ABSTRACT
In terms of regionalisation, the early 1990s' European Union (EU) policies and strategies treated Bulgaria exclusively as a part of the spatial category of East Central Europe understood as a common post-Soviet space, consisting of countries in transition. Issues of state sovereignty are even more central to rebordering processes within the former Soviet states. The idea of Finland as a borderland nation-state located between the east and west has been broadly used for legitimising political aims and strengthening of national identity. The crisis in Kosovo triggered the first in-depth discussions on the role of political borders and territory in post-Cold War Bulgarian political and media language. Within the study of international relations, the post-Cold War period is seen as a time of fundamental change in conceptualising sovereignty and territoriality that are identified as symptoms of a new 'post-Westphalian' international order.
