About the Institute

Black Sea Institute for Geopolitics and Governance

The Black Sea Institute for Geopolitics and Governance is an independent platform for research, analysis, and public debate on the changing political and strategic landscape of Eastern Europe, the Black Sea region, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia.

Who we are

The Institute brings together academic expertise, regional knowledge, and policy-oriented analysis to examine the dynamics of international order, foreign and security policy, democratic governance, and resilience in a period of deep geopolitical transformation.

Our work focuses on how states and societies navigate growing strategic competition, contested regional orders, and overlapping political, economic, and security pressures. We are particularly interested in the interaction between global power shifts and regional developments in the wider Black Sea space.

The Institute seeks to connect rigorous scholarship with timely analysis. It aims to serve as a bridge between academia, policy communities, media audiences, and broader public debate by producing work that is analytically grounded, regionally informed, and accessible beyond narrow specialist circles.

What we do

We publish commentary, policy analysis, interviews, podcasts, and longer-form research on key geopolitical trends shaping the wider region. These include questions of war and peace, foreign policy realignment, great-power competition, democratic backsliding, institutional fragility, governance reform, and the strategic implications of shifting regional balances.

In doing so, the Institute pays particular attention to the ways in which local actors respond to structural pressures, external influence, and regional uncertainty. Rather than treating the region simply as an object of great-power rivalry, we emphasize the agency, choices, and constraints of states and societies situated between competing orders.

Rigour

We are committed to evidence-based analysis, conceptual clarity, and serious engagement with regional and international scholarship.

Independence

Our work is guided by analytical integrity rather than partisan alignment, advocacy slogans, or short-term political fashion.

Relevance

We aim to produce research and commentary that speak both to specialist audiences and to real-world policy and public debates.

Core focus areas

Geopolitics and international order in the wider Black Sea region
Foreign and security policy in Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet space
Democratic governance, resilience, and institutional contestation
Regional conflict, coercion, and strategic adaptation
EU neighbourhood policy and the future of European order

Regional scope

Eastern Europe, the Black Sea region, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia.

Our approach

We combine academic depth with policy relevance and regional expertise. Our goal is not only to interpret geopolitical change, but also to place it in wider analytical and comparative perspective.

Why it matters

The wider Black Sea region is no longer a peripheral space. It has become one of the key arenas in which questions of order, sovereignty, security, and governance are being renegotiated. Understanding this region is therefore essential to understanding broader global change.