Polityka zagraniczna Polski wobec Ameryki Łacińskiej w okresie pozimnowojennym

Abstract

Bilateral relations between Poland and Latin American countries have been largely determined by the history At the time when the countries of that region fought for their independence, Poland did not exist as a sovereign state and was erased from the political map of Europe for many years. Therefore, the establishment of diplomatic or commercial relations with the states of the Latin American region was not possible. However, the countries of Latin America, which in the last century began an intense process of political and economic changes, have rapidly gained recognition in international relations, which as a result influenced their relations with the rest of the world. The active policy towards the Latin American region, conducted, among the others by the European Union, including countries neighbouring Poland, as well as the growing political and economic needs of our country, pose a number of new challenges to the Latin American policy of Poland. The research area of this paper focuses on Poland's foreign policy towards some specified Latin American and Caribbean countries in the post-Cold War period from 1989/1990 to the end of 2016 (regarding also some relevant topics in the first half of 2017). The main part of the work focuses on the analysis of Poland's foreign policy in relation to several Latin American countries: Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela. The choice of the countries was aimed at presenting Poland's relations with the main partners of our country in Latin America. In order to show the whole spectrum of Poland's foreign policy towards some specified Latin American countries, its character was described in a multidimensional manner in four different and complementary dimensions: political, economic, cultural and scientific. The main research objective of this paper has been to present the essence of Poland's foreign policy towards Latin American countries in the post-Cold War period, at a political, economic, cultural and scientific level, taking into account the key aspects of relations from previous years, as well as presenting trends and elements of continuity and change shaping policy of the Third Republic of Poland towards the countries of the Latin American region. The author's aim was to present the main dilemmas and problems of the Latin American policy of Poland, as well as potential areas and reasons for intensifying cooperation on various levels with the countries of the region, in view of the challenges facing Latin American policy of Poland in the second decade of the 21st century.