Polish National Security Dilemmas: The US Missile Defense Complex and its Role in Polish Foreign Policy

This article examines fundamental dilemmas concerning contemporary Polish Security Policy. Firstly, it addresses the question of the US missile defense complex and its place in Polish politics. Secondly, it employs Foreign Policy Analysis tools with special attention to the agency-structure nexus. Specifically, it analyzes three distinct dimensions: intentional, dispositional, and structural. The author claims that Polish attitudes toward US missile defense are a result of Polish-US and Polish-Russian relations. Although evidence suggests that public attitudes toward the US missile defense complex in Poland are affected by the threat of international terrorism, the issue should be seen within a broader geopolitical perspective.