Redistribution Of Geopolitical Power In Central And Eastern Europe  Cover Image

Redistribution Of Geopolitical Power In Central And Eastern Europe
Redistribution Of Geopolitical Power In Central And Eastern Europe

Author(s): Tomas Janeliūnas
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences
Published by: Vilniaus universiteto leidykla & VU Tarptautinių santykių ir politikos mokslų institutas
Keywords: NATO enlargement from US positions; NATO enlargement from Russia’s positions; US economic interest in CEE countries; Russian economical influence in CEE;

Summary/Abstract: The eventual membership in NATO for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) states generally seems to be the final breakaway from the sphere of Russian influence. Becoming members of NATO – the main political and security Euro Atlantic block – the new NATO states hope that they will be able to speed up comprehensive integration into the West. Not only in military or political, but in economic and cultural sense as well. However current tendencies do not allow to be so optimistic. Russia was not opposing NATO enlargement very actively, but it does not mean that Moscow has lost any interest in CEE. The main suggestion of this article is that NATO enlargement gives no guarantees to the new NATO states of comprehensive and full geopolitical gravitation to the West. It suggests that geopolitical influence in the region becomes two-sided – it is mainly divided between US and Russia. It is obvious that geopolitical influence has a lot of sides – it is determined by geographic, [...] This article proposes a version that one of the most important motives for Russia not to hesitate NATO enlargement was a particular silent agreement or compromise achieved between Russia and the US to divide the spheres of influence in the CEE region.

  • Issue Year: 2002
  • Issue No: 01
  • Page Range: 142-152
  • Page Count: 11
  • Language: English