Romania’s Foreign Policy After 1989: Predictable Transition and New Challenges
摘要
This chapter traces the main stages of development of Romania’s foreign policy after 1989. It starts by examining the historical background of its reorientation during the transition from a communist regime to democracy. The steps taken to strengthen Romania’s Western orientation through its accession to NATO (2004) and the European Union (2007) and the key relations with the United States are described as parts of Bucharest’s predictable, quasi-linear pro-Western trajectory, in which perhaps only the pace of convergence and integration has varied from one government to the next. This is contrasted by the “new” geopolitical challenges in Europe and Romania’s role in the region. The effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, repeated crises after the COVID-19 pandemic, and external and internal revisionism on the European and Euro–Atlantic institutional architecture and perspectives on possible changes in Romania’s foreign policy are discussed.