Not since the communist era has a Polish government faced as much criticism from the west as the one in charge today. It is now exactly a year since Law and Justice (PiS), a socially conservative, Eurosceptic and nationalist party, swept to power, winning a parliamentary majority with 37.5% of the vote. This followed the triumph of PiS’s Andrzej Duda in the earlier presidential election, giving the party full control over Poland’s executive arm of government.

Since then, the ruling party has come under heavy fire from western media and institutions, which have accused it of dismantling democracy with policies designed to limit civil liberties, control media, politicise the civil service and neuter judicial independence. In July this year, the European commission issued Warsaw with a three-month ultimatum to address threats to the rule of law or face potential sanctions. PiS reacted scornfully, with party leader Jarosław Kaczyński calling the commission’s ultimatum “amusing”. Kaczyński has also been widely criticised in Europe for claiming migrants arriving on the continent could cause “epidemics” due to “various parasites and protozoa, which don’t affect their organisms, but which could be dangerous here”.

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Yet, despite the barrage of critical opinions from the western world, which Poles have historically aspired to, PiS remains the most popular party in Poland, currently polling at 38%, which is higher than the combined support of all other parliamentary parties put together. There are several reasons for this, revealing dynamics observable not only in the wider eastern European region, but further west as well.

While PiS is strongly rightwing on social issues, its economic approach can be described as leftist. It emphasises the need to tackle inequality and propagates strong welfare policies. It introduced unconditional monthly cash payments equivalent to £100 for all parents who have more than one child towards the upkeep of each subsequent child until he or she is 18. So if you have three children, you get £200 per month and so forth. For parents with one child, the payment is conditional on low income.

No previous government ever embarked on such a generous social programme. PiS’s approach puts many Polish leftists in a bind. On the one hand, they deplore the party’s unashamedly xenophobic rhetoric; on the other, they like its economic views, especially in comparison to the main opposition parties, Civic Platform and Nowoczesna, both dominated by folk still enamoured with Hayek. In effect, some on Poland’s left are not as mobilised against PiS as they could be.

While the west may have considered post-communist Poland a model of free-market success, many Poles felt marginalised in a society where successive governments espoused a “sink or swim” attitude towards citizens, irrespective of whether it was the left or the right in power. Individual success was emphasised above all. PiS’s more communitarian approach is appealing to many Poles who feel they now have a government interested in more than just macro-economic indicators.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Jarosław Kaczyński has been widely criticised in Europe for claiming migrants arriving on the continent could cause ‘epidemics’.’ Photograph: Kacper Pempel/Reuters

A second factor in PiS’s continued popularity is that western Europe, where most criticism of the ruling party stems from, is now viewed far more critically than before by many Poles. PiS and its rightwing media allies are successfully portraying it as a den of politically correct madness, where hopelessly naive policies have put Europeans at increased risk of Islamic terrorism and being overrun by migrants.

EU elites are portrayed as fanatical multiculturalists and secularists who are furious that a traditionally oriented, non-politically correct government is in control of Poland. Meanwhile, Kaczyński insists: “It is completely untrue that to achieve western levels of development, we have to adopt their social models. That is hogwash.” He insists Poland can achieve western-level economic development while maintaining age-old traditional Polish values and remaining a homogenous white Catholic country. In an age when much of Europe is facing an identity crisis, this message is resonating.

A few years ago, no Polish government would have been able to get away with openly defying EU institutions without losing credibility domestically. But western opinion no longer has that kind of influence in Poland, especially among the numerically dominant conservatives. This is one of the most significant mental shifts in contemporary Poland and signals a new era in societal attitudes towards the west, one in which its economic development remains admired, but its cosmopolitan liberal values are largely rejected.

PiS also remains popular because while Kaczyński is highly controversial and generally disliked, the official faces of the government, Beata Szydło, the prime minister, and Duda, the president, are both personable unassuming types who help the party maintain a folksy image. There is currently no leftist party in parliament and the liberal opposition is weak and divided. Moreover, both opposition party leaders, Grzegorz Schetyna of Civic Platform and Ryszard Petru of Nowoczesna, are nauseatingly opportunistic, the kind of politicians who won’t take a public stance on any issue till they’ve seen at least half a dozen opinion polls. People are sick of sly, calculating politicos; these days people value authenticity, even if they disagree with their views. PiS employs crude rhetoric, but comes across as authentic.

Barring any major political or economic earthquakes, PiS will likely rule Poland for a while to come, providing momentum to the generally Eurosceptic, illiberal and authoritarian tendencies currently triumphing in eastern Europe. Its success should serve as a warning bell to liberals and leftists in the whole of Europe. A growing number of people are becoming increasingly willing to tolerate authoritarian and xenophobic tendencies from parties that offer them a sense of community and security.

Ignoring this reality won’t make it go away. On the contrary, if we don’t respond adequately to this dynamic, we might all soon wake up in a Europe where parties similar to PiS have suddenly become the mainstream.