Xenophon Paper No.4

Author: Ian O. Lesser

Preface by: Dimitrios Triantaphyllou

The wider Black Sea area is rapidly becoming a focal point of interest for a number of extra-regional actors that can also be considered, in view of their active involvement, to be stakeholders. As Ian Lesser, the author of this new Xenophon Paper suggests, the Black Sea is strategically signifi cant because it is an important part of the European security environment, it is a political and logistical hub for power projection to crisis-prone areas beyond the Black Sea basin and it is important in its own right because of its impressive development potential but also because it harbors many fl ashpoints for regional conflict.

A fundamental question that emerges from reading this Paper is whether there is a need for developing Black Sea identity as a distinct security space or whether the Black Sea should be treated ‘as part of a larger geographical continuum’. The logical conclusion is that a thorough consideration of both aforementioned approaches is necessary and inevitable.

The edition is available here.