Since 2015, Polish foreign policy has witnessed a gradual rise in the significance of regional cooperation, as reflected in its enthusiasm for the Three Seas Initiative (TSI)1. The Initiative constitutes an in statu nascendi undertaking, one which aims to consolidate cooperation among states located in the region between the Baltic, Black, and Adriatic Seas. (In Poland, a popular acronym to denote the project is the “ABC initiative,” which reflects the Polish names of these bodies of water [i.e., Adriatyk, Bałtyk, Czarne]. However, itmust be emphasized that the member states of the TSI do not operate invacuum, but rather within a broader institutional framework that includes the European Union, the Central European Initiative, and the Visegrád Group. This paper begins by outlining the prospective geopolitical determinants that will determine the success or failure of the TSI, with particular attention paid to issues of regional security. It concludes by analysing how the Initiative may become a new model for regional cooperation.

The present paper discusses the following research questions: to what extent did errors made by the previous presidents of Ukraine result in the country’s failure to introduce systemic reforms (e.g. combating corruption, the development of a foundation for a stable state under the rule of law and free-market economy)?; can it be ventured that the lack of radical reforms along with errors in the internal politics of Ukraine under Petro Poroshenko resulted in the president’s failure?; will the strong vote of confidence given to Volodymyr Zelensky and the Servant of the People party exact systemic reforms in Ukraine?; or will Volodymyr Zelensky merely become an element of the oligarchic political system in Ukraine?

The geopolitical rivalry and the clash of interests between the superpowers have been present in the Black Sea region for centuries. During the Cold War when the East-West divide was at its height, the Black Sea was “excluded” from geopolitical competition between the superpowers as it became the domain of mainly one player – the Soviet Union. The dismantling of the Pax Sovietica and the subsequent collapse of the Cold War gave rise to a new geopolitical situation in the Black Sea region. The former USSR was superseded by the Russian Federation and other political entities independent from Russia, yet having strong bonds with the region both in terms of geography and their political and cultural interests. These were new states like Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, but also former Soviet satellite states such as Bulgaria and Romania. In other words, the collapse of the USSR entailed the emergence of a new system of geopolitical power in the post-Soviet space.

The following editorial offers a reflection on the situation of Central and Eastern Europe with a special focus on the European Union’s Eastern Neighbourhood and Russia. In the past few years, we have witnessed the divisive impact of neoliberalism, economic recession, Britain’s departure from the EU, the refugee and migrant crisis which further shattered societies along cultural lines, the aggressive expansionism of Russia exploiting the weakness of the West, and more recently, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic with an unprecedented impact on societies, global health and economy. The editorial reflects on how Central and Eastern Europe scores among the imaginative geographies and how these imaginative geographies translate into geopolitics concerning hard and soft power application in the Eastern European Neighbourhood.