The issue of raw material security in Poland’s contemporary national security strategies

Abstract

This article examines the issue of ensuring raw material security as seen in the contemporary national security strategies of Poland. The temporal framework identified as “contemporary” indicates that the analysis embraced documents from the period 2003–2020, which mark a significant qualitative change in terms of defining and understanding security as an area which is not dominated by its hard, military aspect. The study aims to identify, discuss and compare various concepts of ensuring raw material security to Poland on the basis of the four strategies of Poland’s national security. The following research problems were formulated to achieve the research objectives defined in this way: to what extent is the issue of Poland’s raw material security present in the documents analyzed? What tools have the authors of the strategies employed to ensure security in Poland in terms of raw materials? What are the main difficulties in ensuring raw material security to Poland highlighted by the analyzed national security strategies? Are there any convergences in the visions of ensuring Poland’s raw material security presented in the analyzed strategies? The research questions formulated in this way served as the basis for the following research hypothesis: given an increase in non-military threats, the raw material-related dimension of security is increasingly emphasized in national security strategies. The research methods used in this article include the comparative method and source analysis. The technique of analysis was also used.