ABSTRACT
The idea of Europe represents an amalgam of three overlapping but not mutually exclusive notions – as territory, as a set of particular norms and values, and as a post-modern political construct. In territorial terms Europe stretches from the Atlantic to the Urals. At the same time, the majority of states, elites and societies on this territory have assimilated and acculturated democratic liberal norms and values. Third, it can also be considered as an entity that finds expression as the first truly postmodern political form, a new type of polity, a civilian power, ‘zone of affluence’ instead of ‘zone of influence’, given full expression through the European Union (EU). Given these overlapping understandings, how does Russia relate to ‘Europe’?
