The Road to NATO: From the Perspective of Poland’s Ambassador to Washington
The Road to NATO: From the Perspective of Poland’s Ambassador to Washington

Summary/Abstract: The subject of this paper leaves room for a dose of subjectivism and permits dispensing with the stern rigors of academic discourse, as it allows a fragment of the history of Poland to be viewed through the eyes of an individual situated in a specific place at a specific time. The place was Washington and the time—the six years between 1994 and 2000 or, in fact, even a bit longer, because from the autumn of 1993, while serving prior to the commencement of my mission in Washington as vice-minister of foreign affairs, I had also the opportunity of participating in a process that ultimately led to Poland’s NATO membership. By that time belief that the Atlantic option was the correct choice already prevailed in Polish political and opinion-forming communities. This choice was preceded by discussions in which differing concepts of ways to ensure lasting security for a free Poland had emerged and clashed.

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