Poland and Germany in the European Union: The Multidimensional Dynamics of Bilateral Relations

This book explores the political and social dynamics of the bilateral relations between Germany and Poland at the national and subnational levels, taking into account the supranational dynamics, across such different policy areas as trade, foreign and security policy, energy, fiscal issues, health and social policy, migration and local governance.

By studying the impact of the three explanatory categories – the historical legacy, interdependence and asymmetry – on the bilateral relationship, the book explores the patterns of cooperation and identifies the driving forces and hindering factors of the bilateral relationship. Covering the Polish–German relationship since 2004, it demonstrates, in a systematic way, that it does not qualify as embedded bilateralism. The relationship remains historically burdened and asymmetric, and thus it is not resilient to crises.

This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of European and EU Politics, German politics, East/Central European Politics, borderlands studies, and more broadly, for international relations, history and sociology.

Elżbieta Opiłowska is Associate Professor of Sociology and Head of the Centre for Regional and Borderlands Studies at the Institute of Sociology of the University of Wrocław, Poland.

Monika Sus is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Political Studies at the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland, and a fellow at the Center for International Security at the Hertie School, Berlin, Germany.