Patterns of Regional Collaboration and Institutional Cooperation Around the Black Sea

Year 2014, Volume: 19 Issue: 3, 101 - 121, 01.10.2014

Mukhtar Hajızada

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.

References

• BSEC Documents, Declarations and Statements (The Bosphorous Statement), at http:// www.bsec-organization.org/documents/declaration/summit/Pages/summit.aspx (last visited 7 January 2015).
• BSEC Documents, Declarations and Statements (The Summit Declaration on Black Sea Economic Cooperation), at http://www.bsec-organization.org/documents/declaration/ summit/Pages/summit.aspx (last visited 7 January 2015).
• Emanuel Adler and Michael Barnett (eds.), Security Communities, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998.
• Morten Boas, Marianne H. Marchand and Timothy M. Shaw (eds.), The Political Economy of Regions and Regionalisms, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, p. 167.
• In this paper, plurilateral refers to BSEC, which has become the most inclusive and comprehensive international body in the WBSA. Minilateral refers to the other regional initiatives beyond the BSEC framework.
• Mukhtar Hajizada, “Complex Regionalisation in the Wider Black Sea Area”, in Karen Henderson and Carol Weaver (eds.), The Black Sea Region and EU Policy: The Challenge of Divergent Agendas, Ashgate Publishing Limited, Surrey, 2010, pp. 119-134.
• Leon N. Lindberg and Stuart A. Scheingold, Europe’s Would-be Polity: Patterns of Change in the European Community, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1970, p. 11.
• Rick Fawn, “Regions’ and their Study: Wherefrom, What for and Whereto?”, Review of International Studies, Vol.35, No. 5-34 (2009), p. 17.
• Björn Hettne and Fredrik Södernbaum, “Regional Cooperation: A Tool for Addressing Regional and Global Challenges”, in Stockholm, Cross-Cutting Issues, International Task Force on Global Public Goods, Foreign Ministry, 2006, p. 226.
• Roy Allison, “Regionalism, Regional Structures and Security Management in Central Asia”, International Affairs, Vol. 80, No. 3 (2004), p. 482.
• Rodrigo Tavares, Regional Security: The Capacity of International Organizations, London and New York, Routledge, 2010.
• Aristotle Tziampris, “Greek Foreign Policy and Russia: Political Realignment, Civilizational Aspects, and Realism”, Mediterranean Quarterly, Vol. 21, No. 2 (2010), p. 81.
• MFA Armenia, “Press Release: Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian visits Istanbul”, 25 November 2008, at http://www.mfa.am/en/press-releases/item/2008/11/25/ bsec/ (last visited 7 January 2015).
• BSEC Archives, Letter No. 43/1134 of 29 March 2010.
• BSTDB, 10 Years of BSTDB: Challenges, Achievements and Prospects, Thessaloniki, Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, 2009, p. 5.
• See, Kenneth Dyson, Kevin Featherstone and George Michalopoulos, “Strapped to the Mast: EU Central Bankers between Global Financial Markets and Regional Integration”, in William D. Coleman and Geoffrey R. D. Underhill (eds), Regionalism and Global Economic Integration: Europe, Asia and the Americas, London and New York, Routledge, 1998, pp. 174-194.
• BSTDB, 10 Years of BSTDB: Challenges, Achievements and Prospects, Thessaloniki, Black Sea Trade and Development Bank” 2009, pp. 43-56.
• Vincent Cable, “What is International Economic Security?”, International Affairs, Vol. 71, No. 2 (1995), pp. 305-324.
• Andrew Moravcsik, “Preferences and Power in the European Community: A Liberal Intergovernmentalist Approach”, Journal of Common Market Studies, Vol.31, No. 4 (1993), pp. 473-524; See also Stanley Hoffmann, “International Organization and the International System”, International Organization, Vol. 24, No. 3 (1993), pp. 389-413.
• BSEC Yalta Summit Declaration, 5 June 1998, at http://www.bsec-organization.org/ documents/declaration/summit/Reports/YALTA%201998.pdf (last visited 7 January 2015).
• PABSEC Recommendation (23/1997), “Harmonisation of Foreign Trade Regimes in the BSEC Participating States”, adopted at the Tenth Plenary Session of the General Assembly (Doc.: GA 3466/97), athttp://www.pabsec.org/pabsec/aksisnet/file/pdf/rec23.97.pdf (last visited 7 January 2015).
• Mine Eder, “Becoming Western: Turkey and the European Union”, in Jean Grugel and Wil Hout (eds.), Regionalism Across the North-South Divide: State Strategies and Globalization, London, Routledge, 1999, pp. 79-94. 23 Ibid.
• Mukhtar Hajizada and Carol Weaver, “Democratisation of the BSEC Parliamentary Assembly and the Implications for Conflict-Resolution in the Wider Black Sea Area”, Policy Brief 01 published by the Centre for International and European Studies, Kadir Has University, Istanbul, 2011.
• PABSEC, Doc.SC31/BP/PABSEC-BSEC/08, Enhancement of Interaction between the PABSEC and the BSEC: Background Paper prepared by the PABSEC International Secretariat, 2008. 26 Ibid., p. 4.
• BSEC-URTA and IRU, Black Sea Ring Highway Caravan: Highlights and Conclusions, at http://www.iru.org/index/cms-filesystem-action?file=webnews/blackseacaravanhighlights. pdf (last visited 7 January 2015); International Road Transport Union (IRU) and The Union of Road Transport Associations in The BSEC (BSEC-URTA). p. 25. 28 Ibid., p. 29.
• BSEC, “Memorandum of Understanding on the Development of the Motorways of the Sea in the BSEC Region”, 19 April 2007, at http://www.bsec-organization.org/documents/ LegalDocuments/agreementmous/m4/Download/MOU%20Motorways%20of%20 the%20Sea%20FOR%20SIGNATURE.pdf (last visited 7 January 2015).
• TRACECA, “Newsletter”, 9 December 2010, at http://www.traceca-programme.eu/en/ news/single-news/n/on_8_december_2010_secretary_general_of_the_ps_igc_traceca_mr_ eduard_biriucov_met_the_representati/ (last visited 7 January 2015).
• The new railway has been coded C-E 692 by the UN Economic and Social Council (21 February 2005).
• Bruce Pannier, “Georgia-Russia Conflict Changes The Energy Equation’, RFE/RL, 2 September 2008, at http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1194496.html (last visited 7 January 2015).
• RIANOVOSTI, “Kazakhstan to join Azerbaijan-Turkey pipeline project in June”, 8 June 2006, athttp://en.rian.ru/world/20060608/49203352.html[last visited 7 January 2015]
• European Commission, COM(2008) 781 final, “Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic And Social Committee And The Committee of the Regions”, Second Strategic Energy Review: An EU Energy Security And Solidarity Action Plan, Brussels, 13 Nov. 2008, at http://ec.europa.eu/prelex/ detail_dossier_real.cfm?CL=en&DosId=197625 [last visited 7 January 2015] 35 Ibid.
• BBC, “Turkmenistan pledges gas for EU’s Nabucco pipeline”, 19 Nov. 2010, at http:// www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11797792 (last visited 7 January 2015).
• Zaur Shiriyev, “Azerbaijan and Russia-Armenia Gas Crises”, Today’s Zaman, 16 June 2013.
• Joseph S. Nye, Peace in Parts: Integration and Conflict in Regional Organization, Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1971, p. 125.