1. Introduction

At the beginning of the 1990s, Poland and the countries adjacent to it, that is, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and Russia, had to organise their mutual relations in the political, security, social, and various other spheres. That is why Poland and its neighbours entered into treaties, known as ‘treaties on neighbourly relations’ or ‘good neighbourhood treaties’, aimed at facilitating their overall bilateral relations in the years to come. The Introduction to the book comprises a statement of aims, the research questions which the book attempts to answer, and a short presentation of the theme. The structure of the volume consists of five main parts, of which the first is devoted to the theoretical dimensions of good neighbourhood policy, while the rest cover Poland’s bilateral relations with its neighbours to the northeast, west, south, and east.