Gutsulyak I. Central and Eastern Europe in the Foreign Policy of the Republic of Poland.

The thesis investigates the foothold of creation and particularities of implementation of the Polish foreign policy in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989 - 2005. The work makes apparent and systemises directions of regional cooperation of the Republic of Poland, traces their configuration and evolution. Taking into consideration that Central and Eastern European states are on the different levels of economic development, and are differentiated by civilisation and cultural criteria, as the basis of the systematisation model were suggested the political orientation points of the countries in the region. It is analysed the impact of the internal political processes in Poland on the development of regional relations. The investigation detects the considerable influence of the foreign policy concepts of the Polish democratic opposition of 1980th and political groups being in power on the creation of the regional policy of Poland. The author analyses the complex of Polish concepts on forming of the EU Eastern policy and NATO enlargement. Poland became one of the leaders of the European and Euro-Atlantic integration in the region, successfully taking advantage of interaction with each state in promotion of its national interests. On approaching of the strategic aim of full-fledged membership in the European Union, Poland suggests its own concepts and visions of cooperation with Eastern neighbours, as well as endeavours to be in position to determine the EU Eastern policy. The participation of Poland in the institutions of "new regionalism", being the instruments of the Polish policy to strengthen its position in the region, is investigated. It is also ascertained the role of the Visegrad Group, the Central European Initiative, and the Baltic Sea States Council in accession of Poland to the EU and NATO. The investigation analyses the bilateral cooperation of Poland with other states in the region, namely particularities of establishing of diplomatic relations, foundation of the legal basis of interstate cooperation, dynamics of contacts, as well as functional dimensions of such relations. The thesis defines the parameters of Polish participation in the settlement of military conflicts, and in military-political cooperation with the closest surroundings. Military cooperation had created additional opportunities for Polish authorities to fine-tune the relations with other countries in the region with a view of structural modernisation and in order to achieve interoperability of armed forces in the context of Euro-Atlantic integration.The author fixes the phases of formation and development of the relations of strategic partnership between Poland and Ukraine, which allow defining main reference points of this cooperation at each stage, and, consequently, to ascertain the reasons of different interstate interactions. Along with that, the particular attention is paid to potential threats for strategic partnership and main ways to combat them. The author draws attention to the inevitability of rising a matter of leadershipin the region of Central and Eastern Europe and suggests the possibility of establishing of "dual" Polish-Ukrainian leadership in case of political consent between Warsaw and Kyiv.