"The Kaliningrad question: Discourses of insecurity in the context of European integration"

Topalova, Viktoriya. (2003) "The Kaliningrad question: Discourses of insecurity in the context of European integration". In: UNSPECIFIED, Nashville, TN. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

The European Union (EU) and the Russian Federation (RF) have recently finished a regular round of negotiations aimed at soothing a tense tow over Kaliningrad. The formation of this region as a Russian enclave within the EU borders will create cause for concern for both Europeans and Russians after accession of neighboring Lithuania and Poland to the EU. In particular, Moscow has expressed concerns that Kaliningrad residents could need visas to visit the rest or Russia, stressing that this issue has become a priority in its relations with the EU. This paper analyses a set of discourses of insecurity around Kaliningrad and examines how they work. It outlines assumptions and claims, which underpin insecurity narratives in the region, specifying what are constructed as threats to different actors, and how the latter articulate insecurity. I argue that insecurities around Kaliningrad, implicated in the cultural production of the identities of actors, are mutually constructed and culturally reproduced, and thus cultural discourse is used to legitimize the actors' actions in resolving the Kaliningrad question. I also focus on the negotiation behavior of the actors that demonstrates how selective political strategies in framing insecurity are used in the EU-Russia negotiations over Kaliningrad.

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