Bratislava
June 30 - July 13, 2014
Michal Vašečka
Masaryk University mvasecka@fss.muni.cz

 1. Cultural definitions - Kundera (?)
 2. Zwischeneuropa (?)
 3. Mittleuropa (?)
 4. Bloodlands (?)
 5. Small ethno-linguistic national states (?)
 6. Region of great „brains“ (?)
 7. Institutionalized Central Europe - V4 (?)
 or…

 „This is why the countries in Central Europe feel that the change in their destiny that occurred after 1945 is not merely a political catastrophe: it is also an attack on their civilization. The deep meaning of their resistance is the struggle to preserve their identity — or, to put it another way, to preserve their Westernness.
“
 „The answer is simple: Europe hasn't noticed the disappearance of its cultural home because Europe no longer perceives its unity as a cultural unity.
“
 „By virtue of its political system, Central Europe is the East; by virtue of its cultural history, it is the West. But since Europe itself is in the process of losing its own cultural identity, it perceives in Central
Europe nothing but a political regime; put another way, it sees in
Central Europe only Eastern Europe.
“

 From Kundera ´s „Return of
Central Europe“ to building of common identity
 Region of shared history and shared values
 Region of specific modernization and specific historical roots of civic and political culture

 Unfinished Modernization ► discrepancy between structural and cultural dimension of modernity
 Egalitarianism ► anti-intellectual tradition
 State Paternalism ► anti-liberal sentiments
 Lack of Trust ► weak civic and political participation

 Europe is a triumph of imagination over geography
- Europe as a subcontinent (or peninsula?) of Asia or Euroasia
 Central Europe - fixation of mind within larger imagined entity
 Liquid borders of Europe and consequently even more liquid borders of Central Europe
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ru_7jvuBdk

 Central Europe (MittleEuropa)
 Eastern Europe
 Balkan countries
 Russia
 Central Asia
 Caucasus countries
 Hansa cities
 Cities of Adriatic shore

 Mitteleuropa - Friedrich Naumann
(1915):
 Imaginative geopolitics - creation of political and economic union, under „natural“ domination of
Germany and Austro-Hungarian empire
 Enthusiasm:
 Recreation of Holy Roman Empire
 Dominant position of „Central Powers“
 Prevention of development of land bridge between British possessions in Africa and India

 German Mitteleuropa
(by political and cultural criteria) covering
Austria, Croatia, Czech republic, Germany,
Hungary, Poland,
Slovakia, Slovenia, the
Baltic states and parts of Ukraine, Russia,
Romania, Serbia,
France and Italy.

 Concept of
Mitteleuropa - what if?
 The very model of ethnolinguistic nation-state might have been limited to some oddball cases in Western
Europe, while Central Europe might have consisted of multilingual federal states or federations – and be under domination of Germany and
German culture.

 Jesuits:
 Europa Occidentalis
 (British isles, France, Malta, Greek-speaking orthodox territories, western minor Asia, Crete, Cyprus, and former Crusaders states)
 Europa Centralis
 (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Denmark,
Netherlands, Holy Roman Empire, and Switzerland)
 Europa Orientalis
 Poland-Lithuania, Kingdom of Hungary, Ottoman
Balkans
 Hispania and Rome

 School atlas of European history:
Historical Geography of Europe (1882)
 Central Europe identified with Western Roman
Empire - Charlemagne ´s realm, later to become
France and Holy Roman Empire
 After 1871 concept of Central Europe, centered on France and newly-founded German Empire, was extended to embrace all of Italy and Austria-
Hungary. Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg,
Netherlands, and Denmark were seen as part of
Central Europe.

 Philips ´s Historical Atlas:
Medieval and Modern
(1927)
 Divide between Central and
Eastern Europe is difficult to grasp - but Central Europe progressively expands eastwards
 Eastern Europe was identified with Russia and
Ottoman Empire

 Austro-German conceptualization of Central Europe
 Gro ßer historischer Weltatlas or
AustroSchweizerscher Mittelschulatlas:
 Central Europe identifiable with Holy
Roman Empire, the Habsburg ´s realms, and Prussia - German Empire and
Austria-Hungary.

 Third Reich
 Anschluss of Austria, incorporation of Czech lands, and division of
Europe on the religious border between Western and Eastern
Christianity made Third Reich onto a political embodiment of Central
Europe.
 Germany controlled almost all territories associated with Central
Europe in its most extensive variant.
 Population defined as ´racially inferior ´ was to be ameliorated either by Germanization, expulsion, or extermination.

 After the World War II
 Central Europe was not to be found anywhere, Western and
Eastern Europe were defined clearly.
 No nuance or gradation of argument – black and white perspective.

 Atlas of Central
Europe (Andrew
Rónai, 1945)
 Atlas's base map focuses on the arch of the Carpathians and the Danubian basin and shifts Central Europe eastwards.
 Placing historical Hungary in the very heart of Europe.

 History of East Central
Europe (UWP, 1974)
 East Central Europe implies West
Central Europe.
 But - West Central Europe ceased to exit …
 Intellectuals from „wrong side“ of the fence identified with Central
Europe in order to differentiate themselves from the uniformity and homogeneity of the Soviet world.

 Historical Atlas of Central Europe (P.R.
Magocsi, 1993)
 End of the intellectual Cold War division of Central
Europe - Magocsi divided Europe into three vertical sections.
 K öztes-Európa, 1763-1993 (Pándi Lájos,
1997)
 Monumental atlas of „Zwischeneuropa“.

 V4 (1991)
 CEFTA (1992)
 European Union enlargement (2004)
 Recent rise of nationalism in Central Europe - real tragedy of Central Europe
 Bibó´s „The poverty of the small states of Eastern Europe – genuine Central European concept, going beyond German concept of Kleinstaaterei

 Nation branding - applying and marketing communications techniques to promote a nation's image (Fan, 2005)
 What kind of identity narratives does nation branding produce and why?
 Czech republic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxvAzOlSZ-
4&feature=related
 Poland: ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmH8sfH0aFA&feature=related
 Hungary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WUVXREXGsA
 Slovakia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n6j7B_h3WM
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBNu8ahMowQ&NR=1

 Kroutvor (1988): „A united Europe already existed in the past, it was the Central Europe, as embodied by the Austro-Hungarian monarchy - whatever our opinion may be of this defunct state.
“
 Political cooperation
 Economic cooperation
 Cultural cooperation

How do we see each other? Mutual
Perceptions of the Visegrad Citizens
Mutual Images
 To what extent do you trust the nations living in V4 countries (% of responses „definitely + somewhat trust“) Source: IVF 2003.
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
56
59
66
Czechs
Hungar.
Slovaks
62
39
48
Hungarians
75
Poles
Czechs
71 71
Poles
43
77
87
Slovaks

How do we see each other? Mutual
Perceptions of the Visegrad Citizens
Mutual Images
 When thinking about the other nations do you perceive them as similar or different ? (% of very + somewhat similar) Source: IVF, 2003.
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
37
65
82
Czechs
Hungar.
Slovaks
57
41 41
Hungarians
40
Poles
Czechs
59
52
Poles
22
83
85
Slovaks

How do we see each other? Mutual
Perceptions of the Visegrad Citizens
 Evaluation of willingness to cooperate (% of responses „high“).
Source: IVF 2003
Slovakia
Poland
Hungary
Czech republic
0
5
7
6
9
8
9
12
25
20
6
10
13
16
15
20
23
30
38
40
Czechs
Poles
50 60
Hungarians
Slovaks
70
74
80

How do we see each other? Mutual
Perceptions of the Visegrad Citizens
Contacts across the borders
 „Have you visited any of other three V4 countries since January 2002 (in last 1,5 years) for business or private purposes?“ Source: IVF, 2003.
Czechs
Hungarians
Poles
Slovaks
0
3
5
10
9
23
15
14
20
45
24
26
28
32
Czech R.
Poland
34
Hungary
Slovakia
30 40 50

Visegrad in the EU – Common versus
Individual Approach ?
Identification of Regional Interests ?
 “Should your country only defend its own interests in the European Union, or should it also take into account the interests of the Visegrad members?
“
Source: IVF, 2003.
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
39
56
Slovaks
39
53
Poles
45
40
Hungarians
43
36
Czechs
My country should only defend its own national interests in the EU
My country should also take into account the interests of other Visegrad members

 V4 functions, it embodies Central Europe - but just part of it, to identify it with its „core“ of it would highly problematic…
 Culture of apple strudel is still here… But Central Europe is disappearing from imagination of „Central Europeans“…
 … More convinced Central Europeans now live on the shores of the Atlantic than in the region itself…

 People keep imagining and re-imagining Europe and Central Europe…
 There is not a single polity with entirely natural borders… V4 is a great concept, but it excludes others from „Central Europe“.
 Why Central Europe is not what we make out of it, and we decide to imagine it?