Contending Agendas for the Black Sea Region

Abstract

The Black Sea has been a site of conflictual relations for centuries, though changes since the end of the Cold War have allowed for the emergence of a cooperative environment. Because of the region's strategic location, controlling it represents an exceptional geopolitical value, which attracts international attention and interests in the region's future. This paper argues that the increased attention to, and various policies toward, the region by the US, the EU, and the Russian Federation have not always attested to prosperity; instead, they have at times induced the emergence of conflictual situations, threatening regional and international stability. Alternative approaches, based more upon a regional outlook than upon global calculations, may have better values to offer.