This text provides an analysis of democratization in Poland by placing the Solidarity movement in the context of the major democratic upheavals of modernity; the French and American Revolutions. Departing from case studies of Solidarity that treat the movement in isolation, this study undertakes an historical comparison of the Polish movement with the ideals and institutions of democracy achieved in the last three centuries. Arista Maria Cirtautas explains that the institutionalization of a strong democracy in Poland will ultimately depend upon whether the similarities to the great tradition...