ABSTRACT
The notion of ‘Central Europe’ has always been elusive or ambiguous. This article contends that since 1989 a new definition of what constitutes Central Europe has emerged, based on regional cooperation initiatives among Poland, Hungary and the former Czechoslovakia. While the membership, objectives and quality of such cooperation has varied, indeed been challenged and even undermined, developments and processes over the past decade nevertheless indicate a strong tendency towards the creation of a series of Central European insiders and outsiders based around Visegrád cooperation. Unlike other regional initiatives, even those bearing the name ‘Central Europe’, uniquely Visegrád has self-limiting membership criteria, a strong regional cultural component and has declined self-serving opportunities to expand its membership.
