| Summary/Abstract |
Central and Eastern Europe is located between the East and the West. Big powers have traditionally competed for influence in the region and limited independence. After the Cold War, most of Central and Eastern Europe joined the EU and NATO and focused on political and economic transformations. Mostly these processes went smoothly and the region lost the world’s attention. However, in recent years, as Eurasian geopolitics has changed, especially after the outbreak of the Ukrainian Crisis, competition in the region has grown more intense. This situation is partly due to the region’s geography, history and development, which have traditionally made them targets for other powers to divide between them or to court favor. However, countries in the region no longer want to be puppets, they want to wrest control of their own destiny by playing the powers off against each other, so the geopolitical situation is now presenting a new picture.
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