Threatening or Benevolent Hegemon?

Abstract

In the political science literature, we can find various approaches to Germany’s “alleged” hegemony. In the article we examine the images of Germany among the Polish political parties between 2014 and 2017 to better understand their different attitudes toward Germany in the context of Polish foreign policy. We distinguish four types of images of Germany: benevolent hegemon, malicious hegemon, tamed hegemon, and non-hegemon. The left and center parties (the Nowoczesna, the PO, the SLD) viewed Germany as a benevolent hegemon, strengthening Poland’s position at the international level, and also as a tamed hegemon (restricted by the EU and NATO). The right-wing and nationalist parties (the Kukiz 15, the PiS, the SP) perceived Germany as a malicious hegemon that conducts hostile foreign policy against Poland. Two remaining parties adopted “peculiar” approaches toward Germany: the PSL treated Germany simultaneously as a benevolent and malicious hegemon, whereas TR treated Germany only as a tamed one.