KINPOL: Observatory on Kin-State Policies

Diversity and sovereignty in the contested zone between the EU and Russia, Forthcoming 2021, Magdalena Dembinska, Ireneusz Pawel Karolewski, David Smith

This special issue introduced and edited by Professor Magdalena Dembinska, Professor Ireneusz Pawel Karolewski and Professor David Smith highlights how the European Union’s eastern members and their neighbours represent a zone of contact and of contestation, a meeting point between cultures, communities and social spaces and thus a ‘playground’ for political and socio-economic transformations in which states and diverse societal groups must navigate between the EU and Russia, between varied economic and political integration projects, and between different values, ideas and visions of society. The contributions focus on questions of sovereignty and diversity, and examine them by looking into the EU and Russia competitive/complementary external pressure, on the one hand, and the ways state actors in-between cope, on the other. The special issue derives from a workshop in Wroclaw, Poland, in December 2018, organized by the Jean Monnet BEAR Network (bearnetwork.ca), as well as additional contributions drawn from researchers from the Network.

The first contribution, The Russian World as a legitimation strategy outside Russia: the case of Gagauzia by Marcin Kosienkowski, has been published online.

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First published: 29 July 2020