Poland Beyond Solidarity: Defining New Priorities for Polish Domestic and Foreign Policy
A report reflecting the views of the Network 20/20 delegation to Poland, November 2005.
Author: Joanna Gwozdziowski, with George Billard and Ion Nemerenco
Additional Contributors: Brigitte Rajacic, Amit Vemuri, and Michel Zaleski
Edited by Richard M. Murphy
Poland delegates at a meeting, fall 2005 | George Billard
In November 2005, a select group of Network 20/20 members traveled to Poland for 10 days of intensive discussions with senior government officials, journalists, business leaders, academics, and other influential Polish authorities. As has been the case with other field visits, members with local roots arranged for the delegation to meet with a wide variety of leaders not otherwise accessible to groups like Network 20/20.
Members were eager to visit Poland for several reasons including the fact that, based on a recent poll, it was one of only four nations whose population on the whole expressed favorable feelings toward the United States. Moreover, Poland, with its 40 million people, had a growing economy and was becoming the power house of Central Europe as well as a political and economic force in the European Union.
As parliamentary and presidential elections both occurred in the fall of 2005, Network 20/20 visited Poland at a critical moment in the country’s political history. Our delegation’s findings were summarized in our report, Poland Beyond Solidarity: Defining New Priorities for Polish Domestic and Foreign Policy. This report was well-received by policy makers in the U.S.