Suturing the Neighborhood? Russia and the EU in Conflictual Intersubjectivity

Belarus as a liminal space for Russia’s ontological security before and after the 2020 protests

“…As Akchurina and Della Sala (2018: 1639) put it, for instance, ‘Russia and the EU derive their ontological security from similar normative maps’, albeit ‘in competing ways’, as the EU fashions itself as a post-national project, while the Russian identity narrative is linked to history and territory, and, as we argue subsequently, also to ethnicity. Consequently, the EU-Russia clash in the contested neighborhood, demonstrates the need of both actors to claim their differently perceived places in the international order (Akchurina and Della Sala, 2018; see also an earlier argument on a ‘conflictual EU-Russia intersubjectivity’ in Kazharski and Makarychev, 2015).…”

Does Latvia Matter in Regional Geopolitics?

“…Additionally, there are also several scholars who argue that EU membership is something of a detriment to Latvia. Specific examples include that Latvia and the rest of Eastern Europe are sacrificing their normative values to those of the EU as determined by larger states in Western Europe (Vilson 2015, Makarychev 2015, Bechev 2015, Paenke 2015, Kazharski and Makarychev 2015, that Latvia has far less say in its own foreign and domestic policies than it would otherwise have (Panke 2010, Wivel 2012, Rostoks 2012, Ozoliņš et al 2015, that the largest states in the EU are no different from Russia in that they all look out for their own interests at the expense of smaller states (Molder 2011, Shlapentokh 2012, and that EU membership has not actually benefited Latvia's economy as much or in ways that many hoped (Oja 2015, Vitkus 2015, Ozoliņš et al 2015. More specifically, there is a current argument that EU membership is actually hurting Latvia's economy because of Russian countersanctions (Oja 2015).…”

“…One of the primary discussions in the current literature focuses on whether EU and NATO membership would even benefit Georgia and Moldova. Some argue that membership would certainly benefit Georgia and Moldova, primarily because membership helps distance these states from Russia (Pifer et al 2015, Fruhling and Lasconjarias 2016, Paszewski 2016, Fiott 2016, although others argue that these states are much better off without the EU or NATO (Crocker 2015, Lukin 2015, Pifer et al 2015, Makarychev 2015, Kazharski and Makarychev 2015, Paenke 2015, Vilson 2015, Arbatova and Dynkin 2016. The argument against EU and NATO membership stems, in part, from the perception that the EU and NATO do not really want to expand but are dangling the carrot of membership in front of Georgia and Moldova simply to stabilize and democratize the region: not because they actually intend to expand (Boedeltje and van Houtum 2011, Dimitrovova 2012, Joenniemi 2012, Cottey 2012, Bechev 2015, Buscaneanu 2015, Dragan 2015.…”

The European Union, Russia and the Post-Soviet Space: Shared Neighbourhood, Battleground or Transit Zone on the New Silk Road?

“…Indeed, they could even be a source of tension, as continues to be the case with energy (Krickovic 2015). The fact of economic ties in itself did not eliminate different understandings of their nature and political meaning (Kazharski & Makarychev 2015). The EU and its member-states became increasingly worried about their energy dependence on Russia, which in turn saw the EU's market-enhancing measures as fundamentally political in nature, aimed at weakening Russia while extending the EU's influence eastwards.…”