Reconciliation through Europeanization: Secondary foreign policy in the German–Polish borderlands

This article forms part of a Special Issue of this journal: Secondary Foreign policy – local international relations: can local cross border cooperation function as a tool to peace-building and reconciliation in border regions?

Abstract:

After the fall of communism in 1989, the German–Polish border assumed the role of a bridge in the reconciliation process between the two neighbours. From the beginning of Poland’s accession process to the European Community, the aim of national and regional policy was a ‘returning to Europe’ as well as the final confirmation of the Polish western border.

The normalization of German–Polish relations was treated as a tool to the building of peace in the whole of Central and Eastern Europe. This paper aims to examine the structures developed in the German–Polish borderlands in terms of their value as secondary foreign policy. I will thereby show the particular relevance of the Europeanization process, which has influenced bilateral relations along this border since 1991 and enhanced both cross-border cooperation and the reconciliation process between Germans and Poles.