Eiki Berg

What Kind of Border Regime is in the Making?: Towards a Differentiated and Uneven Border Strategy

The recent round of enlargement has provided new impetus for the study of European Union (EU) external borders. This article conceptualizes the emerging European border regime as a composite policy, arguing that the regime is shaped by policy-making across such diverse areas as Regional Policy, Justice and Home Affairs, Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement. It shows that different policy paradigms attribute diverging functions to the EU external border and prescribe different modes of governance and diverse patterns of openness and control. The policy process producing the border regime is therefore both vertically and horizontally fragmented, reflecting interests, perceptions, norms, structures and procedures at various levels of authority (supranational, national, local) and in different policy sectors. This fragmentation results in a differentiated and uneven border strategy marked by diverse patterns of inclusion and exclusion, as illustrated by three case studies representing variations from the common European standard.

Writing post-Soviet Estonia on to the world map

Abstract In recent literature, many conventional geopolitical theories have been pushed aside as nationalistic visions, self-deceiving myths or simple expressions of capricious human will. Many scholars have related geopolitics merely to great power politics or attempts at legitimating aggression in the world arena, but they forget that also small states can draw inspiration from geographical and historical facts in their socio-spatial construction efforts. This argument emphasizes the basic aim of every state to delimit its territory and separate “ours” from “the others”. The demarcation of boundaries is fundamental to the spatial organization of people and social groups. This article attempts to shed light on what the Estonian nation and state means for those living within its borders and on the frontier. Using critical geopolitical discourse we attempt to map this picture, although in many respects it remains a difficult one because of the number of different visions and their conflicting nature. The contours of land and their meanings as well as Estonias relative geographical location all remain fragile and easily contested. However, the model of a Western-oriented ethnic state with a divided society seems to be most in use in boundary-producing practices of post-Soviet Estonia.

Identity and Institutions Shaping Cross-border Co-operation at the Margins of the European Union

Abstract This paper seeks to synthesize different theoretical approaches in studying cross-border co-operation (CBC) while considering institutionalization and identity-building as the two major processes behind cross-border developments. Since there still exist some gaps in explaining the conditions necessary for successful development of CBC at the margins of the EU, this paper attempts to contribute with empirical data collected from the Estonian–Russian and Romanian–Moldovan borderlands. The argument here is that CBC is relatively successful where it has developed more towards multi-level governance or where it has achieved institutional identity and acquired ability to shape the practices. This paper also suggests that where historical-cultural identity exists, it may provide a better ground in the development of cross-border activities, yet, this fact alone does not substitute institutional cross-border identity, a precondition for mobilization.

Forms of Normalisation in the Quest for De Facto Statehood

De facto states are political entities unable to achieve widespread recognition of their sovereignty that therefore remain largely or totally unrecognised by the international society of sovereign states. Yet, recognition can vary to certain degrees. Instead of taking federal schemes unconditionally for granted, the avenues open for current de facto states to establish themselves in international society have to be analysed first. Kosovo, Taiwan, North Cyprus, Abkhazia, Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh and Somaliland have all received some kind of recognition (negation, boycott, toleration or quasi-recognition), securing their standing in the political, economic and public spheres.

Re-Examining Sovereignty Claims in Changing Territorialities: Reflections from ‘Kosovo Syndrome’

Current legal and normative doctrine forbids de jure recognition to those territorial units whose political leadership has been resisted by metropolitan central authorities. Recognition on the basis of uti possidetis juris makes the self-determination of people a territorial issue. This paper presents a framework for conceptualising and analysing the impact of ‘indivisible sovereignty’ and territoriality dilemmas on self-determination claims, resonating most strongly in the recent Kosovo campaign for independence. It then re-examines seceding motivations and birth-giving processes in Northern Cyprus, Transnistria and Republika Srpska, all which could be defined as self-proclaimed post-conflict entities deemed to gain international recognition. Finally, the paper illustrates the impact of ‘Kosovo syndrome’ on the preservation of status quo while concluding that the immediate reactions to Kosovo independence diverged from case to case to the extent where Turkish Cypriots found new stimulus for reunification, Transnistrians advocated a new model of conflict resolution and Bosnian Serbs increased their bargaining power.

Spatial Practices and Time in Estonia: From Post-Soviet Geopolitics to European Governance

The article examines spatial practices and time in post-Soviet Estonia as a particularly illuminating example of the issues involved in post-Soviet geopolitics and the geopolitics of European governance. The article makes use of recent critical geopolitics literature. It enquires into Estonias early-mid 1990s post-Soviet geopolitics that led to the emergence of the Estonian- Russian land border dispute, the Estonian-Latvian maritime border dispute and a conflict with Russia. These disputes faded away towards the late 1990s as Estonias essentially modern post-Soviet geopolitics became increasingly suppressed by the geopolitics of the expansion of the area of European governance, connoting both modern and post-modern spatial practices. In the more conceptual sense, the case-study analysis also highlights the pivotal role of identity politics and the politics of time and memory in post-Soviet geopolitics and geopolitics in general.

Deconstructing border practices in the Estonian‐Russian borderland

The Estonian‐Russian borderland is a relatively fragile, fairly contested and highly politicised arena in which a number of vital issues for both countries meet and are negotiated. This fact makes the borderland a part of the (geo)political process, including bargaining over social space and resource access, where one can find actors located on different spatial levels and situated among various interests groups. The present article attempts to study how borders with a multitude of meanings and roles can be understood and crossed in time, scale and from different geographical settings. It illuminates the conflicting visions and asymmetric interests among the local borderland population, regional authorities, central governments and international actors. Lastly, it will be argued that border negotiations are unlikely to succeed or intensify where conflicting visions and asymmetric interests dominate, different actors talk ‘different languages’, or boundary‐producing practices simply prevail over border‐crossing practices.

Some Unintended Consequences of Geopolitical Reasoning in Post-Soviet Estonia: Texts and Policy Streams, Maps and Cartoons

Although geopolitical practices have been put forth discursively at various production sites with the aim of supporting prevailing epistemologies, geography and politics still continue to be represented in rather contested ways in post-Soviet Estonia. The production of various texts and policy streams, maps and cartoons is a decentralised and un-coordinated process not subjected to a uniform geopolitical ideology. This article studies these processes and argues that post-Soviet Estonia is experimenting with various discursive practices that have led to unintended geopolitical consequences. Therefore, the focus of this paper is on the compatibility of geopolitical ideas produced at various levels and sites. It examines the roles of different agents in representing geography and politics and explains the context of geopolitical reasoning in post-Soviet Estonia.

Parent States versus Secessionist Entities: Measuring Political Legitimacy in Cyprus, Moldova and Bosnia & Hercegovina

Abstract This article questions whether a relatively strong conviction that legitimacy conveys nothing more than acceptance derived from legal recognition. Therefore several indices are constructed which are applicable to comparing and contrasting four major dimensions of political legitimacy both in parent states and in secessionist entities. In measuring political legitimacy in Cyprus, Moldova and Bosnia & Hercegovina in terms of identity and security on the one hand, and democracy and performance on the other, we may be able to observe cases where internal legitimacy has been neglected by the international community. This article concludes that legitimacy is a variable continuously used in the support and rejection of secessionist bids and integrationist endeavours. I would like to thank Rein Taagepera, Rein Murakas, Piret Ehin, Martin Mölder and Scott Pegg for useful comments and criticism to various drafts of this article. I owe special thanks to Mihkel Solvak for graphic design and Raul Toomla for drafting the questionnaire. I am grateful also to Yücel Vural, Muharrem Faiz, Dino Djipa, Elena Bobkova, Ion Jigau and Arcadie Barbarosie for help in conducting public opinion surveys in Cyprus, Moldova and Bosnia & Hercegovina. This article represents a contribution to the Estonian Science Foundation project ‘De Facto States in the International System: Legality vs. Legitimacy’ (grant no. 7951).

Ethnic Mobilisation in Flux: Revisiting Peripherality and Minority Discontent in Estonia

The massive influx of Russian-speaking eastern Slav groups (Russians, Belorussians, Ukranians) from the rest of the Soviet Union laid a fundamental basis for the nationality conflict and political power struggle in post-Soviet Estonia. After Estonia re-established its statehood, this conflict evolved more into one between indigenous people and immigrants, citizens and non-citizens. What deserves additional attention is the previous economically defined centre-periphery conflict in the Soviet period (the north-east of Estonia versus Leningrad) which is now transforming into a new kind of ethnic and political cleavage separating the Russian-speaking north-eastern towns from the rest of Estonian-speaking Estonia. Moreover, here ethnicity and class mesh, while ethno-cultural differences also contribute to unemployment in the north-eastern towns. The centre-periphery dichotomy in Estonia provides the preconditions for peripheral political mobilisation aiming at a more equal social participation in economic, cultural and political affairs. However, ethnic mobilisation and autonomist attempts have not yet taken the lead.