"Regional and global recompositions within and across the Eastern fringes of the European Union: new frontiers, territorials ambitions and mental maps", a cooperative seminar in Bordeaux

On 6 October 2022, the seminar "Regional and global recompositions within and across the Eastern fringes of the European Union: new frontiers, territorials ambitions and mental maps" was held in Bordeaux. It was hosted by the University of Bordeaux and featured speakers from Johan Skytte Institute of Political Sciences, University of Tartu (Andrey Makarychev, George Spencer Terry and Stefano Braghiroli), New Sorbonne University, University of Coimbra, National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO) and The French National Centre for Scientific Research.

The seminar focused on changes of regional dynamics within and across the Eastern frontiers of Europe in light of the war in Ukraine. It reached across themes of hybrid and non-linear war, Europeanisation under pressure, migrations, rebordering and region-building. As mentioned in the programme introduction, this kind of restructuring process in Europe is contrasted by Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine which has "combined unyielding disregard for international law, with commitment to patterns of regional integration that, while formally aspiring to be the nemesis of the EU, remain evocative of the governance and mental maps associated with the coercive (hub and spoke driven) integration practiced within colonial federations or, more specifically, within the Russian empire and, subsequently, the Soviet Union."

The event was funded by French-Estonian science and technology cooperation programme PARROT