Enemy image? A comparative analysis of the Russian federation’s role and position in the leading national security documents of Estonia and the Czech Republic

Abstract

States are security-seekers vis-a-vis ‘significant others’ who are cast as enemies in the international system. Usually, the study of the enemy image is connected with relative equilibrium concerning power capabilities. Less attention was given to a situation of a decisive power imbalance. Thus, a question arises whether such a situation will lead to a uniform enemy image? Concomitantly, what is the impact of the enemy image on security-related behaviour and policy preferences? To shed light on this problem, we analyse the strategic security documents of the Czech Republic and the Republic of Estonia to explore how they project the Russian Federation into their security discourses. By engaging the broader question of the discursive construction of the enemy in the national security documents, we seek to contribute to how vernacular perspectives feed into the regional dynamic of Central Eastern Europe understood either as an EU region or as NATO’s Eastern Flank.