Belarus as an object of Poland's foreign policy

Abstract

The article analyzes the evolution of foreign policy approaches of Poland towards Belarus and Belarusian nationalism. The main purpose of the article is to identify the evolution of approaches to Belarus in Polish political thought and practices of the Polish state. The ambiguous attitude of Polish political figures to Belarusian nationalism and the very idea of Belarusian statehood is demonstrated. This attitude has changed significantly over time from active rejection of Belarusian nationalism to readiness to use and support it in the foreign policy interests of Poland. The article shows that Poland’s contemporary approaches towards Belarus are based on the Giedroyc-Mieroszewski doctrine and involve the establishment of “soft” ideological, political, cultural and economic dominance of Poland in the former lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth without formally changing existing borders. It is noted that the success of these methods of Polish foreign policy in relation to Belarus is significantly lower than in relation to Ukraine. This is primarily due to the peculiarities of the political development of Belarus in the post-Soviet period, as well as the limited ability of Poland to influence the target audience within Belarusian society. The author draws attention to the fact that Polish policy towards Belarus should be the object of close attention of Russia, since the strengthening of Polish influence in the countries of the common neighborhood may pose a threat to Russian national interests.