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Publikacja recenzowana / Peer-reviewed publication ; The article describes the process of developing the Polish-Germany military cooperation in the 21st century. It presents the bases for the bilateral military relationships between Poland and Germany and shows their development. The paper underlines the role of Germany in the Polish participation in NATO. The Author describes the common initiatives after joining the Pact, especially the participation of Bundeswehr in training and technical modernisation of the Polish armed forces. He claims that after the year 2015, the Polish-German military cooperation will be a function of Germany's pragmatics and Poland's history politics. The main problem of the Polish government will be the German willingness to constantly build NATO military bases in Poland.

Russia's military invasion of and war against Ukraine has caused enormous human suffering and material destruction. The situation also raises a number of academic and scholarly issues. This editorial describes the context for Arctic Review on Law and Politics' plans for a special, thematic series devoted to these matters.

Between the Second World War and the fall of the Berlin Wall Germany showed great aversion towards using military force for other purposes than territorial defense and held a multilateral balance between France and the United States with their respective ambitions EU and NATO. After the Wall fell, the German security policy started to change and German politicians increasingly argued for military use as a legitimate instrument in international politics. Among the driving forces for this process has been the change in European strategic culture as Europe is looking towards an integrated foreign and security policy, which may even go against German interest. L. Pitkaniemi

1970s military dictatorship in Latin America was followed by a democratization process in the 1980s, at a point when military powers had devastated the economy & more than doubled foreign debt. Now, in the beginning of the twenty-first century, the region finds itself in a period marked by governments that, perhaps more than ever before, are characterized by their reaction to the neo-liberal policies of the 1990s. Of particular concern in this respect is the changing relationship between the region & the United States, which in turn opens opportunity for the involvement of other international actors in the sphere. This brings about a high degree of uncertainty both for Latin America itself as well as for the international community. Some of the many cases of Latin American economies & politics in crisis are described here in detail. C Brunski

For a long time, the Arctic has been regarded as a stable region with low tension. However, even though low tension prevails, it is a fact that the circumpolar region also encompasses some of the world's most capable and potent military capabilities. The key role of the Arctic regarding security issues, international relations and geopolitics, is sometimes underplayed or not fully understood. These aspects of security are investigated in this thematic issue of Arctic Review on Law and Politics.

Baltic Sea, as an area of strategic importance for Russia's policy toward Europe, has become a place of showcase of Russia's military might. Its primary purpose is to show the international community the level of determination Russian authorities express to make national interests of the Federation included in the global politics. The number of incidents which cannot be a ground for military action on a larger scale – even according to Russian conventions – requires a politico- military response by regional supranational organizations. The response should take the form of smart-power strategies and the formula of military involvement must go beyond purely defensive action in response to enemy action. Hence, it is necessary to determine the scope of comprehensive EU and NATO operations (due to the need to protect the territorial sovereignty of Sweden and Finland) to offset the forms of Russian incidental activities in a way that does not elevate political tension in the region. Such a reaction is possible through effective impact on forms of activities on the waters of the Baltic Sea, which are important for Russia, notably shipping. The European Union, and the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) in particular, has appropriate instruments to create an effective impact. On the other hand, the role of the North Atlantic Treaty should be to prepare and conduct systematic and comprehensive operations which limit the possibility of encroaching on the treaty territory and protect the member states against Russia applying instruments of hybrid war. Key words: Baltic Sea, Russian national interests, NATO, The European Union

The change in the nature and ways of using military force in international politics at the end of the 20th century led to the development of new methods of cooperation between states. The circle of entities influencing diplomatic activities, apart from political and military institutions, expanded to include also civil and non-governmental centers. This raised questions about the scale of their actual impact on shaping international security and about the areas in which they were most active. This article aims to present the activities of Polish think tanks for defense diplomacy. Assuming that they showed commitment in this respect, the areas of activities they undertook were identified and the recipients to which they were addressed were pointed out. The analysis was based on data obtained as a result of a survey conducted at the turn of 2019-2020 on a group of fifteen Polish expert think tanks2 operating in the field of international relations, political science, and security and defense. The research used a comparative method (comparative studies), content analysis and a survey method. The tool with which the study was conducted was an electronic questionnaire developed in the Survio program. For the purposes of these analyzes, a hypothesis was adopted that non-political entities in the form of think tanks play an important role in activities for security. They address their activities to political, military and social circles, but the public and scientific circles benefit to the greatest extent from their expert potential.