New Challenges in International Cooperation

Nowadays, the globalization dynamics is deeply and rapidly readjusting the structures of international relations, on every level: economic, political, cultural and institutional. All socioeconomic formations on the planet not only remain subject to global dynamics but they also do not cease to co-create it with their actions. In this sense the ongoing dynamics of globalization is at the same time a co-producer and the end product of the international developments on a regional, national and local level. The Southeast Europe region is still an area full of tensions, future challenges and ‘open issues’. It still holds a geopolitical and geo-strategic role, being a geographic node of huge importance and shaping contemporary international balances. Multiplex forms of coopetition – mixed dynamics of cooperation and competition – are emerging and employed inside the region nowadays, with the goal of readjusting the region’s prospects, of exploring and utilizing opportunities and of avoiding threats. However, most often, those efforts are of myopic and short-term reach: they perceive their benefits narrowly and in the short run and they give little attention to all the dangers taking place at the meso- and macro-level. This paper counter-proposes a view of a necessary cooperation that could be applied in the sensitive region of Southeast Europe; a view of cooperation that synthesizes the individual dimensions of contemporary international relations and that brings forward the following foundational priorities: • Recognize the “peculiarities” of the parties involved; • Remove communication and mutual understanding obstacles; • Give emphasis on the reciprocity of benefits; • Give primary interest in security and stability; • Focus on the long-term balance and development.