Abstract
This chapter is a scene setter and sets the framework for the case studies by discussing the variables at work on the Polish side. It points to the legacies of the past1 and analyzes the extent to which they constrained or triggered changes on the individual, institutional, and structural levels in Poland. It claims that domestic factors often rooted in legacies mattered for compliance with the EU’s policies despite the country’s commitment to reform and argues that lack of administrative capacity acted as a burden in pursuing influence after the accession. By explaining the development, objectives, and motivations of Polish foreign policy after 1990, it also contributes to the study of changes that have occurred in the last 20 years by tracking all the processes that have impacted on the formulation of foreign affairs in Poland. Central to this analysis is the Polish approach to the CFSP before and after the 2004 Enlargement. This was first contested, but later provided Poland with key tools and instruments that helped to realize a more active presence in international affairs, and effective promotion of national preferences at the European level.
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also some researchers working outside Poland present this approach: M. Zaborowski and K. Longhurst. Skubiszewski, Polityka zagraniczna i odzyskanie niepodległości. Przemówienie, oświadczenia, wywiady 1989–1993, Warszawa, 1995),
as well as among Polish academia: R. Zięba with J. Zając, Polska w stosunkach międzynarodowych 1945–1989, Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek, 2005;
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© 2014 Joanna Kaminska
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Kaminska, J. (2014). Polish Foreign Policy and the EU. In: Poland and EU Enlargement. Europe in Transition: The NYU European Studies Series. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137452238_2
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