The Izborsk Club and their geopolitical phantasmagorias Cover Image

The Izborsk Club and their geopolitical phantasmagorias
The Izborsk Club and their geopolitical phantasmagorias

Author(s): Piotr Eberhardt
Subject(s): Politics, Geopolitics
Published by: Instytut Studiów Politycznych PAN
Keywords: Russia; Central Eastern Europe; Izborsk Club; geopolitical ideas; changes in political borders

Summary/Abstract: This article presents the activities of the Izborsk Club. The Club is an organization established in 2012 in the Russian town of Izborsk, near Pskov. It brings together leading Russian intellectuals—mainly political scientists, specialists in geopolitics, and geographers. The organization’s task is to prepare analytical studies on the geopolitical situation of Russia and its strategic plans for the future. This article comments in detail on one of the Club’s basic documents concerning the political future of Central Eastern Europe. The document proposes great geopolitical transformations, including changes in political boundaries, and important shifts in the political landscape of this part of Europe. The purpose of the transformations is to strengthen the imperial power of Russia and to divide Central Eastern Europe into Russian and German zones of influence. The author of the article considers the document to be irresponsible and adventure-seeking. Three original maps drawn by activists of the Izborsk Club are appended. They present the geographical shape of the postulated changes of boundaries on the territory situated between the Baltic Sea, Black Sea, and Adriatic. Most Russians accept the current status, though, and they view such projects, which aim to recreate the past, inimically or with important reservations.

  • Issue Year: 46/2018
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 129-144
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: English