Between Two Poles: Poland, NATO and the balance of European defence

Abstract

This thesis examines how the recent repositioning of NATO within European Union defence cooperation has affected the domestic political contestation in Poland. Poland makes a particularly relevant case for this research because of its strong Atlanticist identity and its strong reliance on the United States and NATO. This paper sees the second presidency of Trump and the introduction of Readiness 2030 as the triggers for the repositioning of NATO within the European defence structure. The framework of the theories of post-functionalism and politicization was used to approach the analysis and measure domestic political contestation. The analysis is done through a qualitative document analysis from various sources at the national level in a before-and-after structure, with the month of March 2025 as the cut-off point. Based on the results, signs were found that defence policy was politicized after the month of March 2025 in Poland. While NATO remained central to Poland’s security outlook, the EU’s role in defence became more visible and contested. This thesis concludes by discussing contributions, limitations and suggestions for further research.