Dealing with a Juggernaut

Book excerpt: Dealing with a Juggernaut: Analyzing Poland's Policy towards Russia, 1989D2009, by Joanna A. Gorska, is the first substantial study of Poland's foreign policy interaction with its more powerful eastern neighbor, Russia. This study is essential to understanding the prospects for order and peace in Central and Eastern Europe towards Russia during the past twenty years. Gorska challenges widely established interpretations of Poland's post-1989 foreign policy by arguing that consecutive Polish governments pursued a largely cooperative policy towards Russia and did so because of material power considerations, namely Poland's strengthened power position after the Cold War and moderate security pressures from Russia. In analyzing Polish foreign policy, Dealing with a Juggernaut draws on leading theories in the field of International Relations and Foreign Policy Analysis and develops a comprehensive theoretical framework to guide empirical research. Representing a cross-section of politically important areas in Poland's most recent Russia policy, the analysis is delineated along four case studies: the Soviet military withdrawal from Poland in the early 1990s, the NATO issue in Polish policy towards Russia, Polish energy policy towards Moscow, and the Katyn question in Polish foreign policy. This book uses previously unpublished archival material, interviews with leading Polish officials, and a wealth of Polish publications to provide an insight into Warsaw's foreign policy behavior. Gorska points to a departure from hostility and imposition_a significant change in Poland's policy towards Russia after 1989. As such, Dealing with a Juggernaut, by Joanna A. Gorska, uncovers important mechanisms of regional cooperation between states with a checkered past.