The article analyses and compares the cultural diplomacy of Poland and Great Britain in the 21st century. Its main objective was to identify the areas for improvement in Polish cultural diplomacy and to determine what actions, drawing inspiration from the UK’s cultural diplomacy efforts and expertise, Poland should take to improve its cultural diplomacy The article consists of three parts. Part one comprises a theoretical introduction. Part two consists of two subsections: the first subsection discusses the structure of British and of Polish cultural diplomacy; the second subsection focuses on coordination and evaluation of the activities of Polish and British cultural diplomacy institutions. Part three includes the conclusions and recommendations for Poland. The research methods used were the source analysis and the comparative method. The following recommendations can be proposed for Poland: to create one coordinating institution with legal power to oversee the performance of cultural diplomacy institutions; to establish a platform for consultation and cooperation among the entities conducting cultural diplomacy; to change Polish law so as to allow more involvement of the interested ministries in the activities of cultural diplomacy institutions; to define clear goals and invent a coherent system of evaluation of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and other cultural diplomacy institutions; and to harmonise the activities of these institutions with Polish foreign policy.

Attracting foreign direct investment to the Western Balkans has been in the last decades a major challenge for administrations and political parties ruling the respective countries. However, the perception that their legal system is slow, pressured by political influence and political frictions, that the government policies are unreliable, corrupted and affected by direct interference (immixtion directe) of the national political systems and their policies, have prevented foreign investors to invest massively in SEE. 
Against this background, the findings of the article show that factors related to good governance such as the rule of law, including judicial efficiency, freedom from corruption, political environment and stability, efficiency in the public administration, environmental politics, risk and crisis management may be more relevant to attracting Foreign Direct Investment in the post war period than factors related to the economic potential or the capital and labor of the market, or other controversial elements such as taxation, wage variation, exchange rates, growth or trade balance. 
However, in periods troubled by secessionist movements and tendencies, the process initiated by the UK government to withdrawn from the EU – the Brexit process, could send a negative signal to the states where economic and political nationalism is an important factor in the rhetoric of the political class.

In  recent  years  the  seemingly  firm  historical  ties  between  Warsaw  and  Berlin  have  become  increasingly strained. This results from a growing political asymmetry between the two countries. Germany moved into a semi-hegemonial position under the conditions of the triple crisis of banking, economy  and  sovereign  debt  in  the  eurozone.  Consequently,  German  chancellor  Angela  Merkel  was  in  a  strong  enough  position  to  implement  ordoliberal  reforms  of  the  eurozone’s  governance  architecture,  which  were  promoted  as  an  approach  without  alternatives.  Merkel  maintained  her  uncompromising  stance  during  the  migration  crisis  in  the  summer  of  2015,  when  she  demanded  implementation of compulsory migrant distribution quotas across the EU. Poland and the Visegrád countries had initially strongly supported German leadership in resolving the eurozone crisis. The alienation  from  Germany’s  European  agenda  however  became  significant  under  the  conditions  of  the  migration  crisis.  Here  the  firm  opposition  of  Poland  and  the  rest  of  the  Visegrád  Group  towards Germany’s preferences shows a strategic mismatch between the EU’s liberal core, which is spearheaded by Germany, and the concept of the “illiberal” state, which Poland has embraced under the  PiS  government.  The  willingness  to  resolve  these  differences  will  be  crucial  in  determining  the  future shape of Polish-German relations.