[BRIEF NOTE] And Europe ends here

[rfmcdonald]

Registan picks up on a post started by Douglas Muir at A Fistful of Euros, "The Caucasus: Europe, or what?", that examines the southeastern boundaries of Europe, at least as Europe is understood as potentially qualifying one's country as worthy of European Union membership. Unsurprisingly, Douglas and the people in the comments can't come up with any firm conclusions. My only contribution to this debate is a suggestion that the tension identified by Jonathan Edelstein over a year ago, between cultural/historical/demographic and geographical/institutional definitions of Europeanness, is irresolvable, at least for this part of Europe's frontier, and likely the case on others (North Africa, the eastern Mediterranean, eastern Europe, Macaronesia).

Thoughts?