| Abstract [eng] |
Bilateral relations of Lithuania and Poland have had significant ups and downs since reestablishment of both of their independence after the fall of the Soviet Union. Reasons for these dramatic shifts are colourful and plentiful: ethnic tensions, hot and cold interpersonal relationships of the leaders, joint objective of Euroatlantic integration etc. However, the novel coronavirus pandemic has presented bilateral relations of these two countries with a variable never seen before. Hence, the objective of this Master‘s thesis research is the impact of COVID-19 pandemic to the strategic partnership of Lithuania and Poland. In this thesis, the object of analysis is theoretically approached from two different angles: in order to explore the effect of the pandemic to strategic partnership of Lithuania in Poland, one must be aware of its historic dynamic and current state. As is pointed out in this thesis, since 2015-2016, bilateral relations are experiencing a period of increased cooperation and more constructive rhetoric, due to new political leadership, common perceived enemy and strategic goals, among various other, less significant reasons. Furthermore, it is vital to grasp the role of International Relations theory in global health, and how the states, according to several classic theories, behave during the pandemic. In this regard, it is concluded, that the theory with the most to offer in explaining states‘ behaviour during a health crisis is the realist approach. That is precisely the reason why realism is employed as a theoretical basis of the research, which was carried out as a case study, employing qualitative-interpretative method. Taking from the notion of strategic partnership, found in Lithuanian and foreign literature, as well pandemical realism, 4 main qualitative dependent variables were derived: (1) bilateral relationship on a highest political level, as well as attempts to institutionalise them; (2) societal perceptions towards each other; (3) intensive interinstitutional, intersectoral and strategic cooperation; (4) the convergence of strategic goals. In order to achieve the objective, pivotal events were identified, public speaches of the leaders analysed, and various other data sources interpreted and secondary sources analysed. It was concluded that (1) the highest level political bilateral relations, which were, at least quantitavely speaking, on an upward trend, were not significantly affected by the COVID-19 crisis. The pandemic provided an opportunity to cooperate on the highest political level. (2) Societal, in this specific case – expert communities‘ perception of each other should not and could not be considered good or very good: Lithuanian experts rated Poland‘s response to the crisis as the poorest in EU27, while Polands experts did not rate Lithuania at all. (3) Although Lithuanian and Polish interinstitutional, intersectional cooperation and strategic infrastructural projects have flowed as per usual so far during the pandemic, however, some opportunities for cooperation were not seized. (4) No new strategic goals of Lithuania and Poland appeared on the agenda, and, by extention, no existing ones were dropped during the pandemic so far. It must be acknowledged, that the pandemic, directly or indirectly, helped widen, deepen and make some of the common strategic objectives more clear. All in all, this Master‘s thesis concludes that, while several historic „breaking points“ of Lithuanain-Polish bilateral relationship, where previously stagnated or outright confrontational relations suddenly were improved and vice-versa, could be identified, however, COVID-19 pandemic so far has not been that. Moreover, as a result of the pandemic, no new strategically incompatible and problematic goals, neither for Lithuania, nor for Poland, were identified. It did, however, spawn a number of opportunities for an even closer cooperation between the two states, but they were not successfully seized. |
