Selected consequences of the increased international role of Germany for the cooperation with Russia and Poland during the era of globalization and crises of the Eur opean Union in the 21st century

Abstract

The paper focuses on synthetic and comprehensive presentation of the implications of the increasing international role of Germany for cooperation between Poland and Russia, in times of globalization and EU’s crises. The first part of the paper showcases the theoretical and practical aspects of the concept formation of Germany’s new international role, the so-called design concept (Gestaltungskonzept) of the foreign and security policies. The second part provides an overall assessment of Germany’s role in the attempts to resolve chosen EU’s crises – the European debt crisis of 2010, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict of 2014 as well as the large influx of illegal immigrants to the EU ever since the turn of August and September 2015. The third part concentrates on the analysis of the implications of the new role in the international arena assumed by Germany for the Polish and Russian cooperation. The conclusion of the paper is following: the growing international role of Germany in the second decade of the 21st century has had both positive and negative impact on the cooperation between Poland and Russia.