Przegląd Zachodni
Western Review

"Przegląd Zachodni", a scientific journal of the Institute for Western Affairs, has been published without interruption for nearly six decades. Since 1991, the periodical has been coming out on a quarterly basis in a new get-up. Its Editor-in-Chief is Hanka Dmochowska. The periodical's central area of interest is summarized in the motto: Poland - Germany - Europe. This focus reflects the actual research profile of the Institute for Western Affairs and the research priorities of its staff members. The journal welcomes contributions from recognized and debuting Polish and foreign authors whose research interests revolve around Europe and global issues. 3/2001 was "Przegląd Zachodni's" three hundredth issue. Since the early 1990s, the periodical's traditional focus on the history of Germany and contemporary Germany cast against the background of Polish-German relations and Western European integration has been expanded to include European issues. A growing number of articles deal with integration in Western Germany, transformations in Central and Eastern Europe and mutual relations between both parts of the European Continent. Among its standing features are descriptions of Polish post-war reality, especially articles revisiting fossilized views and providing insights into "little private homelands". Although every issue of "Przegląd Zachodni" covers a wide range of topics, a single underlying theme is usually selected. In past issues, such themes have included the unification of Germany, the German minority in Poland, Europe and America: when two worlds meet, the united Germany in the new Europe, the Europe of little homelands, the 20th century - a time of hardship, Wielkopolska on the threshold of a new century, Poles and Germans six decades after the outbreak of World War II, a decade of transition in Central Europe, European integration, Poland's road to the European Union, European cooperation, the new challenge of globalization and Germans in border areas. To mark its fiftieth anniversary, the Institute for Western Affairs put out two special editions. One, issue 3/1994, presented the work and the people behind the Institute over its five decades of existence and discussed its prospects for growth, research plans and selected documents on the Institute's history. The other, issue 2/1995, featured a selection of articles published in "Przegląd Zachodni" from 1945 to 1990. The articles brought back to memory some of the views, the atmosphere and the nature of past debates on topics that to this day remain in the center of the Institute's research interest, such as the Western and Northern Territories, contemporary Germany, Polish-German relations, international relations and European integration. The issues were approached in an interdisciplinary manner against a historical context and in reference to recent developments. Each issue of "Przegląd Zachodni" follows a prescribed format and is comprised of sections containing articles, historical material, surveys, commentaries, debates, reviews and scientific chronicles. Some issues additionally feature coverage of current issues, conferences, recent research, and interesting discussions or interviews with interesting people. Although its circulation is just 500, "Przegląd Zachodni" reaches a number of research institutes, political and social institutions, libraries, archives and individual readers in Poland and in over 25 foreign countries.