inFormal Structures in the Wider Black Sea Region

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(in)Formal Structures in the Wider Black Sea
Region

• Asbed Kotchikian
• akotchikian_at_fsu.edu
• Florida State University, 2008

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Todays Presentation

• Concept of regionalism in Wider Black Sea (WBS)
• Formal vs. Informal institutions
• Nature of various structures in WBS region

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Previous Scholarship

• Brenner, Neil. Beyond State-Centrism? Space,
  Territoriality, and Geographical Scale in
  Globalization Studies. Theory and Society 28,
  no. 1 (Feb. 1999) 39-78.
• Browning, Christopher S. The Region-Building
  Approach Revisited The Continued othering of
  Russia in Discourses of Region-Building in the
  European North. Geopolitics 8, no. 1 (Spring
  2003)) 45-71.
• Jones, Alun. Narrative-Based Production of State
  Spaces for International Region Building
  Europeanization and the Mediterranean. Annals of
  the Association of American Geographers 96, no.
  2 (June 2006) 415-431.
• Keohane, Robert. After Hegemony Cooperation and
  discord in the World Political Economy.
  Princeton Princeton University Press, 1984.
• Keohane, Robert. International Institutions Two
  Approaches. International Studies Quarterly 32,
  no. 4 (December 1988) 379-396.
• Nicolaïdis, Kalypso Robert Howse. This is my
  EUtopia Narrative as Power. Journal of Common
  Market Studies 40, no. 4 (2002) 767-792.
• Ó Tuathail, Gearóid. Reasserting the Regional
  Political Geography and Geopolitics in a World
  Thinly Known. Political Geography 22, (2003)
  653655.

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Why Regionalism?

• Respond to globalizing tendencies
• Construct new economic architectures
• Disseminate values and beliefs
• Manage geopolitical constructions

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How Regionalism?

• Construct geopolitical, institutional/legal
  cultural boundaries
• Define institutionalize relations between
  various actors
• Determine a framework of political actions

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When Regionalism?

• Natural progression towards integration
• Common security threats
• Alignment of future vision

Regionalism enables countries in a whole variety
of ways and at a whole variety of scales, to
insulate themselves in places from what they see
as the cultural, social, political and,
ultimately, threats from undesirable
others. Ron Johnston, Territory and
Territoriality in Political Geography
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WBS as a Region?

• Imagined space with real countries boundaries
• Diversity in culture, historical experiences,
  security concerns
• Lack of a common regional narrative

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WBS for Whom?

• EU/Western drive to create a manageable region
• Securing energy corridors
• Resolving conflicts?

International region building, is
characteristically messy, problematic, highly
contested. It involves the construction of
increasingly complex relations among political
actors at different scales, sites, and
institutions. Erik Swyngedouw. Authoritarian
Governance, Power, the Politics of Rescaling
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Defining Cooperation

• Actors not in harmony brought together by
• Conforming their outlook
• Coordinating their policies
• Resolving discord

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Organizations Institutions

• Provide forum for interaction
• Risk of being dominated by influential actors
  (when there is no balance of power)
• Provide security for small countries

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Formal Organizations

• Have explicit rules specific assignments of
  roles
• Capacity for action by raising spending money
• Promulgate politics make discretionary choices

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Formal Structures in WBS

• Limited mandate impact
• Black Sea Economic Cooperation
• Organization for Democracy and Economic
  Development-GUAM
• BLACKSEAFOR
• Increase rivalry among stronger actors

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Informal Structures in WBS

• Alleviate the issue of Montreux Convention (1936)
• Create low risk/high return results
• EU neighborhood policies stability pacts

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Whats Next for WBS?

• Maintain a high level of informality
• Limit EUs Russias Turkeys influence
• Create a framework for weaker states to develop a
  sense of ownership
• Develop a common WBS narrative
• Who is in who is out?
• Scholarly policy interaction before political
  one

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Whats Next for WBS?

• Create sub-regions?
• Manageable cooperation
• Organic integration
• Clarify expectations from WBS
• Its the oil, stupid!
• Is it conflict resolution?