In the Mirror of the European Neighbourhood (Policy): Mapping Macro-Regional Imaginations (IMAGEUN)

Third party funded individual grant


Acronym: IMAGEUN

Start date : 01.09.2020

End date : 31.08.2023

Extension date: 31.07.2024

Website: https://imageun.eu/


Project details

Short description

IMAGEUN is the acronym for the French-German research project “In the Mirror of the European Neighbourhood (Policy) : Mapping Macro-Regional Imaginations”. It centrally evolves around the three key terms that appear in the title:

 

    MACRO-REGION: the project inquires how people in different places imagine a possible division of the globe into different world regions and which of those world regions they feel part of;
    IMAGINATION: it is a study on human imaginations on geographical orderings and the transformation of such imaginations through both representational and discursive as well as material and tangible factors. We seek to understand how people make sense of the world with its connections and divisions;
    EUROPE: the macro-region at the centre of interest to IMAGEUN is Europe and its “neighbourhood” – research focusses on how “Europe” is imagined spatially and semantically in different places within the EU and in its “neighbourhood”.

Scientific Abstract

The European Union is in a phase of substantial spatial and social restructuring: its territory has increased through the accession of 14 Eastern and Southern European countries since 2004; it has given itself a new constitution in form of the Lisbon Treaty; it is trying to cope with a severe financial crisis and the rise of nationalism and autocratic appeal in and around it; and currently it has to work through the loss of a member for the first time in its history. Simultaneously, the EU’s neighbourhood is also undergoing severe transformations. Not only because the “neighbourhood” changes in form of accession to the EU or secession from it (Brexit), but also in light of geopolitical shifts, such as the conflict in Ukraine, the effects of the Arab revolutions (including the wars in Syria and Libya) and the power aspirations of Turkey, Russia, Iran and some Arab States. The socio-spatial shape of the entire macro-region around the EU, often termed the “European neighbourhood”, thus, has been changing substantially – and with it the relations between EU-members and non-members within this macro-region. Also beyond the EU and its neighbourhood, seemingly stable macro-regional orderings of the world are in flux. These transformations of global macro-regional ordering and the changing meanings of “Europe”, the EU and the relations with its “neighbours” are in the centre of this project. Against this background we propose to explore geographical imaginations of the socio-spatial shape of this macro-region and the spaces of interaction within it, focussing on five key countries in and around the EU (France, Germany, Turkey, Tunisia, and the UK) and covering three levels of geopolitical analysis (in higher education systems, amongst political stakeholders, and in agenda-shaping media outlets). In so doing we bring together the heterogeneous national and theoretical expertise of the involved researchers and will contribute to contemporary academic debates on macro-regionalization, Europeanization, the sociospatiality of the EU, and its international identity and role – including the relations with its neighbourhood and the socio-spatial shape of a larger (European) macro-region around it. More concretely, we pursue two key ambitions. Firstly, we seek to develop a comprehensive and dual comparative account of dominant geographical imaginations between five countries and three levels of geopolitical analysis decisive for shaping such imaginations. Secondly, and in addition to the academic output, we intend to not only study geopolitical agents on these levels but actively work with them for collectively developing visions on the future socio-spatial shape of the macro-region. As such, collaboration with fellow researchers, think tanks, political stakeholders and journalists is an essential and enduring part of this project that ensures broad public visibility and high political buy-in through the inclusion of these agents in the research process.

Involved:

Contributing FAU Organisations:

Funding Source

Research Areas