Polish Geopolitical Codes Illustrated with the Example of the Electoral Programs of the Major Political Parties in 1991 – 2011
- Institution: University of Zielona Góra
- Year of publication: 2017
- Source: Show
- Pages: 7-20
- DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/athena.2017.56.01
- PDF: apsp/56/apsp5601.pdf
This article is concerned with the research on Polish geopolitical codes following 1989. The problem has not yet been the subject of broader scientific studies or publications. In this aspect, the research is of particular importance for the analysis of foreign policy of Poland, which had to redefine its place in Europe and to fundamentally rebuild external relations, that is also to define the new geopolitical codes. The code system used in this text is based on Colin Flint’s definition, with the key division into allies and enemies. Based on the analysis of discourse, it can be stated that the most important allies of Poland in these codes are the USA, the European Union, Germany, and the enemy is Russia. In general, the fundamental change of Poland’s geopolitical codes following 1989 – from the east side to the west – can quite easily be seen in the electoral programs: the enemies of the People’s Republic of Poland’s period became allies, and the forced ally became an enemy. However, their concretization is generally not original and rather schematic. The Polish geopolitical codes have been exerted with strong influences of the hegemonic geopolitical codes of the West, mainly those of the United States. On the other hand, the last geopolitical code, the attempt to explain to the public the geopolitical imaginations of our elites, has been the weakest. This largely confirms the authoritarian dimension of Polish top-down transformation as well as the dominance of the elites over the society.