Commentary
Dimitar Bechev
Book
The Scramble for Europe. Russia, China, and Turkey Challenging Regional Order
Europe is facing rising populism internally as well as external pressures from Russia, China, Turkey, and the United States.
Published on Oct 7, 2026
Source: Oxford University Press
Description
Europe used to be an agenda-setter at the global level but is now on the backfoot, facing rising populism internally as well as pressures from Russia, China, Turkey, and the U.S. that are undermining the European Union's cohesion and international influence.
In The Scramble for Europe, Dimitar Bechev traces the consolidation and, starting from the late 2000s, the subsequent crisis of the European regional order anchored in the EU. He argues that authoritarian powers are posing a direct challenge to the latter as they seek to remake Europe in their image. At the same time, their objectives differ. The Ukraine invasion put on display Russia's radical revisionist agenda. By contrast, China aims to co-opt a diminished Europe, largely through economic means, in a future world order that it dominates. Erdogan's Turkey wants to strike a deal where it is recognized as a top-tier stakeholder in Europe, as opposed to an eternal candidate for EU membership. Bechev folds all of these trends into an expansive account of the current regional order's transition, recasting our understanding of the current crises and revealing how external challenges to the EU and NATO will shape Europe's trajectory in the years to come.
Reviews
"How are Russia, China, and Turkey reshaping the European order? The Scramble for Europe advances a compelling account of the ensuing disruption. This powerfully-argued and readable account explores how each challenger is driven by distinct historical legacies, domestic vulnerabilities, and regional ambitions. Coming at an urgent moment, it is an indispensable resource for policymakers and engaged citizens grappling with how to sustain Europe's power and promise in the fraught years and decades to come." - Tino Cuéllar, President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
"The relationship between Europe and the wider world is now one of the most crucial that the continent faces. Dimitar Bechev brings deep and complex historical perspective and knowledge to the most pressing problems facing Europe today. This book is compelling reading for anyone who cares about how Europe's interaction with Asia has shaped its past, and why it is crucial for the future." - Rana Mitter, ST Lee Chair in US-Asia Relations, Harvard Kennedy School
"The Scramble for Europe delivers a groundbreaking rethinking of Eurasian geopolitics. Challenge it if you will, but don't ignore it." - Ivan Krastev, Chairman, Centre for Liberal Strategies, and Permanent Fellow of the Institute for Human Sciences
"Bechev provides us with an analytically deep while eminently readable account of how three key powers—Russia, China, and Turkey—are challenging Europe, once comfortably embedded within the liberal international order. All three former imperial powers are questioning Europe in related, at times existential, but fundamentally different ways. And as Europe transforms while addressing these challenges, the outcome, so far, defies the conveniently pessimistic views often heard in European debates today. A must read for anyone wishing to understand the complex nexus between global and regional politics in Europe and beyond." - Nathalie Tocci, Professor of the Practice, SAIS Europe, and Director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali
"Dimitar Bechev's The Scramble for Europe is a bracingly clear-eyed account of how Russia's brute force, China's economic gravitational pull, and Turkey's imperial reinvention are reshaping a regional order that once looked permanent. Free of Euro-centric sentimentality, historically grounded yet urgently contemporary, this is the most compelling study of great power competition in the European theatre that I have read in years. Indispensable for anyone trying to understand not just Europe's predicament, but what comes next." - Happymon Jacob, Founding Editor, India's World magazine, Founder & Director, Council for Strategic and Defence Research, New Delhi
"As Dimitar Bechev shows in this erudite and original examination, more than at any point since the modern process of European integration began, the continent now faces a perfect storm of internal challenges and strategic competitors - Russia, China, Turkey, and increasingly the United States - whose interests run counter to continent-wide cooperation. The Scramble for Europe is an essential guide to the present and, even more, a roadmap for Europe's own survival in a world of rapacious rivals." - Charles King, Georgetown University, author of Extreme Politics and Midnight at the Pera Palace
About the Author
Dimitar Bechev
Senior Fellow, Carnegie Europe
Dimitar Bechev is a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe, where he focuses on EU enlargement, the Western Balkans, and Eastern Europe.
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Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
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