The Black Sea region rarely hit the media headlines until the outbreak of war in Georgia in 2008, yet its importance as a focus of European Union (EU) external policy making had already been growing for several years. The area is fascinating and diverse, comprising both large and small states, with a mixture of democracies and more authoritarian regimes. Traditionally a central foreign policy concern for Russia and Turkey, since the end of the Cold War, the EU and the US have become increasingly involved in the many dimensions of Black Sea politics. This book brings together a broad range of...

The Black Sea region is a dynamic and complex area in which many national and international actors have key interests, including Russia and the US. The European Union stretches to the sea s western coast where it meets former Soviet territory as well as EU candidate Turkey. Regional tensions include those over NATO enlargement, a US anti-ballistic missile system, access to the Black Sea, democratization, spheres of interest and the conflict zones of Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Transnistria. In addition, the region s close proximity to the Caspian basin offers the prospect of...