Concept of Balto-Black Sea Union and Post-Soviet Territory

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21847/1728-9343.2014.5(131).29428

Keywords:

geopolitical situation of Ukraine, Balto-Black Sea Union, Balto-Black Sea arc, concept of 'inter-sea area', common European integration

Abstract

The paper examines a concept of the Balto-Black Sea Union, which ideas were translated into reality during the Kievan Rus and Grand Duchy of Lithuania period. In the 10th-11th centuries the road from the North to the South, from the East-country to the Black Sea ran through the territory of Ukraine. The way 'from the Varangians to the Greeks' integrated two regions, the Baltic and the Black Sea, and was to the advantage of all those involved. This conceptual idea was again looked into by Ukrainian politicians and researchers in the early 20th century, it was explored and proposed by Mykhailo Grushevskyi, Yuriy Lypa and Stepan Rudnytskyi.

The idea of the 'inter-sea area' became a subject for active discussion in Polish, Ukrainian, Belorussian and Lithuanian political quarters in the late 1980s. This plot deserves attention of contemporary Ukrainian politicians in the current dynamic geopolitical context as an efficient and timely anti-Russian international project which will underpin the security of Ukraine. This idea was partially implemented in the form of the GU(U)AM, the Black Sea Organization for Economic Cooperation and the Community of Democratic Choice.

The natural vector 'North - South' of communicative and transit transport flows is not used in full measure by Ukraine. The Balto-Black Sea Union offers a significant security component which is of interest to the USA and the European Union.

The emergence of such new world economic centers as the USA, the EU and China imparts a new focus to foreign policy priorities of Ukraine.

Author Biography

Bogdan Levyk, Lviv Polytechnic National University

Candidate of Historical Sciences, Chief Research Officer

References

Vedienieiev D. V. (1994), Formation of foreign political Guard Service of Ukraine (1917-1920 years), Abstract of thesis for the degree of candidate of history sciences after specialty 07.00.02 «World History», Kyiv (ukr).

Maddison V., Shakhov V. (2003), Modern Ukrainian geopolitics, Kyiv, 173 p. (ukr).

Rossokha L. (2006), Baltic-Black Sea Partnership: Prospects are, Ukraina i svit sohodni [Ukraine and world today], № 9 (359), March 10 (ukr).

Rossokha L. (2008), Activation of Ukraine’s role in the development of the Community of Democratic Choice: historical and political aspect, Stratehichni priorytety [Strategic priorities], № 1 (6), pp. 168-176 (ukr).

Zarubinskyi O., Chornyi V. (2005), Prospects for the Baltic-Black Sea cooperation, Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, № 8 (536), March 5-11 (ukr).

Terskyi S. (2011), Western Volyn military-strategic ways «North-South» in the eleventh to the fourteenth century: historical and geographical comment, Scientific Notes of the National University «Ostrog Academy». Historical science, Vol. 17, pp. 107-115, available at: http://nbuv.gov.ua/j-pdf/Nznuoai_2011_17_11.pdf (ukr).

Hrushevskyi M. (2007), On the verge of a new Ukraine. Idea and dream, in Hrushevskyi M. Works in 50 volumes, Lviv, Vol. 4: Social and political works (Ukrainian Central Rada 1917 - May 1918), pp. 225-267 (ukr).

Matviienko V. (2003), Politics UNR and Ukrainian State for the newly emerging state formations in the former Russian Empire (1917-1921), Abstract of thesis for the degree of doctor of history sciences after specialty 07.00.02 «World History», Kyiv, 31 p. (ukr).

Chornomorskyi Soiuz u zadumakh uriadu UNR v ekzuni (2004), Ukrainske slovo, № 7, 22-28 January (ukr).

Dashkevych Ya. (2011), Black Sea problems in the past and today, in Dashkevych Ya. Uchi nemozhnimi ustami skazati pravdu: istorychna eseistyka, Kyiv, pp. 517-540 (ukr).

Domashchenko L. M. (2008), Concept Black Sea Ukraine orientation in the national political thought of the first half of the twentieth century, Abstract of thesis for the degree of candidate of political sciences, Kyiv, 18 p. (ukr).

Lypa Yu. (1992), Appointment of Ukraine, Lviv, 272 p. (ukr).

Lypa Yu. (1942), Black Sea doctrine, Odesa, 165 p. (ukr).

Potulnytskyi V. A. (1992), History of Ukrainian Political Science (Conception Ukrainian foreign state in historical and political science), Kyiv, 232 p. (ukr).

Rudnytskyi S. (1923), Case with the situation of Ukrainian political geography, Berlin, 288 p. (ukr).

Hrushevskyi M. (1991), Who are the Ukrainian and what they want, Kyiv, p. 138 (ukr).

Koroliov H. O. (2011), The idea of the Black Sea Federation in the views of the Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, Ukrainian Historical Journal, № 6, pp. 68-79 (ukr).

Koroma N. (2007), Place of Ukraine in forming the Baltic-Black Sea region: from the idea to regional cooperation, Bulletin of Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko. Geography, № 54, pp. 55-57 (ukr).

Ulunyan A. (2011), New «MIEDZYMOPZE» - «INTERMARUM» geospatial retroproekt as in the concept of a «Europe of Regions»: is there a geo-historical paradigm «flexible regions» in East and Central Europe?, Perekrestki [Crossroads]. Journal of Research of East European Borderlands. Vilnius, № 3-4, pp. 13-30 (rus).

Published

2014-11-15

How to Cite

Levyk, B. (2014). Concept of Balto-Black Sea Union and Post-Soviet Territory. Skhid, (5(131). https://doi.org/10.21847/1728-9343.2014.5(131).29428

Issue

Section

History