Of ali the subregional cooperative networks that haveemerged since the end of the Cold War, the grouping of Georgia,Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Moldova (GUUAM) presentsone of the most interesting cases. Unlike practically ali othersubregional initiatives based on geographic proximity, GUUAMtranscends natural geographical lines. It brings together five postSoviet countries that are not only dispersed geographically, but arealso quite different historically and culturally, and vary in theextent of their transformation from Soviet communism. While theemergence of almost ali cooperative pattems at the subregionallevel is motivated by common interests that are mainly of a socioeconomic and environmental nature, GUUAM was launchedprimarily as an international political initiative. In contrast to mostother subregional groups, which delibcrately avoid dealing directlywith political and security issues, the political and security aspectsof cooperation are at the top of GUUAM's agenda. It is notsurprising, therefore, that this cooperative effort has attractedinternational attention and that the group itself, although initiallyfavoring a low profile, is becoming more proactive and visible.