Abstract
This chapter identifies a hierarchy among European states’ ability to influence geopolitical interactions within the East European security complex. The Franco-German axis will likely acquire unprecedented influence by taking control of the European Union. If—or rather when—both the axis and the Union decline, Germany will become the prime West European actor. Post-communist EU members as well as the CIS republics will try to use US and British support in order to avoid joining Berlin’s or Moscow’s spheres of influence. Moreover, they will have to deal with major domestic challenges related to the rise of populist nationalism and to the ensuing development of authoritarian regimes sharing neoclassical geopolitical views.
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Tudoroiu, T. (2018). Europe’s Great Powers and Small States. In: Brexit, President Trump, and the Changing Geopolitics of Eastern Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77920-1_6
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