Democracy, climate change and migration why Poland might be Europes fulcrum country [Video]

With Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk moving to suspend the right to asylum in the country, it couldn’t have been more timely for researchers to meet in Warsaw to discuss democracy, migration and climate change.

At Universal Impact, The Conversation’s commercial subsidiary, we’ve partnered with the Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) to help them communicate their work to a wider audience. So I joined their latest conference, which took place in the Polish capital last month. And it explored the three interlinked themes of democracy, climate change and migration, raising some uncomfortable questions around the country’s ongoing treatment of refugees.

The three-day event looked at the social and political situation in Poland, which voted out its right-wing government last year and is currently attempting to move its economy away from a traditional reliance on coal towards greener energy.

It’s easy to see how Poland could be seen as “Europe’s fulcrum country”, ISRF Director of Research Chris Newfield suggested on the opening day of the …