Region? Why region? Security, hermeneutics, and the making of the black sea region

Geopolitics

Volumn 13, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 120-147

  Ciutǎ, Felix ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

GEOPOLITICS; HERMENEUTICS; POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY; POST-COLD WAR; SECURITY;

BLACK SEA; EURASIA;

EID: 46749100210     PISSN: 14650045     EISSN: 15573028     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/14650040701783367     Document Type: Article

References (206)

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3. See for example 'Multiple Europes: Boundaries and Margins in European Union Enlargement', roundtable in Geopolitics 10/3 (Autumn 2005) pp. 567-91.
4. See for example A. Cottey (ed.), Subregional Cooperation in the New Europe. Building Security, Prosperity and Solidarity from the Barents to the Black Sea (Basingstoke: Macmillan 1998)
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11. Among many, see for example T. Gallagher, 'To Be or Not to Be Balkan: Romania's Quest for Self-Definition', Daedalus 126/3 (1997) pp. 63-83
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21. See also L. Fawcett and A. Hurrell (eds.), Regionalism in World Politics: Regional Organisation and International Order (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1995)
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23. P. J. Katzenstein, A World of Regions: Asia and Europe in the American Imperium (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press 2005)
24. R. Väyrynen, Regionalism: Old and New', International Studies Review 5/1 (March 2003) pp. 25-51
25. P. J. Katzenstein, Regionalism in Comparative Perspective', Cooperation and Conflict 31/2 (June 1996) pp. 123-59.
26. O. Wæver, 'Nordic Nostalgia: Northern Europe after the Cold War', International Affairs 68/1 (Jan. 1992) pp. 77-102
27. I. B. Neumann, 'A Region-Building Approach to Northern Europe', Review of International Studies 20/1 (Jan. 1994) pp. 53-74
28. P. Aalto et al., 'The Critical Geopolitics of Northern Europe: Identity Politics Unlimited', Geopolitics 8/1 (Spring 2003) pp. 1-19
29. C. S. Browning and P. Joenniemi, 'Regionality beyond Security? The Baltic Sea Region after Enlargement', Cooperation and Conflict 39/ 3 (Sep. 2004) pp. 233-53.
30. F. Ciutǎ, 'Parting the Black Sea (Region): Geopolitics, Institutionalisation, and the Reconfiguration of European Security', European Security 16/1 (March 2007) pp. 51-78.
31. C. Taylor, 'The Hermeneutics of Conflict', in J. Tully (ed.), Meaning and Context: Quentin Skinner and his Critics (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 1988) p. 226. I have explored the main parameters and consequences of a hermeneutics of security somewhere else
32. see F. Ciutǎ, "'Security' and the Problem of Context: A Hermeneutical Critique of Securitization Theory", forthcoming in Review of International Studies, 2008.
33. A. Giddens, The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration (Cambridge: Polity Press 1984) p. xxxii.
34. G. Ó Tuathail and J. Agnew, 'Geopolitics and Discourse: Practical Geopolitical Reasoning in American Foreign Policy', Political Geography Quarterly 11/2 (March 1992) pp. 190-204
35. G. Ó Tuathail, 'Thinking Critically about Geopolitics', in G. Ó Tuathail et al. (eds.), The Geopolitics Reader, 2nd ed. (London: Routledge 2006) pp. 1-14.
36. For a detailed presentation and analysis of the project, see Ciutǎ, 'Parting the Black Sea' (note 10).
37. Browning (note 2) p. 46.
38. See The National Security Strategy of Romania (Bucharest: Romanian Presidency 2006), available at
39. M. Geoanǎ, 'Regional Security and Democratic Development in the Black Sea Region', Nixon Centre Program Brief 10/2 (3 Feb. 2003)
40. M. Geoanã, 'Romania's Black Sea Agenda - and America's Interests', In the National Interest 31/6 (11 Feb. 2004)
41. M. Geoanǎ, 'Speech at the Seminar on "Challenges and Opportunities in the Black Sea Region. Contribution of International Organizations to Enhancing Regional Stability"', 11 Dec. 2004
42. M. Geoanǎ, '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
43. G. C. Maior and M. Matei, 'The Black Sea Region in an Enlarged Europe: Changing Patterns, Changing Politics', Mediterranean Quarterly 16/ 1 (Winter 2005) pp. 33-51
44. O. Dranga, 'Negotiating Security Cooperation in the Black Sea Region', Speech at Harvard University Black Sea Security Program's Regional Workshop, Batumi, Sept. 2004, available at .
45. The members of BSEC are 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.
46. 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. See 'Declaration of the Countries of the Community of Democratic Choice', Kyiv, 2 Dec. 2005.
47. The BSF is an initiative of the Romanian government launched in June 2006
48. see 'Joint Declaration of the Black Sea Forum for Dialogue and Partnership', Bucharest, 5 June 2006, at .
49. R. D. Asmus et al., A New Euro-Atlantic Strategy for the Black Sea Region (Washington: The German Marshall Fund 2004)
50. R. D. Asmus (ed.), Next Steps in Forging a Euroatlantic Strategy for the Wider Black Sea (Washington: The German Marshall Fund 2006).
51. See also R. D. Asmus, 'Westernize the Black Sea Region', Project Syndicate Commentary (2004), available at
52. R. D. Asmus, 'Anchor the Black Sea Region in the West', The Nation (8 Sept. 2004)
53. R. D. Asmus, Istanbul Paper No. 2: Developing a New Euro-Atlantic Strategy for the Black Sea Region (Washington: The German Marshall Fund 2004)
54. R. D. Asmus and B. P. Jackson, 'The Black Sea and the Frontiers of Freedom', Policy Review 125 (June-July 2004) pp. 17-26
55. B. P. Jackson, 'The "Soft War" for Europe's East: Russia and the West Square Off', Policy Review 137 (June-July 2006) pp. 3- 14
56. V. 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
57. B. 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.
58. I will use the abbreviation 'BSR project' when referring to the Black Sea region project. I am aware of the problems generated by lumping together three different types of actors - a state, a lobby, and a network of international institutions and initiatives - but the 'BSR project' is a useful abbreviation which, while only an approximation of political reality, does not distort it. While some of the regional actors speak of 'the project of bringing peace and stability to the region' - see Geoanǎ, 'Regional Security' (note 16) - the term is used in this article as a shorthand for the drive to raise the profile of the region in order to address different security problems, and at the same time to construct the very idea of the Black Sea region.
59. C. King, The Black Sea: A History (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2004)
60. O. Pavliuk and I. Klympush-Tsintsadze (eds.), The Black Sea region. Cooperation and Security Building (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe and East-West Institute 2004)
61. S. Blank, 'Security in and around the Black Sea: Is a Virtuous Circle Now Possible?', Mediterranean Quarterly 16/3 (Summer 2005) pp. 44-66
62. S. Blank, 'The Black Sea Region: Time for a Transatlantic Initiative', New Europe Review 2/3 (2005), available at
63. M. Emerson, 'The Black Sea as Epicentre of the Aftershocks of the EU's Earthquake', Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) Policy Brief 79 (2005).
64. Asmus and Jackson (note 20) p. 5.
65. H. Akinci, 'Developing a New Euro-Atlantic Strategy for the Black Sea region: Constraints and Prospects', in Asmus et al. (note 20) p. 62.
66. Maior and Matei (note 16) p. 50.
67. For example H. Mackinder, 'The Geographical Pivot of History', The Geographical Journal 23/4 (April 1904) pp. 421-37
68. K. Haushofer, 'Why Geopolitik?', in G. Ó Tuathail et al. (eds.), The Geopolitics Reader, 2nd ed. (London: Routledge 2006) pp. 40-42
69. N. J. Spykman and A. A. Robbins, 'Geographic Objectives in Foreign Policy, II', American Political Science Review 33/4 (Aug. 1939) pp. 591-614
70. R. Strauz-Hupé, Geopolitics: The Struggle for Space and Power (New York: Putman 1942).
71. O. Pavliuk, 'Introduction', in Pavliuk and Klympush-Tsintsadze (note 22) p. 9.
72. See for example C. Ionescu, 'Marea Neagrǎ - Un Pivot Geopoliticǐn Disputǎ?', Geopolitica 1/5 (2005) pp. 44-8
73. A. 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
74. M. E. Ionescu, 'Wider Black Sea Region Cooperation: A Historical Survey', NATO Defense College Occasional Paper 11/1 (2005) pp. 19-27
75. M. Aydin, 'Europe's Next Shore: The Black Sea region after EU Enlargement', EU Institute for Security Studies Occasional Paper 53 (2004) p. 5
76. F. Bordonaro, 'Bulgaria, Romania and the Changing Structure of the Black Sea's Geopolitics', Power and Interest News Report (PINR) (20 May 2005), available at .
77. V. Socor referred to the Black Sea region as the 'new pivot of history' (quoted in Ziua (26 May 2006)).
78. Cf. Mackinder (note 26)
79. but see comments in M. Bassin and K. E. Aksenov, 'Mackinder and the Heartland Theory in Post-Soviet Geopolitical Discourse', Geopolitics 11/1 (Spring 2006) pp. 99-118
80. and P. Venier, 'The Geographical Pivot of History and Early Twentieth Century Geopolitical Culture', The Geographical Journal 170/4 (Dec. 2004) pp. 330-336.
81. Jackson, 'The "Soft War"' (note 20) p. 4.
82. Y. Kochubei, 'The Black Sea Orientation: Past and Present', Politics and the Times 1 (2003), available at
83. 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. (note 20) pp. 27-32
84. Aydin, 'Europe's Next Shore' (note 28) p. 5.
85. Jackson, 'The "Soft War"' (note 20)
86. 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
87. Socor (note 20)
88. Bordonaro (note 28)
89. Goncharenko (note 28) p. 25
90. 'The Black Sea: Russian Lake', Gândul (17 Sept. 2005)
91. 'The 2:RUssian Lake" Reclaimed by Bǎsescu', available at
92. For analyses, see F. S. Larrabee, 'The Russian Factor in Western Strategy toward the Black Sea Region', in Asmus et al. (note 20) pp. 147-56
93. Y. Valinakis, 'The Black Sea Region: Challenges and Opportunities for Europe', Chaillott Papers 36 (1999).
94. Asmus and Jackson (note 20) p. 4.
95. Maior and Matei (note 16) p. 40.
96. Maior and Matei (note 16) p. 49
97. see also R. D. Asmus, 'Next Steps in Forging a Euroatlantic Strategy for the Wider Black Sea', in Asmus, Next Steps (note 20) p. 16.
98. See Asmus, Next Steps (note 20) p. 16
99. Matthew J. Bryza, 'The Policy of the United States toward the Black Sea Region', in Asmus, Next Steps (note 20)
100. Geoanǎ, 'Security Cooperation' (note 16).
101. Asmus, Istanbul Paper (note 20) p. 5.
102. Ibid.
103. Asmus and Jackson (note 20) p. 5.
104. 'Joint Declaration of the Black Sea Forum' (note 19).
105. Asmus and Jackson (note 20) p. 2.
106. Pavliuk (note 27) p. 7
107. C. King, 'Is the Black Sea a Region?', in Pavliuk and Klympush- Tsintsadze (note 22) p. 17
108. Klympush-Tsintsadze, 'Cooperative Efforts in the Black Sea Region', in Pavliuk and Klympush-Tsintsadze (note 22) p. 34
109. Valinakis (note 31) p. 23
110. King, The Black Sea (note 22) p. 244 Moshes, 'Littoral States and Region Building', in Pavliuk and Klympush-Tsintsadze (note 22) p. 64.
111. M. E. Ionescu (note 28) pp. 24-26
112. Jackson, 'The "Soft War' (note 20).
113. See note 7 above.
114. B. Buzan, People, States and Fear: An Agenda for International Security Studies in the Post- Cold War Era, 2nd ed. (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner 1991) p. 190.
115. Ibid., pp. 191-92.
116. B. Buzan et al., Security: A New Framework for Analysis (London: Lynne Rienner 1998) p. 12, emphasis added.
117. Ibid., p. 48, emphasis added.
118. Dranga, 'Negotiating Security Cooperation' (note 16).
119. 'Joint Declaration of the Black Sea Forum' (note 19).
120. Asmus and Jackson (note 20) p. 3.
121. Maior and Matei (note 16) p. 34.
122. See for example A. Sarcinschi and C. Bǎhnãreanu, Redimension0ri ale Mediului de Securitate Regional (Zona Mǎrii Negre Şi Balcani) (Bucharest: Editura Universitǎţii Nationale de Apǎrare 2005) pp. 26 and 35.
123. See notes 26-28.
124. Mackinder (note 26) p. 435.
125. Maior and Matei (note 16) p. 34.
126. C. Ionescu (note 28)
127. V. Socor quoted in Ziua (26 May 2006).
128. Aydin, 'Europe's Next Shore' (note 28).
129. Goncharenko (note 28) p. 23
130. M. E. Ionescu (note 28)
131. Kochubei (note 30)
132. Goncharenko (note 28) p. 23.
133. J. S. Nye, International Regionalism (Boston: Little Brown 1968) p. 338.
134. Jackson, 'The Soft War' (note 20), p. 4, emphasis added.
135. Ibid., p. 2.
136. See the useful discussion in A. B. Murphy et al., 'Is There a Politics to Geopolitics?', Progress in Human Geography 28/5 (Oct. 2004) pp. 619-40
137. also V. Mamadouh and G. Dijkink, 'Geopolitics, International Relations and Political Geography: The Politics of Geopolitical Discourse', Geopolitics 11/3 (Autumn 2006) pp. 349-66.
138. Browning (note 2) pp. 63-66 makes a similar observation regarding region-building projects in the European North.
139. For a useful background discussion, see MacLeod and Jones (note 7) pp. 674-76.
140. King, 'Is the Black Sea a Region?' (note 41) p. 17.
141. C. King, 'Rediscovering the Black Sea: The Wider Southeast Europe in History, Politics, and Policy', Meeting Report 228, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (2001), available at .
142. Rozvan Ungureanu, 'Remarks on a Security Concept for the Wider Black Sea Area', NATO Defense College Occasional Paper 11/1 (2005) p. 15
143. Ungureanu, 'Remarks' (note 69) p. 15
144. see also King, The Black Sea (note 22) pp. 8 and 243
145. Hitchner (note 30) p. 27
146. Bryza (note 35) p. 38
147. Aydin, 'Europe's Next Shore' (note 28) pp. 20-21
148. I. Munteanu, 'The Black Sea Area: A Mix of Identities in Formation', in Asmus at al. (note 20) pp. 77-82
149. J. Simon, 'Black Sea Regional Security Cooperation: Building Bridges and Barriers', in Asmus, Next Steps (note 20) pp. 84, 86, 89
150. A. Tadevosian, 'Armenia - Between the Wider Black Sea Region and the Greater Middle East', in Asmus, Next Steps (note 20) p. 158
151. '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 .
152. Geoanǎ, 'Security Cooperation' (note 16) p. 2, emphasis added.
153. Neumann (note 9) pp. 58-59.
154. Paasi, 'Region and Place' (note 6) pp. 478, 481
155. Väyrynen (note 8) p. 27.
156. Asmus and Jackson (note 20) p. 3.
157. M. Aydin 'Regional Cooperation in the Black Sea Area and its Integration into Euro-Atlantic Structures', NATO Defense College Occasional Paper 11/1 (2005) p. 30.
158. V. Adamkus, 'Black Sea Vision', Speech of President of the Republic of Lithuania, 26 Oct. 2005, available at , emphasis added.
159. Asmus, Istanbul Paper (note 20) p. 13.
160. Asmus, 'Anchor the Black Sea Region' (note 20) p. 2.
161. S. Celac, 'The Regional Ownership Conundrum: The Case of the Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation', in Asmus, Next Steps (note 20) p. 225.
162. Dranga, 'Negotiating Security Cooperation' (note 16) p. 6, emphasis added.
163. Paasi, 'Region and Place' (note 6) p. 480.
164. Moshes (note 41) p. 69.
165. Asmus and Jackson (note 20) p. 2.
166. 'Joint Declaration of the Black Sea Forum' (note 19).
167. R. D. Asmus, Opening NATO's Door: How the Alliance Remade Itself for a New Era (New York: Columbia University Press 2002) pp. 228-38
168. Emerson (note 22) p. 6.
169. A. Moulakis, 'The Mediterranean Region: Reality, Delusion, or Euro-Mediterranean Project?', Mediterranean Quarterly 16/2 (Spring 2005) pp. 11-38.
170. Asmus and Jackson (note 20) p. 3. While 'Nordic' and 'Baltic' are not equivalent, my reference below to the mimesis of the 'Nordic/Baltic project' reflects the terminology used by the supporters of the BSR project; I thank one of the anonymous referees for drawing my attention to this distinction.
171. 'Interview with Boris Tarasyuk', Baltinfo Newsletter No. 83 (Nov.-Dec. 2006) p. 9.
172. Ambassador Josef Wiejacz, Chairman of the Council of Baltic Sea States Committee of Senior Officials, speaking in the workshop 'The Architecture of Cooperation: Shaping a Common Vision and Setting a Common Agenda for the Black Sea Region', The Black Sea Forum, 5 June 2006.
173. Browning and Joenniemi (note 9) p. 243.
174. Browning (note 2) p. 57.
175. See the discussion in Ciutǎ, 'Parting the Black Sea' (note 10).
176. Browning (note 2) p. 52.
177. Wæver (note 9) p. 102.
178. Browning and Joenniemi (note 9) p. 241
179. Wæver (note 9) p. 100.
180. Wæver (note 9) p. 99
181. Neumann (note 9) p. 70.
182. Wæver (note 9) p. 77.
183. Browning and Joenniemi (note 9) p. 241.
184. Ibid., p. 245.
185. Ibid., p. 245.
186. T. Bǎsescu, 'Inaugural Speech', Bucharest, 21 Dec. 2004
187. T. Bǎsescu, 'Speech delivered on the Occasion of the Conference "Black Sea Area and Euro-Atlantic Security: Strategic Opportunities"', Bucharest, 20 April 2005, p. 3
188. T. Bǎsescu, 'The Black Sea Region - Advancing Freedom, Democracy and Regional Stability', Speech at the Council on Foreign Relations, Washington DC, 10 March 2005.
189. See S. Celac, 'Five Reasons Why the West Should Become More Involved in the Black Sea Region', in Asmus et al. (note 20) p. 138.
190. See F. Ciutǎ, 'A Life Less Ordinary: Romania on the Road to NATO', in Dennis Deletant (ed.), In and Out of Focus: Romania and Britain. Relations and Perspectives from 1930 to the Present (Bucharest: British Council Romania and Cavallioti 2005).
191. E. Constantinescu, 'The Security of Central Europe', Address at the 14th NATO Workshop on Political-Military Decision-Making, Prague, 1997, available at .
192. Romania's Membership to NATO: Key Elements of the National Strategy (Bucharest: Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1999) p. 2.
193. Maior and Matei (note 16) p. 36.
194. The National Security Strategy of Romania (2006), p. 19, available at .
195. Bǎsescu, 'The Black Sea Region - Advancing Freedom' (note 100).
196. See A. Severin, 'The Strategic Outlook For South-East Europe', RUSI Journal 142/4 (1997) p. 8
197. E. Constantinescu, 'Message Regarding Romania's Security Strategy Addressed to the Chambers of the Romanian Parliament', 23 June 1999, p. 5
198. X. Gérard, 'La Roumanie dans la nouvelle Europe', Défense Nationale 55/8-9 (1999) pp. 131-32
199. A. Nǎstase, 'Speech at the International Conference "Facing the Future: Towards Social Democratic Solutions for South East Europe"', Bucharest, 11 Oct. 2004.
200. A. Plesu, 'Future Security Challenges and NATO-Partner Cooperation in the Context of EAPC and PfP', Address to the EAPC Ministerial Meeting, Brussels, 8 Dec. 1998, p. 1
201. T. Melescanu, 'Security in Central Europe: A Positive Sum Game', NATO Review 41/5 (1993) p. 4 (online edition).
202. I. Iliescu, 'Speech at the SEECP Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs', Bucharest, 22 Oct. 2004
203. Geoanǎ, 'Challenges and Opportunities in the Black Sea Region' (note 16).
204. For example, in his speech at the conference 'Black Sea Area and Euro-Atlantic Security: Strategic Opportunities' Bucharest, 20 April 2005, Romanian President Traian B0sescu urged the participants to create 'a new conceptual approach on regional security issues'; available at .
205. See Bassin and Aksenov (note 28) p. 115-16.
206. Ibid., p. 116.