This contribution offers a commentary on the papers in this panel. It traces the power of geographical imaginaries across Central and Eastern Europe, and the extent to which they have geopolitical implications. The papers in this panel reveal the ways in which certain geopolitical imaginaries in Central Europe, and beyond, are related to diverging senses of belonging and identity, as well as to values and norms. These simplistic and reductionist imaginaries are playing a key role in shaping political discourse across this part of Europe. They have become a critical element of debates on migration, intra and inter-regional economic and political cooperation, and the politics of identity. This commentary will discuss how such debates are related to emerging challenges to the EU’s self-identity and sense of purpose, at the same time as they are used to counter perceived marginalization. It will also address national contexts and the role of inter-state borders in these narratives. The commentary attempts to trace the intersection between nationalism and regionalism in these imaginaries, and the internal and external incoherence of these imaginaries, as well as the competition between them. In its discussion of the papers in this panel, the commentary also attempts to review the fraught distinction between real and imagined geographies and the ways in which they have become such a salient feature of political debate and discourse across Europe.
Mots clés :
A104613PR