This panel examines the Baltic Sea and Black Sea basins, as well as the Arctic, as arenas of NATO and EU strategic competition with Russia, where regional actors (Baltic and Nordic countries, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania) are developing their own maritime security doctrines and implementing EU and NATO strategic frameworks.
Regional states are not merely passive objects of great-power rivalry but actively seek to instrumentalise Western threat perceptions of Russia to enhance their strategic position (NATO force posture, critical infrastructure investments, energy security projects).
We intend to analyse how small and middle powers leverage geopolitical contestation to advance their own security and economic interests through strategic hedging and alliance management.
Panel „Maritime security”