The Geopolitics of Europe’s Identity: Centers, Boundaries, and Margins PDF
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The Geopolitics of Europe’s Identity This page intentionally left blank The Geopolitics of Europe’s Identity Centers,Boundaries,and Margins Edited by Noel Parker the geopolitics ofeurope’s identity Copyright ©Noel Parker,ed.,2008. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2008 ISBN 978-1-4039-8205-6 All rights reserved.No part ofthis book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case ofbrief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. First published in 2008 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN™ 175 Fifth Avenue,New York,N.Y.10010 and Houndmills,Basingstoke,Hampshire,England RG21 6XS. Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint ofthe Palgrave Macmillan division ofSt.Martin’s Press,LLC and ofPalgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan®is a registered trademark in the United States,United Kingdom and other countries.Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-53901-7 ISBN 978-0-230-61032-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230610323 Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Parker,Noel The geopolitics ofEurope’s identity :centers,boundaries and margins / editor Noel Parker. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-4039-8205-8 (alk.paper) 1.Geopolitics—Europe—Case studies.2.European Union.— Boundaries—Case studies.3.Marginality,Social—Europe—Case studies.4.European Union countries—Relations—Case studies.I. Parker,Noel,1945- JC319.G489 2008 327.4001—dc22 2007024221 A catalogue record ofthe book is available from the British Library. Design by Scribe Inc. First edition:January 2008 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Preface vii Noel Parker Part I The Nature ofMarginal Formations 1 A Theoretical Introduction:Space,Centers,and Margins 3 Noel Parker 2 De-Limitation:The Denigration ofBoundaries in the Political Thought ofLate Modernity 25 Sergei Prozorov 3 Power and Marginality in the International System: A Historical Perspective 45 Pertti Joenniemi and Noel Parker Part II Margins around Europe 4 Exploiting Marginality:The Case ofRussia 67 Maxine David 5 An Encounter ofTwo Marginalities:EU-Russia Transborder Relations in Russian Discourse 85 Andrey S.Makarychev 6 Denmark’s and Britain’s Marginality Strategies Compared 103 Noel Parker 7 Europe and a Globalizing United States: Political Ideals Projected and Counter-projected 121 Noel Parker 8 Gibraltar,Jerusalem,Kaliningrad: Peripherality,Marginality,Hybridity 141 Christopher S.Browning and Pertti Joenniemi 9 Notions of“Europe”:Where Does Europe’s Southern Margin Lie? 159 Michelle Pace 10 The Ritual ofListening to Foreigners: Appropriating Geopolitics in Central Europe 177 Merje Kuus vi CONTENTS 11 Boundary-making in Europe’s Southeastern Margin: Balkan/Europe Discourse in Croatia and Slovenia 195 Nicole Lindstrom 12 Variable Geometries:Institutions,Power,and Ideas in Turkey’s European Integration Process 207 Fabrizio Tassinari 13 Conclusion 225 Noel Parker List ofContributors 235 Index 237 Preface Noel Parker The idea for this book came first from a seminar in Copenhagen in November 2004,within the EU-Commission-funded EuroBordConf pro- gram,where the primary aim was to examine how the EU was handling various conflictual borders within and around its territory.A number of participants,who are now also contributors to this volume,were pursuing the idea that there were “margins”around Europe that interact amongst themselves,and with the identity ofEurope as an international actor,a sys- tem of governance,and a cultural whole.We sensed,in other words,that Europe’s geopolitical identity was in play in a host ofinteractions with its margins.That is the basis upon which we have prepared this book. Much ofthe discussion at that meeting turned on a rather skimpy essay ofmine published in 2000.There was,that is to say,a great deal still left to do:there was a need to refine the theoretical basis for our shared suspicion, and to explore cases more thoroughly from the point ofview oftheir “mar- ginality.”This book offers a thorough,and to some extent,tested account of margins, marginality, and Europe’s geopolitical identity—setting out theoretical underpinnings for our interest in margins as both necessary and dynamic factors in sociopolitical identities;developing specifications of the nature of margins and their interactions with centers,in this case Europe;and examining shifting margins on all sides ofEurope.We are con- fident that it substantiates our belief that there is much to learn about Europe by understanding its margins and their relationships. The book thus addresses a number ofquestions that prompted our interest in mar- gins:What interactions occur between Europe and its margins,and with what kinds of impact?; What do marginal actors do in their capacity as marginal?; What conditions affect the impacts and the degree that mar- ginal actors achieve their purposes?;How do the identities ofEurope and its margins interact and evolve,and with what consequent shifts ofgeopo- litical identity? The interested reader who has taken in the contents list will immedi- ately stumble on something that may seem surprising.We permit ourselves to analyze as “margins”of Europe entities,such as Russia and the United States, which one ordinarily has difficulty thinking of as mere margins. viii PREFACE While it would be fair to respond that both of these have at one time or another been margins in the familiar sense ofperipheries dependent upon a European center,that response hides the scope ofour agenda.For we use the term “margin”in a positivesense,avoiding any presuppositions about the marginal entity’s standing,autonomy or impacts,and allowing for the possibility of itsimpacting upon the center.The use of the term,which is further explored in the introduction,makes it perfectly sensible to analyze those imposing entities Russian and the United States as “margins”in rela- tion to Europe. There is an established trend in post-colonial studies to challenge Europe’s historic centrality (Chakrabarty 2000). In order to understand Europe’s evolving place and identity, we return it to center stage,but do so with an unusual perspective,which removes the primacy of the “center,”leaving the center—Europe—fully exposed to impacts from its many margins. We gratefully acknowledge the help of the University of Copenhagen’s research priority area “Europe in Transition”in funding an author confer- ence in December 2006,without which the project could not have been com- pleted.“The Ritual ofListening to Foreigners:Appropriating Geopolitics in Central Europe”is based on chapter 6 of Merje Kuus’s book Geopolitics Reframed: Security and Identity in Europe’s Eastern Enlargement,2007,New York:Palgrave Macmillan.Parts ofthat chapter are reproduced by permis- sion ofPalgrave Macmillan. Part I The Nature of Marginal Formations
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