The European Union and the Black Sea

The European Union and the Black Sea PDF

Author: Sinem Akgul Acikmese

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-10-02

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 1317400364

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The idea for this book is derived from the scantiness of academic references on the European Union’s policies towards the Black Sea, relative to this region’s officially stated significance for the EU. Even though the EU plays a vital role in Black Sea political agendas, the EU’s cooperation with the region is not extensively covered by academic discussions and literature. This is mostly due to the fact that the EU’s focus on foreign affairs is mainly associated with the Balkans, as part the current and potential expansion, and the Middle East, as a direct consequence of the upheaval of the Arab Spring. The Black Sea region is crucially important for the EU because of the opportunities and challenges that the region presents, both politically and socio-economically. Contributions to this book mostly focus on specific issues of EU–Black Sea cooperation, from conflict to the environment to democracy, and how these particular relationships are perceived within the region as well as through the lenses of stakeholders such as Russia, Turkey, and the USA. Overall, the collection focuses on projecting a more efficient role and a holistic strategy for the EU in its approach towards the Black Sea region, testifying to the need for a strong EU presence. For this reason, the Black Sea area remains ‘the neighbourhood too close to, yet still far from, the European Union’. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies.

Establishing Security and Stability in the Wider Black Sea Area

Establishing Security and Stability in the Wider Black Sea Area PDF

Author: Peter M. E. Volten

Publisher: IOS Press

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 158603765X

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In this publication possible ways to promote security cooperation in the Wider Black Sea Area are being addressed. The area holds major importance for Euro-Atlantic security. Strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia, the region, after the dual NATO-EU enlargement in 2004-2007, became part of the periphery of the common Euro-Atlantic security system, with critical value for European energy security and the war on terrorism. The region faces a variety of security challenges, including regional conflicts, ethnic strife, terrorism, and powerful organized crime, while many of the countries have weak institutions, turbulent political systems, unstable economies and lack of democracy. In addition, the traffic of drugs to the West, the steady stream of militancy from the Middle East, and the energy lines from the oil and gas-rich regions of the East to an energy-hungry Europe gradually define the Wider Black Sea Area as a region urgently requiring political attention and investment in its security. This publication is intended to provide fresh ideas on the possible areas of security cooperation, even as the authors agreed that comprehensive, far-reaching policies are hard to attain in the near future.

The Black Sea Region and EU Policy

The Black Sea Region and EU Policy PDF

Author: Carol Weaver

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-03-23

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 1317040333

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The Black Sea region rarely hit the media headlines until the outbreak of war in Georgia in 2008, yet its importance as a focus of European Union (EU) external policy making had already been growing for several years. The area is fascinating and diverse, comprising both large and small states, with a mixture of democracies and more authoritarian regimes. Traditionally a central foreign policy concern for Russia and Turkey, since the end of the Cold War, the EU and the US have become increasingly involved in the many dimensions of Black Sea politics. This book brings together a broad range of specialists on the region to analyze the challenge of divergent agendas both within and outside the EU. More specifically it looks at how the EU's enlargement to include states on the Black Sea shore has brought about new external policies including the European Neighbourhood Policy, Black Sea Synergy and the Eastern Partnership, all representing subtly different aims and interests. The various sections in the book also examine regionalization, conflict resolution, security, relationships between the Black Sea's states and last but not least, the vital issue of energy which has begun to dominate the discussion of the region. Designed to further the debate on the future of EU policies for the Black Sea region, this book is an essential resource for researchers, students and others in search of a coherent picture of the inter-relationship of EU initiatives and policies in the region.

The Geopolitics of Region Building in the Black Sea

The Geopolitics of Region Building in the Black Sea PDF

Author: Yannis Tsantoulis

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-12-17

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 0429559445

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Offering theoretical insights on region building, this book explores the attempts to formulate a political and institutional vision for the Black Sea region in the post-9/11 era and in the context of the enlargements of the EU and NATO. It investigates in depth these attempts, viewed as a failure by the key actors involved, in order to understand how regions emerge in international politics as well as how and why they may fail to come into being. To this end, the book explores a range of factors that impacted region building in the Black Sea, considering the role of region builders involved, their practices and the context of their actions, and the spatial representations and security discourses that were integral to the region building process. Hence, attention is paid to how these factors both enabled and constrained the discursive construction of the Black Sea region, thus identifying the elements that distinguish the Black Sea from other successful cases of region building. Based on critical approaches towards international relations and political geography, this book both expands and deepens the scope and understanding of regions and will thus appeal to academics and students in the fields of International Relations, Security Studies, Political Geography, and Regional Integration.

Security and Cross-Border Cooperation in the EU, the Black Sea Region and Southern Caucasus

Security and Cross-Border Cooperation in the EU, the Black Sea Region and Southern Caucasus PDF

Author: A. Ergun

Publisher: IOS Press

Published: 2013-02-28

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 1614991871

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Cross-border cooperation is vital to overcoming obstacles to security building and the consolidation of stability, particularly in regions prone to political upheaval and conflict.This book presents papers from the NATO Advanced Research Workshop entitled “Security and Cross-Border Cooperation in the EU, Black Sea Region and Southern Caucasus”. This workshop was part of the NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme, and was held in Ankara, Turkey, in September 2011. It focused on developing a future research agenda, strengthening regional studies and increasing interdisciplinarity and the means to improve cross-border cooperation and was aimed at providing a comprehensive, interactive and interdisciplinary account of security building and cross-border cooperation in which domestic, regional and international dimensions were discussed. The book is divided into three sections. The first provides an analysis of the role of international and domestic actors in contributing to security building in the Euro-Atlantic, the Black Sea and the Southern Caucasus regions. The second section discusses the patterns of cross-border cooperation in Eastern and Central Europe and the wider Black Sea region, concentrating on Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia and the Russian Federation. With references to the nature of international involvement in conflict resolution, the last section focuses on cross-border cooperation in the Southern Caucasus, where conflicts have an enormous impact on nation-building, state-building and democratization, and where prospects for stability and a viable peace remain in serious question. This book is a valuable contribution to the literature on area studies, cross-border cooperation, security, and peace studies.

A NATO Strategy for Security in the Black Sea Region

A NATO Strategy for Security in the Black Sea Region PDF

Author: Steven Horrell

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 8

ISBN-13:

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"NATO faces a worsening security environment defined by Russia's growing willingness to challenge the West and a Europe whole, free, and at peace. In this new geo-political context the Black Sea region is one of the central friction zones between Russia and NATO. While the Alliance has recently pledged to protect its eastern flank against aggression, overall capacity challenges have resulted in little increased presence in the Black Sea. "A NATO Strategy for Security in the Black Sea Region" takes stock of the security and defense challenges in the broader region and offers operational and policy recommendations for NATO to address security in the Black Sea region"--Publisher's description.