Contours of EU Peripheries in a Shifting Geopolitical Landscape: The Perspectives of Political Elites

This chapter presents the rationale behind employing the term ‘EU peripheries’ in the book and clarifies the theoretical framework adopted to define this term within the context of the EU integration process. The first section scrutinizes the concept of ‘EU peripheries’ as it will be theorized in the book. Its main aim is to critically examine the evolving connotations of the term, particularly in light of several crises of the last decade. Subsequently the chapter delves into the diverse manifestations of emerging forms of EU contestation at the peripheries, followed by the methodology section and an outline of the book’s structure. In the last section we examine the selected country cases and their contribution to the proposed conceptualization of EU peripheries, drawing connections with existing literature on the subject from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Finally, the chapter outlines the unique aspects of our approach and its potential contributions to existing scholarship in this field.