Conclusion

Abstract

The 1990s have witnessed enormous changes in Europe. One of the more remarkable and positive, but not always widely recognized, developments has been the emergence of the new subregional groups in the Barents-Black Sea belt. From the late 1940s to the late 1980s, these subregions were the front-lines of the Cold War. They were characterized by political division, military confrontation and minimal economic and human ties between the two blocs. The end of the Cold War made the emergence of the Barents-Black Sea groups possible: patterns of cooperation which were previously unthinkable became political reality in a very short space of time.