The Visegrad Group then and now : another case for capacity-expectation gap syndrome

This chapter delves into a wide spectrum of challenges as well as the capacity-expectation gap surrounding the cooperation of the Visegrad Group countries over the 35 years of its existence. A special emphasis is given to the implications of the political crisis in Ukraine and the period after the Russian Federation’s war of aggression. In what follows, a conceptual perspective is applied according to which the cooperation of the Visegrad Four has been marked by ad hoc initiatives lacking a long-lasting strategy of the V4’s international actorness. Apart from a few cases of joint actions and ad hoc coalitions (e.g. policy toward the Western Balkans, EU budgets, migration issues), it is difficult to identify areas of substantial as well as lasting regional cooperation. A striking example of such a pattern of action has been the ongoing divergence of positions and approaches of particular V4 countries toward the war in Ukraine. Such divergence is most often caused by the political situation and pressing expectations related to internal political cleavages. Adopting a change and continuity explanatory perspective, this chapter critically assesses the functioning of the V4 group by identifying the strategic challenges that political leaders have been facing in Central Europe recently.