Discerning Poland’s Contemporary Strategic Culture: An Analysis of the 2020 National Security Strategy of the Republic of Poland
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.18.2021.75.14Keywords:
strategic culture, Poland, national security strategy, security policy, NATO, European Union, Three Seas InitiativeAbstract
The article analyses the Polish government’s recently published National Security Strategy in an attempt to discern the broad outlines of the strategic culture within Poland’s strategic community. The article adopts a ‘fourth generation’ approach to the conception of strategic culture, which posits that there are often rival subcultures within strategic communities, which can often result in dramatic shifts in a state’s security policies over time. There is a brief discussion of how conflicting subcultures can be identified in Poland’s foreign policies in the past before the article discusses what Poland’s current Strategy reveals about the strategic culture of today’s decision-makers. It broadly argues that there are obvious continuities in Poland’s security policies, notably in terms of how the Russian Federation is regarded as a hostile state and the degree to which NATO and the EU serve to strengthen Poland’s security. It is also possible to see more minor shifts in Poland’s security policies in recent years, such as a renewed emphasis on territorial defence and a willingness to align itself with several states which are relatively antagonistic towards the EU.
Downloads
References
Åtland K., Kabanenko I., “Russia and Its Western Neighbours: A Comparative Study of the Security Situation in the Black, Baltic and Barents Sea Regions”, Europe–Asia Studies, vol. 72, no. 2 (2020), pp. 286-313, https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2019.1690634.
Bloomfield A., “Time to Move On: Reconceptualizing the Strategic Culture Debate”, Contemporary Security Policy, vol. 33, no. 3 (2012), pp. 437-461, https://doi.org/10.1080/13523260.2012.727679.
Copsey N., Pomorska K., “The Influence of Newer Member States in the European Union: The Case of Poland and the Eastern Partnership”, Europe–Asia Studies, vol. 66, no. 3 (2014), pp. 421-443, https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2013.855391.
Cottey A., East-Central Europe after the Cold War: Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary in Search of Security, Basingstoke 1995, https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230374201.
Dalgaard-Nielsen A., “The Test of Strategic Culture: Germany, Pacifism and Pre-Emptive Strikes”, Security Dialogue, vol. 36, no. 3 (2005), pp. 339-359, https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010605057020.
Davies N., Heart of Europe: The Past in Poland’s Present, Oxford 2001 (2nd ed.).
Dempsey J., “Nord Stream 2 Is Germany’s – and Europe’s – Achilles’ Heel”, Carnegie Europe: Judy Dempsey’s Strategic Europe, 2021, at https://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/84704.
Dempsey J., “Poland’s Constitution Under Siege – Carnegie Europe – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace”, Judy Dempsey’s Strategic Europe, 2021, at https://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/84461.
Fitzpatrick M., “A Prudent Decision on Missile Defence”, Survival, vol. 51, no. 6 (2009), pp. 5-12, https://doi.org/10.1080/00396330903461633.
Fried D., Morningstar R., Simonyi A., “Nord Stream 2: How to Make the Best of a Bad Idea”, Atlantic Council: New Atlanticist, 2021, at https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/nord-stream-2-how-to-make-the-best-of-a-bad-idea/.
Gray C.S., “Strategic Culture as Context : The First Generation of Theory Strikes Back”, Review of International Studies, vol. 25, no. 1 (1999), pp. 49-69, doi:10.1017/S0260210599000492.
Grgić G., “The Changing Dynamics of Regionalism in Central and Eastern Europe: The Case of the Three Seas Initiative”, Geopolitics, 2021, pp. 1-23, https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2021.1881489.
Janulewicz Ł., “Poland’s New National Security Strategy: The Potential for Regional Leadership, Cooperation and Cohesion on NATO’s Eastern Flank”, RUSI Europe: Commentary, 2020, at https://rusieurope.eu/commentary/polands-new-national-security-strategypotential-regional-leadership-cooperation.
Jędra M., Energy Transition in Poland, [s.n.] 2021.
Jepperson R.L., Wendt A., Katzenstein P.J., “Norms, Identity, and Culture in National Security”, in P.J. Katzenstein (ed.), The Culture of National Security Norms and Identity in World Politics, New York 1996, pp. 33-75.
Johnston A.I., “Thinking about Strategic Culture”, International Security, vol. 19, no. 4 (1995), pp. 32-64.
Karásek T., “Between Pastiche and Sampling: NATO’s Strategic Adaptation to Russian Revisionism”, Europe–Asia Studies, vol. 72, no. 6 (2020), pp. 996-1009, https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2020.1779185.
Kuźniar R., Poland’s Foreign Policy after 1989, Warsaw 2009.
Lašas A., “When History Matters: Baltic and Polish Reactions to the Russo-Georgian War”, Europe–Asia Studies, vol. 64, no. 6 (2012), pp. 1061-1075, https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2012.691724.
Libel T., “Explaining the Security Paradigm Shift: Strategic Culture, Epistemic Communities, and Israel’s Changing National Security Policy”, Defence Studies, vol. 16, no. 2 (2016), pp. 137-156, https://doi.org/10.1080/14702436.2016.1165595.
Libel T., “Rethinking Strategic Culture: A Computational (Social Science) Discursive-Institutionalist Approach”, Journal of Strategic Studies, vol. 43, no. 5 (2020), pp. 686-709, https://doi.org/10.1080/01402390.2018.1545645.
Longhurst K., Zaborowski M., The New Atlanticist: Poland’s Foreign and Security Policy Priorities, Oxford 2007.
Malinowski P., „Baza USA w Polsce. Duda Proponuje Nazwę ‘Fort Trump’”, Rzeczpospolita, 2018, at https://www.rp.pl/kraj/art1739981-baza-usa-w-polsce-duda-proponuje-nazwefort-trump.
Marten K., “Putin’s Choices: Explaining Russian Foreign Policy and Intervention in Ukraine”, Washington Quarterly, vol. 38, no. 2 (2015), pp. 189-204, https://doi.org/10.1080/0163660X.2015.1064717.
McCraw D., “Change and Continuity in Strategic Culture: The Cases of Australia and New Zealand”, Australian Journal of International Affairs, vol. 65, no. 2 (2011), pp. 167-184, https://doi.org/10.1080/10357718.2011.550102.
National Security Strategy of the Republic of Poland, Warsaw 2020.
Paszewski T., “Can Poland Defend Itself ?”, Survival, vol. 58, no. 2 (2016), pp. 117-134, https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338.2016.1161907.
Pełczyńska-Nałęcz K., “Political Relations between Poland and Russia since 1990”, in A.D.
Rotfeld, A. Torkunov (eds.), White Spots, Black Spots: Difficult Matters in Polish-Russian Relations, 1918-2008, Pittsburgh 2015, pp. 539-556.
Prizel I., National Identity and Foreign Policy: Nationalism and Leadership in Poland, Russia and Ukraine, Cambridge 1998.
Reeves Ch., “From Intervention to Retrenchment: Poland’s Strategic Culture and the 2011 Libyan Campaign”, Europe–Asia Studies, vol. 71, no. 7 (2019), pp. 1140-1161, https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2019.1627290.
Reeves Ch., “Reopening the Wounds of History? The Foreign Policy of the ‘Fourth’ Polish Republic”, Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, vol. 26, no. 4 (2010), pp. 518-541, https://doi.org/10.1080/13523279.2010.519189.
Schultz T., “What Poland Wants When It Comes to US Troops”, Atlantic Council: New Atlanticist, 2020, at https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/what-poland-wantswhen-it-comes-to-us-troops/, 14 September 2021.
Snyder J.L., “The Soviet Strategic Culture: Implications for Limited Nuclear Operations: A Project Air Force Report Prepared for the United States Air Force”, [Report] – Rand Corporation R-2154-AF, 1977, pp. 1-40.
Sullivan E., “President Questions NATO’s Mission of Mutual Defense”, New York Times, 19 July 2018.
Szczerbiak A., “Should the EU Be Concerned about a Possible ‘Polexit’?”, LSE European Politics and Policy Blog, 2017, at http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/84845/1/europpblog-2017-09-08-shouldthe-eu-be-concerned-about-a-possible.pdf.
Taras R., Fear and the Making of Foreign Policy, Edinburgh 2015.
Taylor P., ‘Fort Trump or Bust?’: Poland and the Future of European Defence, 2018, at https://www.friendsofeurope.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/FORT-TRUMP-ORBUST-Poland-and-the-future-of-European-defence.pdf.
Walt S.M., “The Renaissance of Security Studies”, International Studies Quarterly, vol. 35, no. 2 (1991), https://doi.org/10.2307/2600471.
White Book on National Security of the Republic of Poland, Warsaw 2013.
Zaborowski M., Longhurst K., “America’s Protégé in the East? The Emergence of Poland as a Regional Leader”, International Affairs, vol. 79, no. 3 (2003), pp. 1009-1029, https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1468-2346.2003.00351.x.
Zając J., Poland’s Security Policy: The West, Russia and the Changing International Order, London 2016.
Zarycki T., “Uses of Russia: The Role of Russia in the Modern Polish National Identity”, East European Politics and Societies, 2004, https://doi.org/10.1177/0888325404269758.
Zwolski K., “Poland’s Foreign-Policy Turn”, Survival, vol. 59, no. 4 (2017), pp. 167-182, https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338.2017.1349825.
Downloads
Published
Versions
- 11-03-2022 (2)
- 16-12-2021 (1)
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
