Patterns of Regional Collaboration and Institutional Cooperation Around the Black Sea

Abstract

With the end of World War II, the signing in 1951 of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community not only constituted peace in Europe but also institutionalized international cooperation. Following the example of regionalism in mainland Europe, the countries in the wider Black Sea area WBSA also embarked on regional cooperation at the end of the Cold War. With the declaration on Black Sea Economic Cooperation BSEC , the leaders announced their concrete plans to develop practical cooperation in a range of areas including economy, trade, industry, environment, science and technology. This paper discusses the detected indicators and general patterns of complex regionalization around the Black Sea. With the aim to determine the extent to which BSEC countries have been able to act collectively following the cooperation they launched in 1992, this paper will discuss the plurilateral as well as minilateral cooperation efforts, the attempts for business cooperation, and energy cooperation in the WBSA

Keywords

• Black Sea Economic Cooperation, regional integration, institutionalization, complex regionalisation, new regionalism.

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