Geopolitical imaginations of war preparations: visual representations of the Romanian armed forces’ military exercises

ABSTRACT This article develops our knowledge of war preparations in Critical Military Studies (CMS) by studying visual representations of the Romanian armed forces’ military training. It draws on feminist and critical military geography to examine geopolitical imaginations that shape, and are shaped, by actors, places, and landscapes of military exercises. While arguing that war preparations are (geo)political practices of power that produce identity, space, and violence, this article opens two new directions in the CMS literature. Firstly, it explores the role of ethnicity in constituting militarized masculinity within military alliances. Specifically, this article shows that exercises envisage the Romanian military as an actor that blends ancient Dacian heroism with technological prowess. This image helps both the Romanian armed forces and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to present themselves as strong and credible military actors. Secondly, it develops our understanding of the spatial construction of militarization. Specifically, it shows that military preparedness animates discourses of Easternness and Westernness, whose coexistence constitutes Romania as a key NATO ally while erasing its past (Socialist) support for peace, anti-militarism, and anti-imperialism. The article contributes to our geographical knowledge of the intersections between militarism, postsocialism and postcolonialism in feminist and critical military studies.