This contribution to the journal issue begins with a literature review of the main underlying causes of societal divisions considered by the various authors as giving rise to the emergence of polarization in many countries around the world. A discussion of the process of the pole formation then precedes the main section of the essay, which focuses on polarization in Poland. Its objective is to offer insights into the unfolding process in a country once considered a regional leader in post-communist democratic transformation, but now is listed among those in which democracy is under threat.