ABSTRACT
Germany and Poland occupy pivotal positions in Europe and the foreign policy challenges each has faced have been profound and in some senses revolutionary. Germany (or more properly prior to 1990 the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic) was a state which typified the Cold War – it was divided into east and west, owed split allegiances to NATO and the Warsaw Pact and was on the frontline of the military build-up between the Soviet bloc and the Western alliance. Since 1990 the country has been unified and foreign policy, while embedded within a firm multilateral framework (defined by NATO and the ELI), has reached out to the former communist bloc. Poland, meanwhile, has effectively switched sides. Once a sizeable military contributor to the Warsaw Pact, it has, following the collapse of that body (and the subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union), turned towards an unashamedly Western orientation. This saw Poland join NATO in 1999 and has taken it close to ELI membership. Poland, however, retains a significant appreciation that policy towards its eastern neighbours ought not to be neglected and that the east European regional context remains important. This has meant the pursuit of what might be described as a ‘multi-directional’ foreign policy.
