Discursive reconstructions of boundaries in the South Caucasus countries vis-à-vis the EU and Russia and the crux of securitization

Abstract

This paper explores the intersection of social images and perceptions of security in the countries of the South Caucasus to scrutinize contested patterns of belonging amid continued talk of a “new Cold War”. These case studies – embedded within the broader EU-Russia context – shed light onto particular securitization practices and their constitutive motivations. To decode these ontological security rationales and divisions – around yet eerily familiar lines – is important in order to make sense of how and why the countries of the South Caucasus conceive of their surroundings as they do and what spaces for political manoeuvres emerge.