Geopolitics of Europe’s Identity

Noel Parker is Associate Professor in Political Theory and the History of Ideas at Copenhagen University Department of Politics.

"This edited collection...offers one of the most erudite and discerning renditions of the geopolitics of Europe's identity to date. It would be of benefit to anyone who is serious about European politics, international relations theory and geopolitics." - Emilian Kavalski, Political Studies Review"The Geopolitics of Europe's Identity is an innovative and exciting excursion into the new geopolitics of political space. The splendid collection of essays uses the European case to synthesize theoretical and case analyses of how marginal and center polities interact with and have an impact on each other. It is a major achievement that should be required in graduate seminars on IR theory." - Richard W. Mansbach, Professor of Politics, Iowa State University "This book fills a gap between the vast amount of empirical studies about border regions on the one hand, and theoretical explorations of the figure of marginality on the other. It is one of the very rare cases in which ambitious theoretical and indeed philosophical investigations are closely connected with an in-depth empirical knowledge of the various borders and boundary zones of contemporary Europe. This book should not only appeal to students of International Relations and European Studies, but equally to sociologists and political geographers. It should certainly set standards about how to think about the difficult issue of Europe s identity in the future." - Mathias Albert, Professor of Political Science, University of Bielefeld "This is a strikingly creative and provocative engagement with the boundaries of contemporary Europe. Starting from very sophisticated accounts of what happens at the margins of political community and identity, this collection not only pushes at some of the most difficult and troubling dynamics of European politics but also challenges many of the ways we think about boundaries and identities in many other places." - R.B.J. Walker, SPIRE, Keele University, United Kingdom and University of Victoria, Canada

• PART I: THE NATURE OF MARGINAL FORMATIONS Introduction: Space Centres, and Margins: the Constructive and the Constructed; N.Parker Delimitation: The Denigration of Boundaries in the Political Thought of Late Modernity; S.Prosorov Power and Marginality in the International System: A Historical Perspective; P.Joenniemmi &  N.Parker PART II: MARGINS AROUND EUROPE Exploiting Marginality: The Case of Russia; M.David An Encounter of Two Marginalities: EU-Russia Trans-Border Relations in Russian Discourse; A.S.Makarychev Denmark's and Britain's Marginality Strategies Compared; N.Parker Europe and a Globalizing USA: Political Ideals Projected and Counter-Projected; N.Parker Gibraltar, Jerusalem, Kaliningrad: Peripherality, Marginality, Hybridity; C.Browning & P.Joenniemmi Notions of Europe: Where Does Europe's Southern Margin Lie?; M.Pace The Ritual of Listening to Foreigner: Appropriating Geopolitics in Central Europe; M.Kuus Between the Balkans and Europe: Boundary Making in Contemporary Croatian and Slovenian Discourse; N.Lindstrom Variable Geometries: Institutions, Power, and Ideas in Turkey's European Integration Process; F.Tassinari Conclusion; N.Parker