Love and Fear in the Neighbourhood: EU and Russian Projections of Power

The paper explores the ways in which the European Union and Russia try to understand the emerging Eurasian space. It argues that the two sides construct normative and cognitive maps that combine elements of love and fear. The EU projects an order based on solidarity, rule of law, shared interests and respect rather than the use of hard power. Russia also has a similar construction of solidarity but rooted in the “fraternity” of states and nations. The politics of love for each side is the target of the politics of fear of the other. The EU presents Russia as a dark abyssal actor, not quite playing by the rules of the game and using its resource wealth and military power to intimidate neighbours. Russia sees the EU as using the cover of soft power to weaken Russia internally and widen its sphere of influence.

The EU narrates itself as an egalitarian actor, aspiring for a borderless world with human rights at its centre. Russia presents itself as a realist power, unmasking hypocrisies of the liberal order. Both actors construct narratives that combine elements of love and fear in dealing with the emerging Eurasian space. This paper will examine how the two sides employ the politics of love and fear. It will contribute to the growing interest in Eurasia as well as the ways in which actors use different narrative constructions to create order and space.