The Return of Geopolitics and Relations to the East
Journal: Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks
Year: 2016

Geopolitics is often associated with realism and for this reason not readily associated with the EU. The notion is, however, often associated with ideas of exclusion. This chapter argues that geopolitical perspectives are relevant to the EU if Richard Youngs’ notion of the ‘geopolitics of inclusion’ and Luis Simons’ idea of ‘middle spaces’ are embraced. This chapter argues that the EU and its members have become default geopolitical actors since they are perceived to be such, most notably by Pre