Bridging the European Divide: Middle Power Politics and Regional
Security Dilemmas. By Joshua B. Spero. Lanham, MD: Rowman &
Littlefield, 2004. 360p. $75.00.
The focus of this work is narrower than the title implies. It is
actually a close study of the policies of Poland's first noncommunist
foreign minister, Krystof Skubiszewski, who served all four
Solidarnosc-based governments, 1989–93, and thus set Poland on its
present course. Joshua Spero abundantly praises Skubiszewski for pursuing
policies that not only safeguarded Poland's interests but kept
Central Europe out of the traps of the interwar period.