Description
In recent years, the Baltic Sea region and its islands have been the site of multiple security challenges such as grey zone activity, sabotage, and military incursions. Transformed from a ‘sea of peace’ to a ‘NATO lake’, this space remains crucial for maritime control and geostrategic purposes. Subsequently, the Baltic Sea islands are conceived as a vital frontline or ‘chain of defence’ for Nordic, Baltic and, more broadly, NATO security. Regarded as both a strength and a vulnerability, islands such as Gotland have been remilitarised, and the military and defence status of others, such as Bornholm and Åland, are being reconsidered. This paper asks: How are islands conceptualised as exceptional spaces of security making and war preparedness? Whilst enfolded into security bordering practices of regional and national defence, islands occupy a hazy or liminal space in global security practices and geostrategic imaginations. By bringing island studies (nissology) into conversation with (critical) security and military studies, this paper explores questions of agency, bordering practices and how war preparedness differs in the context of island spaces.
