Post-Socialist Borderland: Promoting or Challenging the Enlarged European Union?

The formerly socialist East European countries have undergone extensive political and territorial changes since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989. This transformation has largely been associated with two simultaneous developments in the post-socialist states: nationalisation and European integration. The concept of post-socialist borderland underlines the scope and effect of post-socialist identity politics in the countries applying for EU membership, and also points at the dramatically changing political map of Europe. In discussions about the ongoing European integration, stability is expected to emerge through inclusive arrangements. It has generally been thought that political accommodation is not at issue at the future internal or external borders of the EU. However, the European enlargement project faces severe problems as nationalisation and European integration represent contradictory tendencies in post-socialist democratisation and European stabilisation. This article discusses the role that borderlands play in balancing between national and European goals. The evolving European integration is examined from the vantage point of the states applying for membership. Particular attention is paid to the contextual basis of political argumentation, the structural politics of the European Union, and the nationally sensitive elements of the nation-state. The example of the Estonian/Russian borderlands represents a 'post-socialist' condition, within which old loyalties of the past meet contemporary socio-economic and political realities, threats and future expectations. These issues seem to influence considerably the formation of 'common European goals' in the enlarged European Union.