Nesting Orientalisms, Balkanism, And The East As 'internal Other'

By Author: Jordon
Total Articles: 91
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Milica Bakic-Hayden developed the concept of 'nesting orientalisms' as part of a broader theoretical analysis of the ways in which 'Europe' and 'Eastern Europe' has been imagined and constructed in opposition to each other. Such literature sheds light on some of the contradictions inherent in the practice of EU enlargement vs. its rhetoric of democracy and equality. EU 'deepening' has Five Fingers KSO been an attempt to create an 'even space' of institutional, legislative and infrastructural common ground among the member states, aimed at promoting a better functioning market economy while preserving cultural diversity. EU 'widening' has extended such an 'even space' to the new members.

The EU has exerted a fundamental influence on the New Europe through its enlargement. The two latest phases of enlargement in 2004 and 2007 included ten former socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. As a part of this process, the candidate countries received significant resources from the EU to help them meet the accession criteria. To qualify ...
... for these resources, the EU created a new conditionality process, which was particularly effective in "tipping the political scale in favor of reforms". The new criteria and process of EU enlargement built upon old assumptions and cultural understandings. Cultural geographers have pointed out that "The notion that Eastern Europe needs advice from Europe predates the current round of EU enlargement". Since the eighteenth century, Western European travelers and intellectuals portrayed Eastern Europe as geographically belonging to Europe, but still in the process of becoming European (Wolff 1994). General processes of identity formation explain how the perception of Eastern Europe as 'the other within' Europe has Vibram 5 fingers been reproduced over time. Western European cultural and political elites defined 'Europe' against lesser 'Others,' thus constructing the 'mystic' India, the 'savage' Africa, and the backward but still redeemable Eastern Europe. In order to define itself as 'civilized,' Western Europe needed the 'barbarian' Eastern Europe.

This process of essentializing Eastern Europe has had several negative consequences. Maria Todorova analyzed how a geographical area the Balkans has become "one of the most pejorative designations in history, political science, international relations". Building upon -and differentiating from - Said's Orientalism, Todorova argued that Western Europe constructed the Balkans as "the dark side within," a "repository of negative characteristics against which a positive and self congratulatory image of Europe and the West has been constructed". Similarly, Tver Neumann concluded that the 'East' has become a "generalized social marker of European identity formation". However, 'East' is also a highly flexible marker, "cut loose from its geographical point of reference". As such, it became a rather generic term, without precise boundaries.