ARTICLE
The Questions of Poland’s Sovereignty
in International Organisations – A Historical Outline
More details
Hide details
Publication date: 2018-03-31
Stosunki Międzynarodowe – International Relations 2018;54(1):133-161
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
The article outlines the history of Poland’s participation in international organisations
spanning almost 100 years. It primarily sets out to identify and assess the specific
issues regarding national sovereignty that boasted key pertinence throughout
that time. It focuses on the three periods, i.e. the interwar period, marked by
Poland’s membership in the League of Nations, as well as by coercion to undertake
a certain scope of international obligations, Cold War period – the time of “limited
sovereignty” and subordination to the Soviet Union, and the last one, i.e. following
the end of Cold War, and the change of a political system in the country. It was in that
time, in the environment of growing interdependence and deepening international
integration, accompanied by major changes within the scope of membership
in international organizations, that optimum political positions and relations
within the fold of those organizations had to be worked out in terms of the country’s
vital interests, which would not have been possible without maintaining its
sovereignty in the first place, while also having it subjected to a major rethink,
with a view to its ultimate redefinition.