Narrating Geopolitics: Strategic Narratives of Georgia’s EU Candidacy

Abstract

This article examines the role of strategic narratives in the context of the European Union’s geopolitical turn. Focusing on the narratives surrounding Georgia’s EU candidacy application, it explores how these narratives function in geopolitical settings as bordering practices. The analysis unfolds in four parts. First, the conceptual framework based on strategic narratives explores how relational approaches can contribute to the understanding of emerging narratives and bordering practices. Second, a methodological section outlines the empirical approach to study strategic narratives. Third, through engaging with Georgia’s EU candidacy application process, the paper analyses how a group of civil society organisations, as a community of practice, narrate Georgia’s candidacy to address the geopolitical tensions. In conclusion, the paper discusses how these civil society organisations use strategic narratives as a practice, to address geopoliticisation relationally.