Authors

Mihai Varga¹; Aron Buzogany²;  ¹ Freie Universitaet Berlin, Germany;  ² University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria

Discussion

This paper examines the response to the disruption of trade and energy provision in Eastern Europe following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Despite the upheaval, various international and regional initiatives sought to rescue food trade and energy production and transportation projects. These transnational initiatives–many based on or planning Black Sea infrastructural development (gas pipelines, trade corridors, power cables etc)–follow an often paradoxical logic: they promise economic sovereignty (Bod 2024; Guțoiu 2024) but are deeply enmeshed in external financial dependencies (Szabó & Jelinek 2023), while aligning with the "derisking" agenda (Mohan et al. 2024) championed by international financial institutions (IFIs). Although ostensibly serving the green agendas of IFIs and the EU, these projects often contradict decarbonization efforts. Similarly, while framed as enhancing cooperation with the EU, they also aim to protect or promote strategic alignments with China, Russia, and Iran, as evident in Georgia’s or Hungary’s role as "bridgeheads" for Chinese capital (Éltető & Ricz 2024; Żuk et al. 2023; Rekhviashvili and Lang 2024). These initiatives invoke the rhetoric of state developmentalism yet often lack coherent industrial policy strategies. Amid these tensions, a unifying theme emerges: resource nationalism, a minimalist yet adaptable measure of developmentalism across the region. While this rise of resource nationalism offers regional responses to crises, it exposes weaknesses in the global architecture of international institutions and long-term development strategies. This is particularly evident in the grain trade, where inclusive solutions—such as strategic reserves to support the UN's World Food Programme—remain elusive. The analysis contributes to debates on de-risking, the agency of post-(neo)liberal states, and the regional geopolitical implications of the Russo-Ukrainian war.