On 13 March in the Libraria of the Collegium Maius of the Jagiellonian University, the seminar titled “Foreign policy analysis — current state of research and future prospects” organised by the Institute of Political Science and International Relations of the Jagiellonian University and the Krakow branch of the Polish Association for International Studies (PTSM).

During the seminar, two books on Foreign Policy Analysis had their première. In 2017, the Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego (Jagiellonian University Press) released a monograph by Tomasz Pugacewicz, PhD, titled „Teorie polityki zagranicznej. Perspektywa amerykańskiej analizy polityki zagranicznej” (Theories of Foreign Policy. American Foreign Policy Perspective).

In 2018, Rambler Press published a collective work “Badanie polityki zagranicznej państwa” (Research on foreign policy) edited by Professor Edward M. Haliżak. Among the co-authors of this publication were the following employees of the Jagiellonian University: Magdalena Kozub-Karkut, PhD, Rafał Kwieciński, PhD, and Iwona Krzyżanowska-Skowronek, PhD.

Professor Andrzej Mania, president of the Krakow branch of the PTSM and vice-president of the Board of the PTSM, opened the meeting and thanked the Director of the International Politics of the Institute of Political Science and International Relations of the Jagiellonian University, Professor Robert Kłosowicz for his help with organising the event.

The next speaker was the president of the seminar, Małgorzata Zachara, PhD, from the Institute of American Studies and Polish Diaspora, who introduced three speakers, Professor Teresa Łoś-Nowak, Professor Edward M. Haliżak, and Tomasz Pugacewicz, PhD.

Professor Teresa Łoś-Nowak, long-term employee of the Wrocław University, doctor honoris causa of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin spoke first and discussed the perception of theorising on foreign policy only a few years ago, when she was editing a collective work titled Polityka zagraniczna: aktorzy, potencjały, strategie (2011). She stated that from this perspective, currently publish papers are a sign of progress in this area.

Professor Edward Haliżak, president of the PTSM and long-term director of the Institute of International Relations of the University of Warsaw, described the reasons behind his interest in theoretical aspects of foreign policy and pointed out to the role of PTSM in the development of such studies in Poland, providing the example of the conference organised in Łódź in 2016 and the publications related to it. Professor Haliżak emphasised that the analysis of foreign policy was a sub-discipline of International Relations. 

Tomasz Pugacewicz, PhD, employee of the Chair in the History of Diplomacy and International Politics of the Institute of Political Science and International Relations of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, presented the assumptions behind foreign policy theories seeking causal variables on the level of the state. He discussed the history of this approach from the mid-1950s to the present day from the perspective of changing scientific assumptions and international milieu.

The second part of the seminar was the audience discussion. The participants included Professor Krzysztof Pałecki, Radosław Rybkowski, PhD, Marcin Grabowski, PhD, Magdalena Kozub-Karkut, PhD, Maciej Herbut, PhD, Paulina Napierała, PhD, and Mr Mikołaj Sokołowski.

The organisers wish to thank Agnieszka Batko, MA and students of the Institute of Political Science and International Relations of the Jagiellonian University, Marcin Kubicki, Michał Gumułka, and Jakub Stefanowski for their help in the preparation of the seminar.