The term ‘Black Sea area (or region)’ has been used in a rather flexible way. The problem of defining the Black Sea region is complex, as there are many different interpretations. It is perceived either as a concrete geopolitical entity, actual or resulting from history – and thus with a sense of common identity and togetherness – or as a process in hand; as a subregion, rather than an entity per se, or a network of bilateral, trilateral, or multilateral links. However, the creation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Project (BSEC) in 1992 has contributed to the intensification of...

The BSEC concept was originally a Turkish initiative based on an idea of the Turkish ambassador S. Elekdag. It progressively developed into a common project led by both Turkey and Russia. On 25 June 1992 in Istanbul, eleven heads of state or government (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine) signed the Summit Declaration of the BSEC. The main factor influencing Turkey’s plans for the region was the changing international European and Eurasian security climate.(⁷⁰) A ‘cooperative hegemony’ strategy(⁷¹) was behind Turkey’s BSEC initiative, which was aimed at establishing a new project under Turkish leadership....

The fall of communism and the search for a new European architecture gave decisive momentum to the move towards the formation of subregional groups, particularly among states that had not belonged to the same institutions and mechanisms during the Cold War. As a result of the breakdown of the Cold War structure, states are seeking new relationships, both within the emerging constellation of major powers and with their neighbours. Regions are increasingly recognized as conscious and purposive agents; they are no longer to be seen as incidental aspects and passive reflections of ‘real’ politics, devoid of any life of their...