Dimitrios' World

In 1990, John Mearsheimer wrote a much discussed article on how he viewed the Post-Cold War world at least on the European continent titled “Back to the Future”. According to Mearsheimer, there would be no new era of peace; instead multipolarity and increased competition between great powers would probably take hold, thereby increasing instability, inequality, unpredictability and uncertainty. In recent years, Mearsheimer’s thesis as well as those of other proponents of the realist school of thought (be it classical realism, offensive realism, structural realism, etc.) seems to be gaining strength albeit the popularity of post-modern schools of thought over the last two decades. Why all this theoretical babble, you ask? Mearsheimer clearly comes to mind when one attempts to analyse the competition between and among great powers in Europe (and neighbouring regions) today in particular with reference to the energy paradigm. On 13 July 2009, the Prime Ministers of Austria, Bulgaria, Hu...

The international order has entered into a new era. Barack Obama has taken formally the reigns of power in Washington , the dismantling of a number of Bush-era policies has begun and the expectations of hope across the globe take hold. Amidst an ongoing, evergrowing international financial and economic crisis (where estimates of negative growth globally for the first time since 1950 abound), and the realities of the aftermath of the killing fields of Gaza , Obama’s agenda is filled to the brim and bound to overflow. The Black Sea region – a region encompassing the South Caucasus, Russia, Turkey , Ukraine and some of the European Union’s member states – will undoubtedly constitute a high priority region, not in the least due to the presence of Russia . The issues at hand are many, they are complex and they are challenging. They could augur instability as well as the potential for constructive, long-standing cooperation and stability. For one, an interesting challenge has to do with t...