Continentalist Ideas in Modern and Contemporary History

The conference is devoted to one particular type of big-space visions, namely continentalism. We use the term to refer to the idea that the geographical space should be consolidated in order to create a single political entity, larger than a nation-state.

Continentalism shares certain characteristics with other sorts of big-space projects and “enlarging the scale” thinking, such as pan-nationalisms and civilizational nationalisms, but it emphasizes that this is the quality of shared territory, which makes the integration processes meaningful. In our own day, big-space thinking—and continentalism in particular—exert a powerful influence.

The end of the Cold War has stimulated new debates about multi-polarity and the world system of independent civilizations. As part of these, continentalist discourses, which emerged in the first half of the 20th century in the milieu of classical geopolitics, are fully back on the agenda. They play a significant role in ideological legitimization of the construction of ‘global regions’ and ‘regional blocs’.

The significance of continental identities today as a basis for political mobilization is immediately apparent in the examples of Pan-Europeanism, various versions of Eurasianism, pan-Africanism, or the idea of South America as a new geopolitical unit. The conference intends to discuss political and ideological meaning of the “large space” geopolitical thinking, promises and dangers of the continentalist projects, and relevance of these projects for various regions of the world.

Conference programme

9:00-10:15

Opening of the conference

  • Continentalism project presentation (Mark Bassin)
  • Keynote speech (David Lewis)
10:15-10:30 Coffee break
10:30–12:30

Panel 1: Russia’s perspective on the Eurasian continental space

  • Andreas Rivarola Puntigliano - chair
  • Mikhail Suslov, “Russia’s Greater Eurasia geopolitical thinking and isolationism”
  • Vladimir Kagansky, ”Big Little Space: Russian Paradoxes” (with translation)
  • Aleksandr Druzhinin, Greater Eurasia in focus (with translation)
12:30-13:30 Lunch break

13:30-14:30

Panel 2: Roundtable: Regional perspectives on continentalism

  • Mark Bassin - chair
  • Rasmus Christian Elling (CCRS)
  • Frank Sejersen (CCRS)
  • Lars Eslev Andersen (DIIS), “Is China the Eurasian power of 21st century – perspectives on the BRI”
  • Sergei Akopov (Higher School of Economics)
14:30 – 15:00 Coffee break
15:00-16:00

Panel 3: The ‘Global South’ and big-space thinking

  • Mikhail Suslov - chair
  • Anders Rivarola Puntigliano, Latin American perspective
  • Katharina Döring, Pan-African projects
16:00 – 16:30 Coffee break
16:30-18:00

Panel 4: Beyond Nationalism and the Nation-State: Spatial Imaginaries of Europe on the Far Right

  • Katharina Döring - chair
  • Mark Bassin
  • Peter Balogh (online)
  • Aliaksei Kazharski (online)

Organisers

Project team members of the project “Continentalism and geopolitics: The idea of ‘big space’ political formations in comparative historical perspective” (Mikhail Suslov, University of Copenhagen, local organizer; Mark Bassin, Södertörn University, project PI; Andreas Rivarola Puntigliano, Stockholm University; Katharina Döring, Södertörn University).

For more information please contact Mikhail Suslov Mikhail.Suslov@hum.ku.dk