The fall of Soviet Communism is very often associated with, either the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9th November 1989 or the collapse of the Soviet Union on the Christmas Day of 1991, yet not many people remember that neither Helmut Kohl nor Boris Yeltsin would have a courage or leverage to deal a final blow to the Soviet Union and its General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, without the events remembered in the literature of subject as Polish Solidarity Revolution, Czechoslovakian Velvet Revolution, and similar Hungarian Round Table Talks. Yet, despite the enthusiasm after regaining independence in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland, the political leaders of these respective countries have instantly realised that the Western Countries are not quite ready to offer them any tangible plan for integration with either the European Union or NATO. Therefore the post-Communist Central Europe has found itself in the situation that resembled a black hole situated in between: on one hand the ever-closely integrating Western Europe, and on the other faced with the Eastern-giant-with-clay-feet that could only mean further trouble. That is exactly how the Visegrad Group (V4) came into existence, not as a well-thought idea or far-reaching geopolitical platform of properly designed cooperation for generations to come, but rather as a quick-fix or a temporary solution to a very peculiar geopolitical situation of the countries who came to conclusion that since they have come from the same region, share similar values and historic experience, and share the same transatlantic and European aspirations, they may as well share their road to get there. Subsequently, the Visegrad Cooperation has become an important platform for deepening a regional cooperation in the Central Europe for the next two decades until the beginning of the 2000s, and consequent joining both North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1999 and the European Union (the EU) in 2004. This publication aspires to investigate the V4's genesis, development, and prospects for future integration: in the light of the fact that all its member states have now joined in much-larger, better-developed and more established regional and transatlantic organizations that share very similar if not coinciding functions and responsibilities with this group. Indeed, despite the fact that various influential political commentators have argued that upon the successful NATO and the EU enlargements (1999/2004), the retrospective V4 member states would go their separate ways; the author of this publication argues that there is still a place for the Visegrad Group in the regional architecture of power. The author believes that the accession to the transatlantic community has given Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Group itself an incentive to deepen the Visegrad cooperation to come up with even more beneficial for both the member states and other regional actors in the Eastern and Southern Europe. The very reasons why the V4 Group has survived beyond 2004 and is still a force to be reckoned with in Central and Eastern Europe is the fact that its four member countries came to understand that their separate geopolitical potentials are still quite limited, whilst, the Visegrad model of cooperation offered them a semi-successful platform to pursue their respective goals and aspirations further. Should this group prove to be capable of using its potential and its soft power in a more effective manner it will be likely to attract other international players to follow if footsteps in the Global Village. If you are interested in the future of the Central European cooperation "the Visegrad Group's genesis, development, and prospects for future integration" has been designed especially for you.
About the Author: Piotr Pietrzak specializes in the theory of international relations; geopolitics, conflict resolution strategies, and international law. Pietrzak is interested in the matters related to the First and Second World War, superpowers' competition during the Cold War, recent conflicts in: Syria, Cyprus, Chechnya, the Former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Georgia, Libya, Mali and Ukraine.