Authors

Łukasz Jureńczyk¹;  ¹ Kazimierz Wielki University, Poland

Discussion

The subject of the paper is the importance of the United States in Poland’s security policy in relation to the full-scale war in Ukraine. The aim of the paper is to identify and analyze the changes in the importance of the United States in the Polish security policy as a result of the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in 2022. The research was conducted in the theoretical perspective of neorealism and neoclassical realism. During the research, the main Polish strategic and program documents as well as speeches by top officials were analyzed. Interviews were also conducted with leading foreign policy experts from Polish and American universities. The main research problem is whether the importance of the US in Poland’s security policy has increased as a result of the war, and if so, because of what main factors? The thesis of the paper states that the war in Ukraine has increased the importance of the US as the main external guarantor of Poland’s military security. This is due to the leading role played by the United States in military support for Ukraine and strengthening NATO’s eastern flank, including Poland, in the absence of leadership from Western European powers. After the outbreak of the full-scale war, the number of American soldiers stationed in Poland has increased significantly. Importantly, in November 2024, the base of the American anti-missile system in Poland was officially opened. Poland, in turn, has significantly increased its purchases of modern weapons and military equipment from the United States. Moreover, as a result of Poland's cutting off from natural gas from Russia, the importance of the United States in Poland's energy security policy has increased. However, the situation is very dynamic and there is considerable uncertainty in Poland about the future policy of the Trump administration towards Ukraine, Poland and Central and Eastern Europe.