationalistic, garners popular support with the successful identification of Catholic religiosity with Polish nationalism. ER -