First Advisor

Ladis K.D. Kristof

Date of Publication

1983

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.) in Political Science

Department

Political Science

Language

English

Subjects

Rapacki Plan, Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, Poland -- Foreign relations

DOI

10.15760/etd.3309

Physical Description

1 online resource (103 p.)

Abstract

This thesis concerns the connection between the development of Polish foreign policy and the evolution of the Warsaw Pact's proposals for an all European Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). The first concrete CSCE proposal was put forward by Poland in 1964. It reflected the Soviet Union's interests as well as those of Poland's.

The proposals were closely related to the situation which World War II had created for Poland. During the war Poland was massacred by both the Germans and the Soviets. It lost almost half of its territory to the Soviet Union and was moved to the West. Therefore, immediately after the war one could speak very little of Polish foreign policy. However, since 1955 when West German was recognized by the Western Powers as a sovereign state and was rearmed, Polish foreign policy was greatly reactivated. This was precisely because a strong German state would challenge Poland's western frontier, which it had received as compensation for the land it had lost in the East.

Through various Rapacki plans and its vigorous campaigns for the Council on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), Poland attempted to prevent the emergence of a powerful German state, thus securing the finality of its western border. But these policies also aimed at decreasing the Soviet overlordship of Poland. With its vital territorial question settled and the Soviet influence over it decreased, Poland hoped to cultivate closer ties with Western Europe, from which it had been artificially separated.

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Comments

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Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/18990

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