Georgia, the Black Sea and the Approaching West
Von Jan Arveds Trapans
Von Jan Arveds Trapans
Georgia is moving toward the West and the West is moving toward Georgia although not for the same reasons. In Georgia the movement got definitely under way with the Rose Revolution-- the political change of 2003 the electoral results of 2004--whereupon domestic reform policy
accelerated and foreign policy rapidly oriented westwards. The West has been moving for some time. Bulgaria and Romania, two countries on the western shore of the Black Sea are now NATO members; Turkey has belonged to the Alliance for a long time. Furthermore, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey intend to get into the EU and it is likely that they will accomplish their aim in a few years. When this happens, the Euro-Atlantic community will possess a considerable part of the shoreline of the Black Sea. The eastward movement does not have anything to do directly with revolutions, the Rose Revolution or the more recent one Orange Revolution. Nonetheless, the West has to take them and their consequences into account.
“The West” is NATO and the EU. It includes countries that are members in one or the other or both institutions as well as some individual states. This definition is an imprecise one and it is used for the sake of convenience. It deals with institutions and states which have an active security policy toward the Black Sea area and the Southern Caucasus. It neglects other factors and avoiding analytic definitions.
accelerated and foreign policy rapidly oriented westwards. The West has been moving for some time. Bulgaria and Romania, two countries on the western shore of the Black Sea are now NATO members; Turkey has belonged to the Alliance for a long time. Furthermore, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey intend to get into the EU and it is likely that they will accomplish their aim in a few years. When this happens, the Euro-Atlantic community will possess a considerable part of the shoreline of the Black Sea. The eastward movement does not have anything to do directly with revolutions, the Rose Revolution or the more recent one Orange Revolution. Nonetheless, the West has to take them and their consequences into account.
“The West” is NATO and the EU. It includes countries that are members in one or the other or both institutions as well as some individual states. This definition is an imprecise one and it is used for the sake of convenience. It deals with institutions and states which have an active security policy toward the Black Sea area and the Southern Caucasus. It neglects other factors and avoiding analytic definitions.
However, nowadays much of Western policy toward the broad area from the Baltic to the Black Sea is made in NATO and the EU, the headquarters of the Euro-Atlantic community, with its capital at Brussels. There of course is more to the West than two organizations.
There are states with their distinct foreign and security policies. Among them, the United States is uniquely important to Georgia because it a particular policy toward the region.
“The West” also says that it is distinguished by shared values--principles, mores, and ways of behaviour. These values are seen in their everyday political and social behaviour--in democracy, civil society, civil and human rights, and so forth. The so-called transition countries like Georgia, which want to be accepted by the Trans-Atlantic community, are expected to assimilate these values fully and demonstrate them in their public and private behaviour. We shall not neglect values in the course of this Chapter. However, geostrategy and geopolitics will be dealt with first.
As the West moves eastward, its attention shifts toward regions and countries, to the Black Sea, the South Caucasus, and Georgia. We can be more certain about which countries are in the South Caucasus; they are Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Black Sea, meaning the countries that belong to it, is not as easy to describe. There are countries that border on the Black Sea are the obvious choices. But there also are countries in ‘the Black Sea region’, and there is a bigger number of them, because once NATO and the EU stand at the seashore, Greece is certainly a country of ‘the region’. There is the Black Sea littoral, with even more countries, Austria among them. The above descriptions actually indicate various security, political, or economic concerns.
However, whatever the definition is and no matter how large or small an area it encompasses, Georgia is in each one of them, often at the centre or close to it.
As NATO and the EU move eastward, their policy makers assess contiguous areas—the Baltic, the Balkans, and the Black Sea--in terms of security problems, that is, potential threats emanating from them.
Because Georgia is in the South Caucasus and in the Black Sea area, it will be placed in the context of difficulties and threats arising from one area or the other. This is not necessarily to Georgia’s disadvantage. If threats are to be removed or at least moderated, it cannot be accomplished without a Georgia’s sustained participation. We shall start, therefore, with examining some of the various Western views—those of the international institutions in Brussels and the United States—on threats, security and reform in the Black Sea area, South Caucasus and Georgia.
There are states with their distinct foreign and security policies. Among them, the United States is uniquely important to Georgia because it a particular policy toward the region.
“The West” also says that it is distinguished by shared values--principles, mores, and ways of behaviour. These values are seen in their everyday political and social behaviour--in democracy, civil society, civil and human rights, and so forth. The so-called transition countries like Georgia, which want to be accepted by the Trans-Atlantic community, are expected to assimilate these values fully and demonstrate them in their public and private behaviour. We shall not neglect values in the course of this Chapter. However, geostrategy and geopolitics will be dealt with first.
As the West moves eastward, its attention shifts toward regions and countries, to the Black Sea, the South Caucasus, and Georgia. We can be more certain about which countries are in the South Caucasus; they are Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Black Sea, meaning the countries that belong to it, is not as easy to describe. There are countries that border on the Black Sea are the obvious choices. But there also are countries in ‘the Black Sea region’, and there is a bigger number of them, because once NATO and the EU stand at the seashore, Greece is certainly a country of ‘the region’. There is the Black Sea littoral, with even more countries, Austria among them. The above descriptions actually indicate various security, political, or economic concerns.
However, whatever the definition is and no matter how large or small an area it encompasses, Georgia is in each one of them, often at the centre or close to it.
As NATO and the EU move eastward, their policy makers assess contiguous areas—the Baltic, the Balkans, and the Black Sea--in terms of security problems, that is, potential threats emanating from them.
Because Georgia is in the South Caucasus and in the Black Sea area, it will be placed in the context of difficulties and threats arising from one area or the other. This is not necessarily to Georgia’s disadvantage. If threats are to be removed or at least moderated, it cannot be accomplished without a Georgia’s sustained participation. We shall start, therefore, with examining some of the various Western views—those of the international institutions in Brussels and the United States—on threats, security and reform in the Black Sea area, South Caucasus and Georgia.
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