Black Sea security as a regional concern for the Black Sea states and the global powers

Abstract

The ‘Black Sea security’ as a concept must be judged, unfortunately, from the ‘insecurity’ point of view. Since 1991, there is more debate about Black Sea ‘insecurity’, rather than regional ‘security’. The contextual problem is not only due to the fact that in this region there is a concentration of ‘frozen’ conflicts. The war between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia in August 2008 actually reinforced the need for strengthening military security in this explosive region, and energy security in particular. The ‘post‐Cold War’ security situation in the Wider Black Sea region has been developing through constant geopolitical tensions on different systemic levels with the simultaneous involvement of a number of insiders and outsiders. The last decade has thus been marked by new challenges that have to be dealt with.