In the presented monograph, the author attempts to look at Poland’s eastern policy through concepts and ideas that rule in this area of external policy – from the historical and contemporary perspective. Two primary ideological currents are recognized within the eastern policy of Poland – the Jagiellonian and the Piast. Józef Piłsudski and Roman Dmowski are considered to be creators and ideological wizards of these concepts. But contrary to popular belief, neither the first (federalism) nor the second (colonialism) were in their basic assumptions as clearly interpreted and constantly performed by the governments of interwar Poland.

After the Second World War, the Communists attempted to instrumentally use some elements of the national (Piast’s) current but rejected any references to the idea of the “eastern borderlands” (Kresy) because of the vassal relations with Moscow.

The idea of federalism and its various mutations (Intermarium, Euro-Atlantic, European, etc.) was developed in exile by many polish emigrants, particularly by Kultura of Jerzy Giedroyć in Paris.

The political thought of the democratic opposition at the time of communist rule and later within the “Solidarity” movement heavily drew on the achievements of the polish émigré centers (e.g. Maisons-Laffitte in Paris). The conflict between the notions of “security” and “identity” opens up the field of discourse between the two currents of political thought related to Poland’s neighboring countries to the East. A closer look, as proposed in this book, at the two last decades of Polish eastern policy differs from a simple analysis of ideas on how to build relations with Poland’s neighbors, mainly because it offers the reader the chance to view the problems from the perspective of Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian experts, politicians and analysts. The author of the book has tracked and referenced key publications (books, scientific articles, official documents, literature, etc.) published in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus throughout the period of 1990-2010. The author then attempts to answer the question as to how Poland’s neighbors view Polish concepts and how (if at all) it is visible or reflected in the main intellectual discussions or achievements of these countries.

This method of reviewing Polish policy allows for a deeper analysis of the basic traps and main successes of this area. For example, from the Russian perspective, Poland is hardly a visible “player” on the regional stage. While Ukrainian and Belarusian texts illustrate how much the Polish
problems and conflicts around “identity” are reflected within their internal discourse and dialogue. The conclusions from this analysis lead to the perception that many of the same elements of Ukrainian and Belarusian “identity discourse” are also a reflection of the processes taking place in Poland, however from the other side of the mirror.

At the same time it is clear that the primary destructive force of visible and invisible myths of “identity policy” lies in reducing and preventing the process of constructing a sustainable regional security system; thereby weakening the Polish position as a potential leader of such a process.

In the final part of this book, the author examines many of the described elements of Polish politics through the prism of the problems of the Polish minority in the post-Soviet space.

The advantage of this book is that for the first time in Poland it presents how Poland is received in the broad conceptual and ideological perspective, and especially how its neighbors in the East view Poland, in particular our discourse stretched between the Jagiellonian and the Piast policies.