As a result of international agreements and alliances signed, over 5,000 NATO troops are stationed in Poland in rotational mode. Conditions of their stationing, functioning and movement across the Polish territory is regulated by the Host Nation Support (HNS) system, which has been built and developed since 2002. One of the objectives and principles of operation of allied troops is civil-military cooperation (CIMIC) and building ties with the local community.
Building these ties and thus positive perceptions of military personnel may allow the U.S. government to enter into favorable base and force status agreements more easily with foreign countries. Cooley and Nexon (2013) note that the U.S. basing network exists because of shared security interests and common values of EU and U.S.
Thus, there is a militarization of an area, which we can think of as a multidimensional and diverse set of social, cultural, economic, and political processes and practices, united around the intent to gain both elite and popular acceptance for applying a military approach to social problems and issues (Rech and all., 2015).
Taking into account previous research on overseas military bases (Kawato, 2015; Yeo 2017; Lutz, 2009) and my own conducted scientific research in Poland (2021), I present the impact of a military unit coming from another country on local and regional politics, the process of cooperation and integration between regions in countries in Central Europe (e.g. Poland), which due to historical conditions (belonging to the Warsaw Pact) faces many threats but also benefits due to its geographical and geopolitical location.
An important aspect of the speech is to show the relationship between NATO, U.S., the European Union, and the host country in the context of common economic, security and defense policy.
Mots clés : military base|base politics|NATO|central Europe|militarization
A103384GS