Pan-Slavism and Slavophilia in Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe : Origins, Manifestations and Functions

This collection is an important contribution in both the historical and contemporary analysis of Pan-Slavism. It places this concept in context of Yugoslavism, as well as Russian appeals to Slavic and Orthodox solidarity and competing European identity. This book will become a standard study on the topic through its comprehensive and systematic approach, covering most Slavic countries and not treating Pan-Slavism as just a type of failed meta nationalism, but as an important idea informing the Slavic world today. - Florian Bieber, Professor of Southeast European History and Politics, University of Graz, Austria The heyday of Pan-Slavism may be long gone, but the idea of the brotherhood of Slavs continues to inspire a range of cultural, civilisational and geopolitical imaginations in Europe. This book is a veritable treasure trove for anyone interested in the curious evolution of this understudied phenomenon and its contemporary ramifications. - Filip Ejdus, Associate Professor, Faculty of Political Science, University of Belgrade, Serbia This book explores origins, manifestations, and functions of Pan-Slavism in contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, arguing that despite the extinction of Pan-Slavism as an articulated Romantic-era geopolitical ideology, a number of related discourses, metaphors, and emotions have spilled over into the mainstream debates and popular imagination. Using the term Slavophilia to capture the range of representations, the volume analyses how geopolitical discourses shape the identity and policies of a community, providing a comparative analysis that covers a range of Slavic countries in order to understand how Pan-Slavism works and resonates across geographic and political contexts. Mikhail Suslov is Assistant Professor in the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Marek Cejka is Associate Professor in the Department of Territorial Studies at Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic. Dorevic Vladimir is Assistant Professor in the Department of Territorial Studies at Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic Preface 6 Contents 11 Notes on Contributors 14 List of Figures 23 List of Tables 25 Introduction 26 Examining Pan-Slavism: Conceptual Approach, Methodological Framework, and the State of the Art 27 Introduction 27 Manifestations of Pan-Slavism in Today’s World 33 Theoretical and Methodological Notes 39 State of the Art and Contribution to the Field 46 Structure of the Volume 50 Pan-Slavism as History 26 Russian Pan-Slavism: A Historical Perspective 56 Introduction 56 Sergei Sharapov’s Pan-Slavic Programme 60 Major Arguments and Inspirations 60 Contours of the Pan-Slavic Union 62 Flirting with Neo-Slavism 63 Conclusion 65 A Short History of Pan-Slavism and Its Impact on Central Europe in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries 67 Introduction 67 From the Twentieth Century On 73 Conclusion 78 Pan-Slavism in the Balkans: A Historical View 79 Introduction 79 From Cultural and Literary to the Political and Ideological Realm 83 Towards a Conclusion: Pan-Slavism and the Yugoslav State 91 Pan-Slavism as a (Political) Tool 26 New Wine in an Old Wineskin: Slavophilia and Geopolitical Populism in Putin’s Russia 95 Introduction 95 Essentialisation of Slavicness 100 Geopolitical Populism 104 Russia’s Mission 111 Conclusion 118 Ideational Travels of Slavophilia in Belarus: From Tsars to Lukashenka 119 Introduction 119 Belarusian Nationalism and the Slavic Idea 121 West Russism: A Local Version of the Russian World? 124 Lukashenka and Slavophilia 127 Pan-Slavism and the Belarusian Orthodox Church 134 Conclusion 139 On Pan-Slavism, Brotherhood, and Mythology: The Imagery of Contemporary Geopolitical Discourse in Serbia 141 Introduction 141 The Mythologization of the ‘Brotherhood’ Between Serbia and Russia 146 ‘Brotherhood’ vs. ‘Westernization’ in the 1990s 152 ‘Brotherhood’ and/or ‘Europeanization’ from the 2000s 156 Conclusion 170 Intermarium or Hyperborea? Pan-Slavism in Poland After 1989 172 Introduction 172 Warsaw Between the East and the West 174 On the Return of Pan-Slavism 178 Multifacetedness of Pan-Slavism in Poland 188 Conclusion 197 On Pan-Slavism, Identity, and Other Issues 26 A Distant Acquaintance: Reflecting on Croatia's Relationship with Pan-Slavism 200 Introduction 200 Historical Overview 203 South Slavism and Yugoslavia 208 Dissolution of Yugoslavia in the 1990s 210 Post-Independence Politics 211 Differentiation from South Slavism Through Education 215 Detachment from but also Occasional Nostalgia for Yugoslavia 218 Conclusion 220 On Pan-Slavism(s) and Macedonian National Identity 222 Introduction 222 National and Pan-National Identities 224 Pan-Slavism and Macedonian National Identity 228 Pan-Slavism in Early Takes on Macedonian National Identity 229 Yugoslavism and Macedonian National Identity 232 Socialist Yugoslavia and ‘Brotherhood and Unity’ 233 Contemporary Debates on Macedonian Identity: New Myths, New Supranational Projects 236 The Long Road to EU Integration 237 Conclusion 243 Invented ‘Europeanness’ Versus Residual Slavophilism: Ukraine as an Ideological Battlefield 245 Introduction 245 Slavophiles into Ukrainians 249 Persistent Ambivalence 253 Ambient Slavophilism? 260 Conclusion 269 On Pan-Slavism, East vs. West Divide, and Orthodoxy 26 Bulgaria’s Backlash Against the Istanbul Convention: Slavophilia as the Historical Frame of Pseudo-Religious Illiberalism 273 Introduction 273 Why Slavophilia? 275 Bulgaria’s Slavic Connection 277 National Revival 278 Independent Statehood 279 Communist Period 282 How Bulgaria Misunderstood the Istanbul Convention 283 ‘Gender’ as the Focal Point of Identity Iterations 284 Political Iterations of Pan-Nationalist Identity Against ‘Gender’ 287 Pan-Nationalist Iterations of Religious Identity Among a Non-Practising Public 290 Conclusion: The Discursive Legacy of Slavophilia in Bulgaria’s Current Geopolitics 291 Montenegrin Squaring of the Circle: Between Russophilia, Pan-Orthodoxia, and Competing Nationalism 294 Introduction 294 The Changing Dynamics of the Montenegrin-SOC-Russian Triangle 297 Political Alliance with Russia is More Attractive and Promising Than the ‘European Dream’ 304 The SOC as Protector and Preserver of Orthodox Unity and Pan-Slavic Ideology in Montenegro 310 Conclusion 317 Pan-Slavism and Slavophilia in the Czech Republic Within the Context of Hybrid Threats 320 Introduction 320 Hybrid Threats, Pan-Nationalism and Illiberal Actors: A Conceptual Framework 322 Historical Roots of Pan-Slavism in Czech Extremist and Illiberal Politics 324 Hybrid Campaigns and Pan-Slavism and Slavophilia in the Czech Republic After 1993 330 The Contemporary Pan-Slavic and Slavophilic Spectrum in the Czech Republic 334 Case Study: The Vrbětice Ammunition Depot Explosion and GRU Involvement 336 Conclusion 338 Slovakia: Emergence of an Old-New Pseudo-Pan-Slavism in the Context of the Conflict Between Russia and Ukraine After 2014 339 Introduction 339 Heritage of the Historical Disputes 342 Marginalisation of the ‘Slavophilic’ Agenda After 2000 347 Slavicness as an Alternative? The Beginning of the Crisis in Ukraine (2013–2014) and Its Consequences 351 Non-Partisan Actors in Slavophilic Discourse 357 Slavophilic Discourse in Slovakia 361 Conclusion 363 An Ethnographic Look on Pan-Slavism 26 Manifestations of Pan-Slavic Sentiments Among South Slavic Diaspora Communities in the United States of America 367 Introduction 367 The Main Arguments and Theoretical Framework 369 Research Methodology, Data Collection and Analysis 375 ‘We Still Find Things That Unify Us!’—New Forms of ‘Yugoslavism’ Among the South Slavic Diaspora Communities in the United States 377 Conclusion 385 Interethnic Ritual Kinship as Pan-Slavism in Bosnia and Herzegovina 387 Introduction 387 Different Cultures Have Different Sets of Collective Social Programming 388 Historical Documentation of Interethnic Kinship 390 Çelebi on the Bosnian Frontier 390 Filipović in a Bosnian Village 392 Hörmann Among Bosnian Muslims 394 Ritual Kinship in Folklore 395 Negative Examples of Interethnic Kinship Throughout History 397 The Betrayal Trope in Vuk Drašković's Novel, Nož 398 The Betrayal Trope in Ahmet M. Rahmanović’s Black Soul 398 Mountain Wreath’s Rejection of Interfaith Ritual Kinship 399 Frequency of Interethnic Ritual Kinship in Bosnia and Herzegovina 401 The Impact of War on Interethnic Ritual Kinship 403 Conclusion (and a Note on Interethnic Ritual Kinship in Ukraine) 405 Afterword 26 Appendix 411 Index of Persons 424 Index of Subjects 428