The article is devoted to the applicability of the Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT), developed by Copenhagen School scholars Barry Buzan and Ole Wver, to the study of security issues in the Black Sea region in the post-bipolar period, starting from the collapse of the USSR in 1991 to 2025. The disappearance of one of the two poles of the bipolar world (the USSR), uneven globalization, the emergence of regional powers, the growth of old threats and the emergence of new ones, and the overall fragmentation of global security require a more in-depth theoretical and methodological approach to analyzing regional security issues. Classical geopolitics does not fully address these new challenges. The aim of this study is is to to identify the main factors influencing the transformation of the Black Sea regional security complex (1991–2025). The object of this study is the Black Sea region in the post-bipolar period, and the subject is the dynamics of the security configuration in the Black Sea region in the post-bipolar period. The methodological basis of the study is the theory of regional security complex, based on the principles of which the characteristics of the security system in the Black Sea region are identified, as well as the features of its evolution over the past 34 years. The study's results demonstrate that the Black Sea region does not constitute a fully-fledged regional security complex, as it lacks autonomous internal dynamics. The novelty of this article lies in the fact that it examines the Black Sea region for the first time as a distinct sub-complex of regional security, located on the borders of the post-Soviet and European regional security complexes. We conclude that the main factor hindering the Black Sea region's transformation into a security complex is external pressure, reflected in Euro-Atlantic integration processes that contribute to the polarization of security interests within the sub-complex and thereby contribute to the deterioration of the region's security configuration, manifested in increased conflict potential, militarization, regional disintegration, and growing hostility. Thus, the study contributes to the development of the theory of regional security complex and its use in studying the Black Sea region in the modern period.
Razvan-Mihail Popescu (Thu,) studied this question.