Conditions of Polish foreign policy in Minister Stefan Meller’s tenure (from 31 October 2005 until 9 May 2006)

Abstract

During the tenure of Foreign Minister Stefan Meller the decisions concerning
Polish foreign policy were strongly influenced by frictions between
particular policy-makers and between institutions forming Polish foreign
policy. This new situation in Polish foreign policy may be explained with the
use of Graham Allison’s decision-making models. In somewhat simplified
terms, it may be said that S. Meller entered the government hoping that the
shaping of Polish foreign policy would be based on the rational actor model.
Thus, the state as a unitary actor would define the aim of foreign policy as
well as the way of its implementation, choosing the best option. The fact that
the minister of foreign affairs was not a member of the party forming the government
might have been an advantage as he could have helped to unite different
groups and build a cross-party consensus. In practice, however, Polish
foreign policy became entangled in current internal political struggle, as the
polarization of the political scene between the Law and Justice Party (PiS)
and the Civic Platform Party (PO) grew. The problems emerged both on
the personal plane among the main decision-makers and among institutions
forming Polish foreign policy. During the tenure of S. Meller the centre of
gravity of the rational actor model moved towards the organizational process
and bureaucratic politics models. The significant increase in the importance
of internal determinants that began in 2005 should be taken into consideration
in the analysis of Polish foreign policy.