Społeczne poparcie dla rządów wojskowych i wojskowego zamachu stanu w Polsce w perspektywie porównawczej

An idea of a military government or a pro-democratic coup d’état seems to be completely out of the typical democratic consciousness. This paper attempts to analyze the support for the presence of the military in politics in Poland. Such attitudes are marginal, shared by a small minority of the society. Respondents supporting military rule come from lower social class backgrounds and have lower level of education, usually live in villages or small towns. Such issues as (perceived) lack of order in the country and conservative, authoritarian, strong egalitarian and statist attitudes were linked to opinions supporting military rule. Such views are also typical for proponents of the political right. Comparative analyses in other European countries point to similar attitudes. Military rule and military intervention are turned down even if the social status of military is high. The support and rejection syndrome is correlative in most countries surveyed. Only the relation with the social dimension of democracy is differential and dependent on the country. The results point to the matching image of democracy in European countries and also to the similar pattern of support for non-democratic institutional alternatives.