Naval Postgraduate School

The Politics and Policy of U.s. Bases in Poland: a Political Military Analysis Naval Postgraduate School

Publisher Marketing: The present study treats Polish-American bilateral relations in the past and present, with special concern for contemporary themes of armaments. This book seizes upon the author's experience in the U. S. Embassy, Warsaw, as well as scholarly analysis. Together with NATO allies, the United States has begun the fielding of an anti-missile system directed against Iran. By dint of policy and geography, the Republic of Poland's status as one of closest allies to the United States put it at the forefront of the candidates to host the interceptor portion of the system. In addition to the U. S. anti-missile installation, the Polish government wants significant U. S. forces stationed in Poland as a symbol of collective defense. As in other cases of the politics of forward defense in NATO in the past and present, the Poles desire an unshakable commitment to forward defense at a time of strategic retrenchment and shifts in the international system. The modifications of the plans for the proposed bases as a result of policy, strategy and budgets were caused by changes of leadership in both the U. S. and Poland; further, such change has arisen about U. S. concerns from Russia and other European countries, to say nothing of the global economic crisis that drastically reduced the ability of the United States and its allies to maintain a defense effort in the face of sharp austerity.