Description
EU-Russia relations are widely deemed to be at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War, a claim made for a number of years now, the timing of that claim varying depending on the perspective of the commentator. Putin’s Munich speech was for some in the West the moment when the Russian threat was first deemed to exist. For others, it took the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Nevertheless, for some in central and eastern Europe, the threat had never disappeared, illustrated, not least, by the insistence of former Soviet and Warsaw Pact states on joining the EU and NATO, a position that looks all the more justified seen from the distance that 2021 affords. But given that insistence, how and when was it that the Western perception of Russia as a threat to central and eastern European states – as well as others - disappeared?
This paper explores academic perceptions of the threat Russia poses to European security over the post-Cold War period. Focused on relevant publications in two specialist peer-reviewed journals, I seek to identify those moments and events which academics saw at the time as key to understanding the trajectory of EU-Russia security relations. Such a study is significant insofar as it reveals the co-constituted nature of the discipline and the subject that we study, especially in relation to the formulation of foreign and security policy strategies and perceptions.
