REMIT researcher Valentin Naumescu (Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj Napoca) has published an op-ed on the EUXGLOB platform focusing on the current situation in Central and Eastern Europe, a region whose countries are trapped between Russian threats, well-meaning EU illusions and changes in the US.
Valentin Naumescu, professor of international relations at BBU, commented on his piece: “We cannot overlook the recurring themes emphasizing the importance of dominating and controlling Eastern Europe (the former Zwischeneuropa, or “Europe between Germany and Russia”) or the tension and conflict between divergent visions among leading statesmen in the post-imperial era after 1918. Not only did the idea persist, but it became an almost constant feature of the hot and cold wars of the 20th century, bringing with it a host of symbolic elements that shaped both global history and national histories. Today, Eastern Europeans are rediscovering, with growing concern, the exceptional geopolitical nature of their region.”
Abstract
Between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea lies the “800-mile isthmus” of the inter-imperial geopolitical periphery, as described by Halford J. Mackinder in 1904 in his famous “Geographical Pivot of History” theory. This region continues to hold the key to understanding the new security order of our continent. By extension, it may even hold the key to power in the system of international relations in the modern era. 2025 is another crucial year for Eastern Europe—perhaps even more significant in terms of political events, decisions, and transformations than the much-discussed “super-electoral” year of 2024. This is the year when the impact and influence of the 2024 elections will actually start to be felt through the formation of new governments. In addition, a new wave of elections is coming, along with key discussions between the US and Russia, the US and the EU, the US and Ukraine—and perhaps even Ukraine and Russia in the latter half of the year.
Full Citation
Naumescu, V. “Central and Eastern Europe 2025: Between Russian Threats, Well-intentioned EU Illusions and US Changes”, EUXGLOB, February, 2025,
https://euxglob.ro/euxglobopinionpieces/
https://euxglob.ro/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Central-and-Eastern-Europe-2025-2-2.pdf