ABSTRACT
In this book, we have tried to show that although Poland was not the main host country for asylum seekers in the European Union, and the migration and refugee management crisis of 2015–2016 was not revolutionary for its migration situation in terms of numbers, it is a country that requires attention for several reasons. The first reason stems from its migration past after 1989 and the opening of borders and inclusion in international cooperation in the field of migration governance only in the early 1990s, and from the changing migration status in the 21st century from a mainly emigration to an emigration-immigration country. Second, it is a country whose relations with the EU in the area of migration management plunged dramatically after 2015, despite the previous strong Europeanisation of Polish migration and asylum policies. Third, the current external geopolitical conditions are less and less favourable, and this applies to the situation in the three non-EU countries neighbouring the east with Poland: Russia—which is politically and militarily unpredictable in the international arena—followed by Belarus—which is politically and economically dependent on Russia—and finally, Ukraine—first plunged into the internal political and economic crisis caused by the Russian aggression in 2014 and then invaded through a full-scale attack by its eastern neighbour in 2022, which already has led to large-scale forced migration to Poland.
