Parting the Black Sea (Region): Geopolitics, Institutionalisation and the Reconfiguration of European Security

Abstract

This article examines critically one of the most active regional dynamics of European security, centred on the Black Sea. Recently, the Black Sea region has received increased attention from a variety of political actors, who seek to increase the profile of the region in order to develop a common regional identity and an integrated approach to the security problems of the Black Sea region. This resurgence of the Black Sea region can be understood as the combined product of local interests, European integration and the ‘global war on terror’. The main argument of the article is that Black Sea security integration is characterised by a fundamental contradiction between two different logics of security—geopolitical and institutional. Three other problems—transposition, fragmentation, and duplication—are also discussed. In the conclusion, the article examines the significance of the efforts to build the Black Sea region for the future of regional integration in European security.

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this article was presented in the seminar ‘Globalization, Geopolitics, and European Security’, at the Centre for European Politics, Security and Integration, at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, March 2006. For their constructive and helpful engagements on previous drafts, I am indebted to Alan Ingram, Richard Mole, Karen Smith, and Radu Ungureanu. I must also thank Andrea Ellner, editor-in-chief of European Security, and the three anonymous referees, for their detailed and very useful comments.

Notes

1. Andrew Cottey (ed.), Subregional Cooperation in the New Europe. Building Security, Prosperity and Solidarity from the Barents to the Black Sea (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1998); Andrew Cottey, ‘Europe's New Subregionalism’, The Journal of Strategic Studies 23/2 (June 2000), pp. 23–47; Ian Bremmer and Alyson Bailes, ‘Sub-Regionalism in the Newly Independent States’, International Affairs 74/1 (January 1998), pp. 131–147; Peter J. Katzenstein, ‘Regionalism in Comparative Perspective’, Cooperation and Conflict 31/2 (June 1996), pp. 123–159; Raimo Väyrynen, ‘Regionalism: Old and New’, International Studies Review 5/1 (March 2003), pp. 25–51.

2. See for example ‘Multiple Europes: Boundaries and Margins in European Union Enlargement’, roundtable in Geopolitics 10/3 (Autumn 2005), pp. 567–591.

3. Among many, see Tom Gallagher, ‘To Be or Not to Be Balkan: Romania's Quest for Self-Definition’, Daedalus 126/3 (1997), pp. 63-83; Dimitar Bechev, ‘Constructing South East Europe: The Politics of Regional Identity in the Balkans’, RAMSES Working Paper 1/06 (2006); Célia Chauffour, ‘Georgia Throws a Smokescreen before our Eyes’ (2005), available at http://www.caucaz.com/home_eng/breve_contenu.php?id=206 accessed on 24 March 2006.

4. I discuss this theme and the debates in the literature in Felix Ciută, ‘Region? Why Region? Security, Hermeneutics, and the Making of the Black Sea Region’, forthcoming in Geopolitics, 2007 13/1 (2008). See for example Ole Wæver, ‘Nordic Nostalgia: Northern Europe after the Cold War’, International Affairs 68/1 (January 1992), pp. 77–102; Iver B. Neumann, ‘A Region-Building Approach to Northern Europe’, Review of International Studies 20/1 (January 1994), pp. 53–74; Pami Aalto et al., ‘The Critical Geopolitics of Northern Europe: Identity Politics Unlimited’, Geopolitics 8/1 (Spring 2003), pp. 1–19; Christopher S. Browning, ‘The Region-Building Approach Revisited: The Continued Othering of Russia in Discourses of Region-Building in the European North’, Geopolitics 8/1 (Spring 2003), pp. 45–71; Christopher S. Browning and Perti Joenniemi, ‘Regionality beyond Security? The Baltic Sea Region after Enlargement’, Cooperation and Conflict 39/3 (September 2004), pp. 233–53.

5. See Felix Ciută, ‘The End(s) of NATO: Security, Strategic Action and Narrative Transformation’, Contemporary Security Policy 23/1 (April 2002), pp. 35–62.

6. See Ciută, ‘Why Region?’

7. See Romanian Presidency, The National Security Strategy of Romania—NSSR, Bucharest, 2006; Traian Băsescu, ‘Speech at the International Conference “A Common Vision on our Common Neighbourhood”’, Vilnius, 4 May 2006; Traian Băsescu, ‘Address to the Conference “Economic Development and Security in the Black Sea Region”’, Bucharest, 31 October 2006; Adrian Năstase, ‘Agenda Across the Sea’, The Washington Times, 8 December 2004; Mircea Geoană, ‘Regional Security and Democratic Development in the Black Sea Region’, Nixon Centre Program Brief 10/2, 3 February 2003; Mircea Geoană, ‘Romania's Black Sea Agenda—and America's Interests’, In the National Interest 31/6, 11 February 2004; Mircea Geoană, ‘Speech at the Seminar on “Challenges and Opportunities in the Black Sea Region. Contribution of International Organizations to Enhancing Regional Stability”’, 11 December 2004; Mircea Geoană, ‘Security Cooperation with Russia, Ukraine, and the Caucasus: Opportunities and Challenges for EUCOM in the Black and Caspian Sea Regions. Leveraging an Enlarged Euro-Atlantic Community in the Black Sea Region’, address at the Seminar of the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, 23 July 2004; George C. Maior and Mihaela Matei, ‘The Black Sea Region in an Enlarged Europe: Changing Patterns, Changing Politics’, Mediterranean Quarterly 16/1 (Winter 2005), pp. 33–51; Ovidiu Dranga, ‘Negotiating Security Cooperation in the Black Sea Region’, Speech at Harvard University Black Sea Security Program's Regional Workshop, Batumi, September 2004, available at http://www.harvard-bssp.org/publications/?id=162 accessed on 11 July 2005. See also Ines Hartwig, ‘Romania and the Black Sea Economic Cooperation: Leaning towards the East of the West?’, in Duncan Light and David Phinnemore (eds), Post-Communist Romania. Coming to Terms with Transition (London: Palgrave, 2001), pp. 270–287.

8. Traian Băsescu, ‘Inaugural Speech’, Bucharest, 21 December 2004; Traian Băsescu, ‘Speech delivered on the occasion of the Conference “Black Sea Area and Euro-Atlantic Security: Strategic Opportunities”’, Bucharest, 20 April 2005; Traian Băsescu, ‘The Black Sea Region—Advancing Freedom, Democracy and Regional Stability’, Speech at the Council on Foreign Relations, Washington D.C., 10 March 2005.

9. Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine; Austria, Belarus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Tunisia and the US have observer status.

10. See Mustafa Aydin, ‘Europe's Next Shore: The Black Sea Region after EU Enlargement’, EU Institute for Security Studies Occasional Paper 53 (2004); Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, ‘Cooperative Efforts in the Black Sea Region’, in Oleksandr Pavliuk and Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze (eds), The Black Sea Region. Cooperation and Security Building (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe and East–West Institute, 2004); Ioannis Stribis, ‘The Evolving Security Concern in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation’, Journal of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 3/3 (September 2003), pp. 130–162; Oleksandr Pavliuk, ‘The Black Sea Economic Cooperation: Will Hopes Become Reality?’, in Andrew Cottey (ed.), Subregional Cooperation in the New Europe: Building Security and Solidarity from the Barents to the Black Sea (London: Macmillan, 1999).

11. The members of the Community of Democratic Choice are Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Slovenia and Ukraine, while Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, the US, the EU and the OSCE have observer status.

12. ‘Declaration of the Countries of the Community of Democratic Choice’, Kyiv, 2 December 2005; Jean-Christophe Peuch, ‘Leaders Meet In Ukraine To Create New Regional Alliance’, RFE/RL News, 1 December 2005; Jean-Christophe Peuch, ‘Regional Leaders Set Up Community Of Democratic Choice’, RFE/RL News, 2 December 2005; Célia Chauffour, ‘The Community of Democratic Choice: A Brilliant PR Coup?’ (2005), available at http://www.caucaz.com/home_eng/breve_contenu.php?id=205 accessed on 24 March 2006.

13. ‘Joint Declaration of the Black Sea Forum for Dialogue and Partnership’, Bucharest, 5 June 2006, available at http://www.blackseaforum.org/ accessed on 4 December 2006; ‘GMF Announces Creation of Black Sea Trust’, The German Marshall Fund of the United States Press Release, 5 June 2006, available at http://www.gmfus.org/press/article.cfm?id=62&parent_type=R accessed on 14 June 2006.

14. See ‘The Final Declaration of the Conference on Interregional Cooperation in the Black Sea Area’, 30 March 2006.

15. Ronald D. Asmus et al. (eds), A New Euro-Atlantic Strategy for the Black Sea Region (Washington: The German Marshall Fund 2004); Ronald D. Asmus, Bruce P. Jackson, ‘The Black Sea and the Frontiers of Freedom: Towards a New Euro-Atlantic Strategy’, Policy Review 125 (June–July 2004), pp. 17–26; Ronald D. Asmus, ‘Westernize the Black Sea Region’, Project Syndicate Commentary (2004), available at http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/1680/1 accessed on 3 March 2005; Ronald D. Asmus, ‘Anchor the Black Sea Region in the West’, The Nation, 8 September 2004; Bruce P. Jackson, ‘The Future of Democracy in the Black Sea Region’, Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Subcommittee on European Affairs, 8 March 2005; Vladimir Socor, ‘Advancing Euro-Atlantic Security and Democracy in the Black Sea Region’, Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Subcommittee on European Affairs, 8 March 2005; Bruce P. Jackson, ‘The “Soft War” for Europe's East: Russia and the West Square off’, Policy Review 137 (June–July 2006), pp. 3–14; Ronald D. Asmus (ed.), Next Steps in Forging a Euroatlantic Strategy for the Wider Black Sea (Washington: The German Marshall Fund, 2006).

16. Asmus et al., A New Euro-Atlantic Strategy; Asmus, Next Steps.

17. From this point forward, I will use the abbreviation ‘BSR project’ when referring to the Black Sea region project in the sense outlined above.

18. Charles King, The Black Sea: A History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004); Oleksandr Pavliuk and Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze (eds), The Black Sea Region. Cooperation and Security Building (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe and East–West Institute, 2004); Stephen Blank, ‘The Black Sea Region: Time for a Transatlantic Initiative’, New Europe Review 2/3 (2005), available at http://neweuropereview.com/English/Blank-English.cfm accessed on 27 January 2006; Stephen Blank, ‘Security In and Around the Black Sea: Is a Virtuous Circle Now Possible?’, Mediterranean Quarterly 16/3 (Summer 2005), pp. 44–66; Michael Emerson, ‘The Black Sea as Epicentre of the Aftershocks of the EU's Earthquake’, Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) Policy Brief 79 (2005); Graeme Herd and Fotios Moustakis, ‘Black Sea Geopolitics: Dilemmas, Obstacles and Prospects’, Conflict Studies Research Centre G84 (2000).

19. Federico Bordonaro, ‘Bulgaria, Romania and the Changing Structure of the Black Sea's Geopolitics’, Power and Interest News Report (PINR), 20 May 2005, available at http://www.nato.int/romania/blackseageopolitics.pdf accessed on 25 May 2005; Geoană, ‘Romania's Black Sea Agenda’; Blank, ‘The Black Sea Region’.

20. Asmus and Jackson, ‘The Black Sea and the Frontiers of Freedom’, p. 2.

21. Maior and Matei, ‘The Black Sea Region in an Enlarged Europe’, pp. 49–50.

22. Asmus, ‘Anchor the Black Sea Region in the West’.

23. See for example Traian Băsescu, ‘Address to the Black Sea Forum for Dialogue and Partnership’, Bucharest, 5 June 2006.

24. Asmus and Jackson, ‘The Black Sea and the Frontiers of Freedom’, p. 5.

25. Răzvan Ungureanu, ‘Remarks on a Security Concept for the Wider Black Sea Area’, NATO Defense College Occasional Paper 11/1 (2005), pp. 15–17. The concept of ‘democratic security’ was initially formulated by the Council of Europe in the ‘Vienna Declaration’, 9 October 1993.

26. Halil Akinci, ‘Developing a New Euro-Atlantic Strategy for the Black Sea Region: Constraints and Prospects’, in Asmus et al., A New Euro-Atlantic Strategy, p. 62.

27. Mihai E. Ionescu, ‘Wider Black Sea Region Cooperation: A Historical Survey’, NATO Defense College Occasional Paper 11/1 (2005), pp. 24–26; see also Fiona Hill and Omer Taspinar, ‘Turkey and Russia: Axis of the Excluded?’, Survival 48/1 (2006), pp. 81–92; Suat Kiniklioglu, ‘The Anatomy of Turkish–Russian Relations’, Brookings Institute (2006), available at http://www.brookings.edu/comm/events/20060523sabanci_3a.pdf accessed on 19 November 2006; Igor Torbakov, ‘Turkey Sides with Moscow over Black Sea Force’, Eurasia Daily Monitor 3/43, 3 March 2006; ‘Russia Objects to NATO Naval Operation expanding into Black Sea: Defense Minister’, Pravda, 9 September 2006; Vladimir Socor, ‘Moscow, Ankara Reluctant to Welcome New Black Sea Forum’, Eurasia Daily Monitor 3/112, 9 June 2006.

28. See ‘US Drops Black Sea Plan, Turkey Relieved’, Turkish Daily News, 8 May 2006, available at http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=42782 accessed on 19 November 2006.

29. For example Halford Mackinder, ‘The Geographical Pivot of History’, The Geographical Journal 23/4 (April 1904), pp. 421–437; Karl Haushofer, ‘Why Geopolitik?’, in Gearóid Ó Tuathail et al. (eds), The Geopolitics Reader, 2^nd ed. (London: Routledge, 2006), pp. 40–42; Nicholas J. Spykman and Abbie A. Robbins, ‘Geographic Objectives in Foreign Policy, II’, American Political Science Review 33/4 (August 1939), pp. 591–614; Robert Strauz-Hupé, Geopolitics: The Struggle for Space and Power (New York: Putman, 1942). See also M. Bassin and K.E. Aksenov, ‘Mackinder and the Heartland Theory in Post-Soviet Geopolitical Discourse’, Geopolitics 11/1 (Spring 2006), pp. 99–118; and P. Venier, ‘The Geographical Pivot of History and Early Twentieth Century Geopolitical Culture’, The Geographical Journal 170/4 (December 2004), pp. 330–336.

30. Oleksandr Pavliuk, ‘Introduction’, in Pavliuk and Klympush-Tsintsadze, The Black Sea Region, p. 9.

31. Vladimir Socor, quoted in Ziua, 26 May 2006.

32. Yuri Kochubei, ‘The Black Sea Orientation: Past and Present’, Politics and the Times 1 (2003), available at http://www.pltimes.uct.kiev.ua/en20031/KOCHUBEI.HTM accessed on 17 April 2005; R. Bruce Hitchner, ‘The Sea Friendly to Strangers: History and the Making of a Euro-Atlantic Strategy for the Black Sea’, in Asmus et al., A New Euro-Atlantic Strategy, pp. 27–32; Aydin, ‘Europe's Next Shore’, p. 5.

33. See for example Constantin Ionescu, ‘Marea Neagră—Un Pivot Geopolitic în Dispută?’, Geopolitica 1/5 (2005), pp. 44–48; Alexander Goncharenko, ‘The Wider Black Sea Area: New Geopolitical Realities, Regional Security Structures and Democratic Control: A Ukrainian View’, NATO Defense College Occasional Paper 11/2 (2005), pp. 23–32; Aydin, ‘Europe's Next Shore’, p. 5; Bordonaro, ‘The Changing Structure of the Black Sea's Geopolitics’; Ionescu, ‘Wider Black Sea Region Cooperation’.

34. Jackson, ‘The “Soft War” for Europe's East’; Jackson, ‘The Future of Democracy in the Black Sea Region’; Socor, ‘Advancing Euro-Atlantic Security and Democracy in the Black Sea Region’; Bordonaro, ‘The Changing Structure of the Black Sea's Geopolitics’; ‘The Black Sea: Russian Lake’, Gândul, 17 September 2005; ‘The “Russian Lake” Reclaimed by Băsescu’, available at http://www.mediauno.ro/eng/articol.php?id_articol=7712 accessed on 19 November 2006. For analyses, see F. Stephen Larrabee, ‘The Russian Factor in Western Strategy toward the Black Sea Region’, in Asmus et al., A New Euro-Atlantic Strategy, pp. 147–156; F. Stephen Larrabee, ‘A Western Strategy toward Russia in the Black Sea Region’, in Asmus, Next Steps, pp. 147–156; Yannis Valinakis, ‘The Black Sea Region: Challenges and Opportunities for Europe’, Chaillott Papers 36 (1999).

35. Maior and Matei, ‘The Black Sea Region in an Enlarged Europe’, pp. 41–42 and 47–48.

36. Hill and Taspinar, ‘Turkey and Russia, p. 87.

37. Maior and Matei, ‘The Black Sea Region in an Enlarged Europe’, p. 37; see also Klympush-Tsintsadze, ‘Cooperative Efforts in the Black Sea Region’, p. 56.

38. The Black Sea Naval Cooperation Task Group (Blackseafor) was created in 2001 with the participation of Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine; its key missions are search and rescue operations, sea mine clearing and environmental protection. Ovidiu Dranga speaking at the New Defence Agenda seminar ‘Does Europe need a Black Sea Security Policy?’, Brussels, 20 September 2004; also Dimitrios Triantaphyllou, ‘Report on the Progress of the Work of the Ad Hoc Group of Experts on BSEC–EU Interaction’, International Center For Black Sea Studies, p. 4.

39. Hill and Taspinar, ‘Turkey and Russia’, p. 88; Kiniklioglu, ‘The Anatomy of Turkish–Russian Relations’, pp. 10–13.

40. See Ronald D. Asmus, ‘Next Steps in Forging a Euroatlantic Strategy for the Wider Black Sea’, in Asmus, Next Steps, p. 16.

41. Among many, see Mark Webber et al., ‘The Governance of European Security’, Review of International Studies 30/1 (January 2004), pp. 3–26; Morten Kelstrup and Michael C. Williams, ‘Introduction: Integration and the Politics of Community in the New Europe’, in Michael C. Williams and Morten Kelstrup (eds), International Relations Theory and European Integration: Power, Security and Community (London: Routledge, 2000), pp. 1–13; Frank Schimmelfennig, ‘NATO Enlargement: A Constructivist Explanation’, Security Studies 8/2–3 (Winter 1999), pp. 198–234; Ole Wæver, ‘Insecurity, Security, and Asecurity in the West European Non-War Community’, in E. Adler and M. Barnett (eds), Security Communities (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 69–118; Ole Wæver, ‘European Security Identities’, Journal of Common Market Studies 34/1 (March 1996), pp. 103–132.

42. See for example Felix Berenskoetter, ‘Mapping the Mind Gap: A Comparison of US and European Security Strategies’, Security Dialogue 36/1 (March 2005), pp. 71–92.

43. Ovidiu Dranga, Intervention at the 34th IFPA–Fletcher Conference on National Security Strategy and Policy Security Planning and Military Transformation after Iraqi Freedom, 2–3, December 2003; also Dranga, ‘Negotiating Security Cooperation’.

44. I discuss this issue in detail in Felix Ciută, ‘What Are We Debating? IR Theory between Empire and the “Responsible” Hegemon’, International Relations 43/2 (April 2006), pp. 173–196. See also Thomas Carothers, ‘Promoting Democracy and Fighting Terror’, Foreign Affairs 82/1 (January–February 2003), pp. 84–97; Robert Kagan, ‘Power and Weakness’, Policy Review 113 (June–July 2002), pp. 3–28.

45. Ronald D. Asmus, Istanbul Paper No. 2: Developing a New Euro-Atlantic Strategy for the Black Sea Region (Washington: The German Marshall Fund, 2004), p. 15; Vladimir Socor (speaking at the EAPC Security Forum, 25 May 2005) quoted in Ziua, 26 May 2006.

46. Jackson, ‘The “Soft War” for Europe's East’, p. 4.

47. See Jackson, ‘The Future of Democracy in the Black Sea Region’, p. 7; Ionescu, ‘Wider Black Sea Region Cooperation’, pp. 20–27.

48. Larrabee, ‘The Russian Factor’, pp. 152–153; Larrabee, ‘A Western Strategy’, pp. 114–115.

49. See Bassin and Aksenov, ‘Mackinder and the Heartland Theory in Post-Soviet Geopolitical Discourse’.

50. Klympush-Tsintsadze, ‘Cooperative Efforts in the Black Sea Region’, p. 34; Valinakis, ‘The Black Sea Region’, p. 23.

51. See James Sherr, ‘Democracy in the Black Sea Region: The Missing Link in Regional Security’, in Pavliuk and Klympush-Tsintsadze, The Black Sea Region, p. 267.

52. King, The Black Sea, p. 7; Ungureanu, ‘Remarks on a Security Concept for the Wider Black Sea Area’, p. 15; Mustafa Aydin, ‘Regional Cooperation in the Black Sea Area and its Integration into Euro-Atlantic Structures’, NATO Defense College Occasional Paper 11/1 (2005), p. 31.

53. Pavliuk, ‘Introduction’, p. 7; King, The Black Sea, p. 244.

54. See Arkady Moshes, ‘Littoral States and Region Building around the Black Sea’, in Pavliuk and Klympush-Tsintsadze, The Black Sea Region, p. 62.

55. Charles King, ‘Is the Black Sea a Region?’, in Pavliuk and Klympush-Tsintsadze, The Black Sea Region, p. 17; Moshes, ‘Littoral States and Region Building’, p. 64.

56. ‘Regionalism, Sub-Regionalism and Security in the Black Sea Region’, IREX Black and Caspian Sea Collaborative Research Program, Project Final Research Report (2004), available at http://harvard-bssp.org/publications/?id=146 accessed on 10 March 2005.

57. Olga Koulieri, ‘Russian “Eurasianism” and the Geopolitics of the Black Sea’, in Michael Sheehan (ed.), Security Dynamics of the Black Sea Region: Greek Geo-political Perspectives, Conflict Studies Research Center Special Series S43 (2000); Kochubei, ‘The Black Sea Orientation’.

58. See for example Beşir Atalay, ‘Speech Delivered at the Black Sea Forum for Dialogue and Partnership’, Bucharest, 5 June 2006; Vladimir Socor, ‘Black Sea Forum Seeking Its Rationale’, Eurasia Daily Monitor 3/111, 8 June 2006; Socor, ‘Moscow, Ankara Reluctant to Welcome New Black Sea Forum’; ‘BSEC's Role in Ensuring Peace, Security Crucial—Lavrov’, Interfax, 1 November 2006; ‘Transcript of Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov Interview to Turkish Media’, Moscow, 29 May 2006, available at http://www.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/e78a48070f128a7b43256999005bcbb3/4fe3c5c2a457affcc32571800020c161?OpenDocument accessed on 19 November 2006.

59. Marius Vahl, ‘The EU and Black Sea Regional Cooperation: Some Challenges for BSEC’, Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) Commentary, 15 April 2005, available at http://www.ceps.be/Article.php?article_id=420 accessed on 17 April 2005. See also Michael Emerson and Marius Vahl, ‘Europe and the Black Sea—Model Regionalism, prêt-à-porter’, in Terry D. Adams et al. (eds), Europe's Black Sea Dimension (Brussels: Centre for European Policy Studies 2002), pp. 1–38; Mustafa Aydin, ‘Europe's New Region: The Black Sea in the Wider Europe Neighbourhood’, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 5/2 (May 2005), pp. 257–283; Marius Vahl and Sergiu Celac, ‘Ready for a Breakthrough: Elements for a European Union Strategy Towards the Black Sea Region’, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 6/2 (June 2006), pp. 169–191.

60. Commission of the European Communities, European Neighbourhood Policy—Strategy Paper, Brussels, 12 May 2004, COM(2004) 373, p. 6.

61. Karen E. Smith, ‘The Outsiders: The European Neighbourhood Policy’, International Affairs 81/4 (July 2005), pp. 757–773; Vahl, ‘The EU and Black Sea Regional Cooperation’; Vahl and Celac, ‘Ready for a Breakthrough’, pp. 177–180.

62. Smith, ‘The Outsiders’, p. 767. See also Ronald Dannreuther, ‘Developing the Alternative to Enlargement: The European Neighbourhood Policy’, European Foreign Affairs Review 11/2 (2006), pp. 183–201.

63. Smith, ‘The Outsiders’, p. 769.

64. European Neighbourhood Policy, pp. 17–18; EU Commission, Green Paper: A European Strategy for Sustainable, Competitive and Secure Energy, Brussels, 8 March 2006, COM(2006) 105; EU Commission, Energy Commission Staff Working Document. Annex to the Green Paper: A European Strategy for Sustainable, Competitive and Secure Energy. What Is at Stake—Background Document, Brussels, SEC(2006) 317/2; Council of the European Union, Presidency Conclusions of the Brussels European Council, Brussels, 23/24 March 2006, 7775/06, Part II, Energy Policy for Europe (EPE), pp. 13–17.

65. Annex to the Green Paper, p. 40.

66. See Andrew Rettman, ‘Helsinki Summit Sees EU and Russia drifting Apart’, EU Observer, 24 November 2006;

67. Treaty Establishing the Energy Community, 25 October 2005; European Union, EU and South East Europe Countries Create a New Energy Community, EU Press Release, Brussels, 14 December 2004, IP/04/1473; European Union, An Integrated Market for Electricity and Gas across 34 European Countries, EU Press Release, Brussels, 25 October 2005, MEMO/05/397.

68. See Black Sea Synergy _ A New Regional Cooperation Initiative, Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament, 11 April 2007, p. 3. The Commission's document was released three months after this article was accepted for publication.

69. Klympush-Tsintsadze, ‘Cooperative Efforts in the Black Sea Region’, p. 33.

70. Jeffrey Simon, ‘Partnership for Peace: Charting a Course for a New Era’, Strategic Forum 206 (March 2004), p. 4.

71. Asmus, Istanbul Paper 2, p. 13.

72. Asmus and Jackson, ‘The Black Sea and the Frontiers of Freedom’, p. 7.

73. See NATO Istanbul Summit Communiqué, 28 June 2004, p. 11; NATO Riga Summit Declaration, 29 November 2006, p. 4; see also Vladimir Socor, ‘Missing in Istanbul: NATO Almost Bypassed the Black Sea-South Caucasus Region’, Eurasia Daily Monitor 1/90, 28 September 2004.

74. See for example ‘Black Sea Region Critical for Euro-Atlantic Security Say NATO Politicians’, NATO-PA Press Communiqué (Black Sea), 28 May 2006; Jaroslaw Skonieczka, ‘The Black Sea Region: A Role for NATO?’, in Asmus et al., A New Euro-Atlantic Strategy, pp. 99–105.

75. Richard Lugar, ‘Speech in Advance of NATO Summit at Opening Gala Dinner of the Riga Conference 2006’, 27 November 2006, available at http://www.rigasummit.lv/en/id/speechin/nid/36/ accessed on 27 November 2006.

76. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, ‘Keynote Speech by NATO Secretary General at the Riga Conference’, 28 November 2006, available at http://www.nato.int/docu/speech/2006/s061128a.htm accessed on 28 November 2006; Jamie Shea, ‘Energy Security: NATO's Potential Role’, NATO Review (Autumn 2006).

77. Jackson, ‘The Future of Democracy in the Black Sea Region’; Socor, ‘Advancing Euro-Atlantic Security’.

78. See Matthew J. Bryza, ‘The Policy of the United States toward the Black Sea Region’, in Asmus, Next Steps, pp. 40–42.

79. Power and Interest News Report (PINR), ‘Intelligence Brief: U.S. Military Bases in the Black Sea Region’, 19 November 2005.

80. Although reports from NATO's Riga Summit signal that the US administration might be changing its position in this respect; see Paul Reynolds, ‘NATO Looks for Global Role’, BBC News, 27 November 2006.

81. Smith, ‘The Outsiders’, p. 771.

82. Asmus, Istanbul Paper 2, p. 6.

83. See Pavliuk, ‘Introduction’, p. 8.

84. Spykman and Robbins, ‘Geographic Objectives in Foreign Policy’, p. 611.

85. See Ciută, ‘Why Region?’