National Defensive and Defense Strategies. Selected Planning Problems

The overall objective of undertaken research is to present national reflection on defense inPoland, in particular an image of the defense planning culture. The article focuses on issuesof defense strategy planning as a part of the complete state defensive strategy and indicatesthe necessary directions for changes in the essence of defense planning in the light of changesin the security and defense environment of Poland in the 21st century.In the study use has been made of an analysis and a critical review of normative documents,strategies and doctrines. The collected data allow the indication of changes of an applicationnature (projection method) to the theory of strategic planning in the field of national defense.This allowed proving that the future desired position of Poland in regional and even continentalEurope depends on the anticipated direction of development of Polish defense potential,defense system, and of course, a clearly expressed strategy. The most important element of thethree listed ones is naturally the strategy, the preparation of which requires regular cycles ofstrategic reviews, which are unfortunately not feasible in Poland. The article also emphasizesthe importance of assuring the stability of the planning system, the basic element of whichare experts, and whose regular fluctuation as a result of constant political changes causesa considerable destabilization of the planning system. Finally, attention is drawn to the factthat the defense strategy must take into account the complexity and unpredictability of thesecurity environment – which are its basic features today.