Rebordering Europe in the Ukraine War: community building without capacity building

Abstract How has the European Union (EU) developed in reaction to the Russo-Ukrainian war, its most severe military threat since the end of the Cold War? In a ‘bordering’ analysis of political development, this article studies changes in the closure and control of the EU’s boundaries with Russia and Ukraine as well as its internal boundaries between 2013 and August 2022. It finds that the EU’s response has hitherto consisted in a regulatory process of community building without concomitant capacity building. Whereas the EU has increasingly closed its boundaries with Russia, it has progressively opened its boundaries towards Ukraine. By contrast, the war so far has not had a discernible impact on the EU’s internal boundary configuration and its authority and capacity for boundary control. These preliminary findings are in line with the EU’s developmental path as a ‘regulatory state’. More than half a year into the invasion, they stand in contrast to ‘bellicist’ expectations of centralised capacity building in response to military threats.