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The end of the Cold War demonstrated the historical possibility of peaceful change and seemingly showed the superiority of non-realist approaches in International Relations. Yet in the post-Cold War period many European countries have experienced a resurgence of a distinctively realist tradition: geopolitics. Geopolitics is an approach which emphasizes the relationship between politics and power on the one hand; and territory, location and environment on the other. This comparative study shows how the revival of geopolitics came not despite, but because of, the end of the Cold War. Disoriented in their self-understandings and conception of external roles by the events of 1989, many European foreign policy actors used the determinism of geopolitical thought to find their place in world politics quickly. The book develops a constructivist methodology to study causal mechanisms and its comparative approach allows for a broad assessment of some of the fundamental dynamics of European security.
List of contents
Introduction. The argument: geopolitics for fixing the coordinates of foreign policy identity Stefano Guzzini; Part I. The Analytical Framework: 1. Which puzzle? An expected return of geopolitical thought in Europe? Stefano Guzzini; 2. Which geopolitics? Stefano Guzzini; 3. The framework of analysis: geopolitics meets foreign policy identity crises Stefano Guzzini; Part II. Case Studies: 4. Czech geopolitics: struggling for survival Petr Drulák; 5. The theme that dare not speak its name: geopolitik, geopolitics and German foreign policy since unification Andreas Behnke; 6. Geopolitics 'in the land of the prince': a passe-partout to (global) power politics? Elisabetta Brighi and Fabio Petito; 7. Turkey's 'geopolitics dogma' Pinar Bilgin; 8. Banal Huntingtonianism: civilisational geopolitics in Estonia Merje Kuus; 9. Russia: geopolitics from the heartland Alexander Astrov and Natalia Morozova; Part III. Empirical and Theoretical Conclusions: 10. The mixed revival of geopolitics in Europe Stefano Guzzini; 11. Social mechanisms as micro-dynamics in constructivist analysis Stefano Guzzini.
Summary
Analyses the relationship between the end of the Cold War and the resurgence of geopolitical thought in Europe. This book contributes to the analysis of the role of identity in foreign policy and its comparative approach allows for a broad assessment of some of the fundamental dynamics of European security.
Report
'A must-read for students of international relations theory, international security, and European studies, The Return of Geopolitics in Europe? by Stefano Guzzini and collaborators combines theory making, methodological innovation and comparative empirical analysis to deliver an outstanding and important book. This is not only because of the book's compelling answer to the puzzle of why a geopolitical school of thought began thriving in parts of Europe after the Cold War's peaceful end, but also as an exemplar of how excellent and rigorous constructivist theoretical and empirical research can and should be done.' Emanuel Adler, Andrea and Charles Bronfman Chair of Israeli Studies, University of Toronto
