Abstract
This essay investigates the contemporary evolution of the symbolic shape of Central Europe by conducting a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of newspaper articles from the Lexis–Nexis database covering NATO and EU expansion. The results of this content analysis show that Central Europe is associated with different symbolic shapes at different times and in different political contexts, and therefore the idea of one hegemonic Central Europe, either transcending time and context or tied to an institutional identity, is a fallacy. ‘Central Europe’ has shaped NATO and EU expansions, but similarly those processes have constructed differing geopolitical images of Central Europe that are mediated to the consumers of the newspapers. In contrast to these differing symbolic shapes, a series of common structures of expectation were associated with Central Europe that constructed the region as different from Eastern Europe.
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