HUMAN RIGHTS IN POLISH FOREIGN POLICY AFTER 1989

Dr. Agnieszka Bieńczyk-Missalais a lecturer at the Institute of International Relations of the Warsaw University and analyst at the Polish Institute of International Affairs. She is engaged in problems of human rights and democracy, primarily in the context of security and foreign policy, and has written articles that have appeared inRocznik Strategiczny,Sprawy Międzynarodowe, Stosunki MiędzynarodoweandPuls Świata. Poland has no shortage of symbols that have inspired engagement for the sake of human rights. The long years of struggle for your freedom and ours, the suffering of World War II, Lech Wałęsas Solidarity, Pope John Paul II... The world has appreciated our contribution to the collapse of the twin-bloc system and our services for the spread of democracy in Europea fulfilment of the human rights and freedoms that the Polish Solidarity movement advocated. Has this romantic heritage been exploited? Did Poland succeed in building the image of a country that consistently extols human rights in the international arena? While dealing with important problems of security, the construction of independence and the creation of a free market economy, did she remember those whose fundamental rights are still being ignored? Dealing with this important and fascinating topic, the author has drawn upon rich source materials, including government and parliamentary publications, official journals and records of meetings of the relevant international authorities, and has also interviewed people engaged in the protection of human rights. This book, resting on a firm foundation of sources and written with boldness and skill, is the only work on the publishing market devoted to the subject of human rights in Polish foreign policy after 1989.