Poland in Iraq: Foreign Policy Shift from Transatlantic to Eurocentric

This analysis sets out to examine Poland’s changing foreign policy aims with both the United States and its European neighbors. It advances the claim that Poland’s foreign policy has shifted from a Transatlantic orientation to a more Eurocentric one in result of Poland’s participation and support in the 2003 US-led Iraqi War. While there are many factors that have contributed to this change in both policy orientation and focus, Poland’s involvement in the controversial Iraqi War has not only contributed to a shift in its internal relations but has also prompted Poland to reevaluate and reassess its external relations with the US and its European neighbors. This analysis examines and identifies how Poland’s various foreign policy aims have shifted since its independence and establishment of a democratic state in the twentieth century, to Poland’s foreign policy aims declared in the beginning of 2013. It can be said that 10 years after the initial military campaign in Iraq, Poland’s foreign policy underwent a process of self-examination that reassessed its new international and regional positioning which generated a new concept of foreign policy, a growing independent one.