Black Sea Politics presents a variety of experiences of civil society, looking at representation, participation and power relations in countries such as Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, and the Caucasus area. A rare combination of the ""insider"" perspectives of regional experts and the ""outsider"" views of international experts, this book presents vital new insights on an under-studied region with growing importance in international relations as witnessed by the confrontations between Russia and the West in the Ukranian election crisis.

This volume deals with issues and problems of national and gender identity in Central Asia, the Caucasus and Turkey. Articles discuss experiences and position of women vis-a-vis state intervention, economic, political and cultural change, in both public and private spheres of life. In the book the real life conditions and experiences of women are analyzed on three complementary levels. The first of these is the economic and institutional circumstances shaped by structural adjustment policies, globalization and transnational policies. The second is realities of everyday life, particularly...