East and the Idea of Europe (PDF)

The authors examine the mutual relationship of the East and Europe within the Eurasian geopolitical space. They investigate how people to the East of Europe understand themselves vis-a-vis Europe, how they have processed European influences, and how states in the East compete with the West. The East is a strong rhetorical metaphor efficiently colouring something as non-European, or not-essentially-European. Studies in this volume examine the linguistic techniques that are used in erecting social and political boundaries, and how they are eventually demolished. The main focus is on turning points of time and transitional periods where the stability of status quo and maintenance of traditional values have been questioned, both in history and at present. All analysis is strictly based on original language sources, which are interpreted with thorough social, cultural and historical expertise. The main conceptual tool used for analysis is the binarity of boundaries. Binarity, or the use of boundary creating dichotomies, is constantly used in public discussion and political strategies to structure geopolitical space, create imperial power plays, and competing centre-periphery formations. The empirically strong social and cultural expertise of the authors, and their multidisciplinary use of geopolitical theory in conjunction with new linguistically inspired analytical tools create a highly original perspective on the Eurasian political space. The book is a significant contribution to studies on Europe and its neighbourhood.