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.

This book examines and explains the dialectic of war and peace between the outbreak of WWI and the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014. The theoretical inspiration is built upon Galtung’s concept of negative and positive peace, Aron ́s distinction between strategy and diplomacy, and Carr ́s theory of periodization. Here, the author compares globalization with the interwar period and examines how the first decade ́s positive peace, diplomacy, and big hopes were replaced by negative peace, and explains the growing role of military strategy which culminated after the Russian annexation of Crimea and the following military incidents between NATO and Russia. This volume will be of interest to teachers, students, and researchers in the fields of modern history, international security and peace studies.

With Forewords by Geoffrey Robertson QC, Doughty Street Chambers, London, UK and Professor Mihail E. Ionescu, Bucharest, Romania Simona Ţuţuianu describes a new model of sovereignty which is fast replacing the traditional Westphalian model embodied in Article 2 of the UN Charter and rigorously followed throughout the Cold War. The scholarly basis for this new model draws upon developments in international criminal law which first emerged from the Nuremberg trials and upon more recent interstate economic cooperation which has turned sovereign independence into interdependence across a range of state functions. Does this mean that traditional Westphalian concepts of sovereignty should be abandoned in constructing a new theory of world governance for the twenty-first century? Not at all. A new model, which can be called the pattern of interdependence-based sovereignty, serves to explain contemporary events that puzzle traditional theorists, such as the war over Kosovo, the invasions of Iraq and Libya, the emergence of a “Responsibility to protect” doctrine and its recent validation in Security Council Resolutions 1970 and 1973. We are witnessing the emergence of a new philosophy of action, which is in the process of producing a 21st century system of international relations. The Book will appeal to academics, students and postgraduates studying international affairs, politics, international law, diplomatic history, or war and/or peace studies. It is particularly of interest for NATO establishments and national military schools, while experts and scholars will value its theory of what sovereignty means today. The Book offers a multidisciplinary approach which underpins a new theory of how human rights can be better protected in a better world. There is a unique case study of cooperative security in the Greater Black Sea Area, by one of the few experts on the politics of this region. It will be read and appreciated by those who need to understand how modern international law and diplomacy really work. Journalists, media commentators, human rights NGOs, aid agencies, diplomats and government officials need the information in this Book.

"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

This book analyses the expansion of The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) into the post-Soviet space after the end of the Cold War. Based on an extensive analysis of the literature and government documents, including doctrines, statements and speeches by the most influential decision-makers and other actors, it sheds new light on the geopolitical and geostrategic context of the expansion of the military alliance, and assesses its impact on international security relations in Europe. The first chapter introduces readers to the neo-realist approach and develops the methodological basis of the book. The following chapters provide a historical overview of the causes and consequences of two waves of eastward NATO enlargement. Special attention is paid to the annexation of the Crimea and to Russian hybrid-asymmetric warfare. Finally, thirty years after the end of the Cold War, the book notes a disturbing return to militarization in international security relations. To counter this process, the author calls for a reduction of current international tensions and a new policy of détente.