The Uncertain State(s) of Europe?

Abstract

Recent representations of the European project have, more often than not, characterized it as `uncertain',`weak',and even `indeterminate'. In this article, I look to the political — and geopolitical — ramifications of such understandings, in particular as regards Europe's role in the world. I remark, especially, on the geographical imaginations which underpin such critiques: highly normative assumptions regarding political territoriality and `power' in the international arena. I argue that such geographical imaginations fundamentally miss the radical transformations taking shape at and well beyond Europe's borders, thus failing to recognize the emergence of the EU as a very new sort of international actor.

Practicing Geographical Uniqueness: The Geopolitics of Prenegotiation and Icelandic Accession to the European Union

“…As a former Director General of EU enlargement declared, the EU was doing all possible to allow Iceland to "come in from the cold" (Avery 2009, 1). Ironically this role of the EU as economic safe haven and guarantor of political legitimacy for Iceland revealed strong similarities with earlier EU enlargement rationales (Bialasiewicz 2008). Despite this, since 2009 pressure has mounted on the SDA and its champion of EU membership, Foreign Minister Ossur Skarphéðinsson, to find ways to secure domestic support for membership of the EU in the face of considerable public, sectoral, and political opposition (Wade and Sigurgeirsdottir 2010).…”

Territorial Cohesion, Territorialism, Territoriality, and Soft Planning: A Critical Review

“…Also, the "territory of the European Union differs from the territory of a state: it is expanding without threating other states, and it is variable" (Mamadouh, 2001, page 433). Its territoriality is aspirational (Bialasiewicz et al, 2005, page 346; see also Bialasiewicz, 2008;. Integration " creates its own political landscape of territoriality.…”

Bordering and Ordering the European Neighbourhood: A Critical Perspective on Eu Territoriality and Geopolitics

“…the United States, Russia or China) to economic, political and social forces beyond their control has also convincingly demonstrated the limits of 'real' power in the world system. Similar to Luiza Bialasiewicz (2008), I therefore understand the EU as a new type of international actor whose strengths lie less in the state-like exercise of power and rather more in its ability to affect gradual social transformation. Whether the EU actually succeeds in developing its post-national potential for transformation is as yet unclear.…”

“…Furthermore, the EU's drive to reterritorialise Europe is not a mere academic question, it has very real consequences for people and places. As Luiza Bialasiewicz (2008) has pointed out, the 'soft power' approach of the EU, one that works at the level of society and its transformation, has been rather successful in terms of structuring interstate relations in Post-Cold War Europe. Assuming that the EU's normative power is substantial, the 'soft geopolitics' of the EU has, nevertheless, its hard edge as well.…”