Abstract
Recent years have seen the return of geopolitics in Europe, and a constant interplay between geopolitical imaginaries and shifting nationalist politics. This is particularly the case on the European Union's eastern margins.
The re-signification of Eastern Europe as Central Europe, Estonia's rebranding as a Nordic, rather than Baltic, nation, and Georgia's self-identification as a Black Sea country, rather than a Caucasian one, are examples of the continuous reimagining of geographical location, national identity, and interstate relationships. Geopolitical liminality seems to be a dominant theme among the Baltic and Central European states, which historically have been squeezed politically and militarily between (Western) Europe and Russia.
This sense of liminality is embedded in revitalized regionalized imaginaries like the Intermarium project, which advocates for defensive integration of states between the Baltic and the Black Sea. Promoted by Poland since the early 20th century as a counterbalance to Russian (as well as German) power, and reminiscent of the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Intermarium is today supported by many nativist, populist forces in the region.
Geopolitical imaginaries have also been central to debates on the frontlines of post-Soviet transformation, including Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and even Armenia, where the 'Russia versus Europe' dilemma has been a constitutive driver for political change.