Abstract
The Visegrad Group (also the Visegrad Four — V4) is a subregional group consisting of four Central European (CE) countries — the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The V4 was established on 15 February 1991 when the Presidents of Czechoslovakia and Poland and the Prime Minister of Hungary met in Visegrad, Hungary.1 In February 2011, the Visegrad Group celebrated the twentieth anniversary of its existence. Looking at the recent scope and depth of its activities one has to admit that the V4 made the first step into its third decade as a self-confident and by far the most important subregional group in Central Europe even though the potential still exceeds the actual outcomes (CEPA 2011). The picture of the V4 has not always been so bright, however. Only eight years ago the V4 faced tough questions about its meaning; even its very survival was at stake. Thus, the main issues that this chapter seeks to address are the following: First, what were the conditions that had to be fulfilled for the Visegrad Group to become as ambitious and recognized as it is today? This question arises from the surprising ability of the V4 to overcome long and recurring phases of justified scepticism and concerns about the meaningfulness as well as the future of the group. In this chapter, six conditions that — from a contemporary point of view — were necessary for the V4 to withstand the challenges2 are defined. Second, the chapter aims at describing how the process of ‘becoming and stabilizing’ of the group affected the in-group feeling of the V4 members, and how this in-group feeling in turn affects the relations of the V4 to the other countries in the region.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Ágh, Attila (1998) The Politics of Central Europe, London: SAGE Publications.
Bilčík, Vladimir and Tomáš Strážay (2006) Fungovanie Vyšehradskej štvorky pred a po vstupe jej členov do Európskej únie, Bratislava: Výskumné centrum Slovenskej spoločnosti pre zahraničnú politiku.
Blumer, Herbert (1969/1998) Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Brusis, Martin (2002) ‘Prospects of Visegrad Cooperation in an Enlarged European Union’, in Marek Šťastný, ed., Visegrad Countries in an Enlarged Trans-Atlantic Community, 67–84, Bratislava: Inštitút pre verejné otázky.
Bukalska, Patrycyja and Mariusz Bocian (2003) A New Visegrad Group in the New European Union — Possibilities and Opportunities for Development, Warsaw: Centre for Eastern Studies.
Central Europe Digest (2009) ‘Interview with Radosław Sikorski’, 2 December, http://cepa.org/ced/view.aspx?record_id=214 (accessed 25 January 2012).
CEPA — Center for European Policy Analysis (2010) Keeping New Allies: An Assessment of US Policy in Central Europe, Washington: CEPA, http://www.google.si/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCQQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2FError! Hyperlink reference not valid.px%3Fname%3DKeeping%2BNew%2BAllies–.pdf&ei=RbdnT6CeFcXntQasTqBw&usg=AFQjCNGMNVnKi-RfPHmrHXjQPk0AZE-a8w (accessed 25 January 2012).
CEPA — Center for European Policy Analysis (2011) Translating Opportunity into Impact: Central Europe in the European Union, 2010–2020, Washington: CEPA, http://cepa.org/publications/view.aspx?record_id=178 (accessed 25 January 2012).
Cviic, Christopher (2000) ‘Re-Connecting the Southern Flank’, in Christopher Lord, ed., Central Europe: Core or Periphery?, 115–31, Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School Press.
Dančák, Břetislav (2002) Visegradská skupina a integrace střední Evropy: multilaterální vztahy mezi Českou republikou, Maďarskem, Polskem a Slovenskem na přelomu dvacátého a jednadvacátého století, Ph.D. Thesis, Brno: Fakulta sociálních studií MU.
Dangerfield, Martin (2008) ‘The Visegrad Group in the Expanded European Union: From Pre-accession to Post-accession Cooperation’, East European Politics and Society 22(3): 1735–55.
Dienstbier, Jiř í (1999) ‘Visegrad’, Mezinárodní politika 2(23): 4–7.
Dienstbier, Jiří (2001) ‘Vzpomínky na Visegrad’, Přítomnost: 12–14.
Dienstbier, Jiří (2006) ‘Visegrad: The first phase’, in Andrzej Jagodziński, ed., The Visegrad Group — A Central European Constellation, 41–5, Bratislava: International Visegrad Fund.
Drulák, Petr (2002) ‘When Does Regional Cooperation Make Sense?’, in Marek Šťastný, ed., Visegrad Countries in an Enlarged Trans-Atlantic Community, 47–66, Bratislava: Institute for Public Affairs.
Druláková, Radka (2007) Visegrad Group within the EU — A Stable or Diluted Coalition, Prague: Oeconomica.
Fitzmaurice, John (1998) Politics and Government in the Visegrad Countries: Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, London: Macmillan Press.
Gajewski, Jaroslaw (2005) ‘Visegrad Cooperation’, in Barbara Wizimirska, ed., Yearbook of Polish Foreign Policy 2004, 223–33, Warsaw: Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Gajewski, Jaroslaw (2006) ‘Poland’s Regional Policy’, in Roman Kuzńiar, ed., Yearbook of Polish Foreign Policy 2006, 169–87, Warsaw: Polski Instytut Spraw Miedzynarodowych.
Gati, Charles (2008) ‘Faded Romance: How Mitteleuropa fell out of love with America’, The American Interest 4(2): 35–43.
Gniazdowski, Mateusz (2009) ‘Poland’s Policy in the Visegrad Group’, in Slawomir Debski, ed., Yearbook of Polish Foreign Policy, 162–94, Warsaw: Polish Institute of International Affairs.
Grabiński, Tomasz (2006) ‘The summit in the frosty ruins: the background of the 1991 Visegrad meeting’, in Andrzej Jagodziński, ed., The Visegrad Group — A Central European Constellation, 86–7, Bratislava: International Visegrad Fund.
Hroch, Miroslav (2000) ‘Central Europe: The Rise and Fall of an Historical Region’, in Christopher Lord, ed., Central Europe: Core or Periphery?, 21–34, Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School Press.
Hurrell, Andrew (1995) ‘Regionalism in Theoretical Perspective’, in Louise Fawcett and Andrew Hurrell, eds, Regionalism in World Politics: Regional Organization and International Order, 37–73, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hynek, Nik, Vít Střítecký Vladimír Handl and Michal Kořan (2009) ‘The US-Russian security “reset”: implications for Central-Eastern Europe and Germany’, European Security 18(3): 263–85.
Irmanová, Eva (2004) ‘Maďarské pojetí střední Evropy’ in J. Vykoukal et. al., eds, Visegrad: možnosti a meze středoevropské spolupráce, 45–77, Prague: Dokořán.
Irmanová, Eva and Jiří Vykoukal (2004) ‘Úvod’, in J. Vykoukal et. al., eds, Visegrad: možnosti a meze středoevropské spolupráce, 7–12, Prague: Dokořán.
Jagodziński, Andrzej, ed. (2006) The Visegrad Group — A Central European Constellation, Bratislava: IVF.
Kopeček, Michal (2004) ‘Český Visegrad’, in J. Vykoukal et. al., eds, Visegrad: možnosti a meze středoevropské spolupráce, 125–55, Prague: Dokořán.
Kořan, Michal (2008) ‘Státy Visegradské skupiny a Rakousko v české zahraniční politice’ in Michal Kořan, ed., Česká zahraniční politika v roce 2007, 113–60, Prague: Ústav mezinárodních vztahů.
Kořan, Michal (2009) ‘Visegradská spolupráce, Rakousko, Polsko a Slovensko v české zahraniční politice’, in Michal Kořan, ed., Česká zahraniční politika v roce 2008, 101–40, Prague: Ústav mezinárodních vztahů.
Kořan, Michal (2010a) ‘The Visegrad Cooperation, Poland, Slovakia and Austria in the Czech Foreign Policy’, in Michal Kořan, ed., Czech Foreign Policy in 2007–2009: Analysis, 115–48, Prague: Institute of International Relations.
Kořan, Michal (2010b) ‘Visegradská socializace a její dopad na české zájmy’, in Vladimir Handl and Petr Drulák, eds, Hledání českých zájmů. Vnitřní rozmanitost a vnější akceschopnost, 174–98, Prague: Institute of International Relations.
Kořan, Michal (2011a) ‘Visegrad Group’s goals and challenges in recent Europe: Czech reflections’, International Issues and Slovak Foreign Policy Affairs 4: 66–84.
Kořan, Michal (2011b) ‘Visegradská spolupráce, Rakousko, Polsko a Slovensko v české zahraniční politice’, in Michal Kořan, ed., Česká zahraniční politika v roce 2011, 118–38, Prague: Ústav mezinárodních vztahů.
Lang, Kai Olaf (2004) Eine neue Visegrad — Gruppe? Perspektiven der ostmitteleuropäischen Kooperation in der grosseren EU, Berlin: Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik.
Leška, Vladimír (2003) ‘Minulost, přítomnost a budoucnost Visegradské spolupráce’, Mezinárodní politika 4(28): 10–13.
Lukáč, Pavol (2002) ‘Regionálna spolupráca v strednej Európe na začiatku 21. storočia — nové podoby a nové výzvy’, in Alena Kotvanová and Attila Szép, eds, Ročenka zahraničnej politiky Slovenskej republiky 2001, 57–70, Bratislava: Výskumné centrum SFPA.
Lukáč, Pavol (2004) Vyšehradská štvorka, Banská Bystrica: Metodicko-pedagogické centrum.
Lukášek, Ivo (2010) Visegradská skupina a její vývoj v letech 1991–2004, Prague: Carolinum.
Palata, Luboš (2006) ‘Ukrajinská budoucnost Visegradu’, Mezinárodní politika 9(30): 23–4.
Pehe, Jifí (2004) ‘Skončí Visegradská spolupráce?’, Hospodářské noviny, 3 February, http://www.pehe.cz/clanky/2004/skonci-visegradska-spoluprace (accessed 28 February2012).
Pehe, Jifí (2006) ‘Radji dejme Visegrad k ledu’, Hospodářské noviny, 26 July http://www.pehe.cz/Members/redaktor/radeji-visegrad-dejme-k-ledu (accessed 28 February 2012).
Pehe, Jiří (2011) ‘Pochybnosti o Visegradu’, Mezinárodní politika 3: 18–19.
Rhodes, Mathew (2003) Visegrad Turns Ten, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh.
Růžička, Jan and Michal Kořan (2006) ‘Totgesagte leben Langer: Die Visegrad-Gruppe nach dem EU-Beitritt’, Osteuropa 10: 63–78.
Strážay Tomáš (2008) ‘Vyšehradská štvorka: revitalizácia po ‘únavě z rozšírenia’’, in Peter Brezáni, ed., Ročenka zahraničnej politiky Slovenskej republiky 2007, 53–62, Bratislava: SFPA.
Strážay, Tomáš (2009) ‘Vyšehrad 2008: dynamická regionálna platforma s pridanou hodnotou pre EÚ’, in Peter Brezáni, ed., Ročenka zahraničnej politiky Slovenskej repub liky 2008, 93–102, Bratislava: SFPA.
Šedivý, Jaroslav (1997) Černínský palác v roce nula, Prague: Ivo Železný.
Todorova, Maria (2000) ‘Isn’t Central Europe Dead? A Reply To Iver Neumann’, in Christopher Lord, ed., Central Europe: Core or Periphery?, 220–39, Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School Press.
Visegrad Group (1999) Contents of Visegrad Cooperation, approved by the Prime Ministers’ Summit Bratislava on 14 May 1999, http://www.visegradgroup.eu/cooperation/contents-of-visegrad-110412 (accessed 25 January 2012).
Vykoukal, Jiří (2004) ‘Konec Visegradské spolupráce aneb nekamenujte proroky’, Visegrad Info, 21 March, http://www.euractiv.sk/rozsirovanie/analyza/konec-visegradske-spoluprace-aneb-nekamenujte-proroky (accessed 25 January 2012).
Wendt, Alexander (1987) ‘The agent-structure problem in international relations theory’, International Organization 41 (3): 335–70.
Wentworth, William M. (1980) Context and Understanding: An Inquiry into Socialization Theory, New York: Elsevier North Holland.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2012 Michal Kořan
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kořan, M. (2012). The Visegrad Group on the Threshold of Its Third Decade: A Central European Hub?. In: Šabič, Z., Drulák, P. (eds) Regional and International Relations of Central Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137283450_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137283450_11
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-34805-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-28345-0
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)