For centuries, Eastern Europe was condemned to be a periphery whose fate was decided by outside powers. The question for the 21st century is whether that is finally changing.
Incredible summary, yes indeed it seems like in the 21st century Eastern Europe is better ready and more realistic about the challenges. Their only problem remains demography and brain drain but they have been reversing that, and the situation is much less worse than the Balkans.
When I read Orientalism, I was surprised at how Said gives example after example of strange and occasionally repulsive behavior described by European visitors to the Middle East, and then he claims that "we" used it to keep "them" oppressed.
Why not just assume that descriptions of other cultures and people is precisely that? That's how travel descriptions have always been.
My guess is that it's the same with Eastern Europe. Rather than dismiss those descriptions, we should read them and assume they describe the actual culture of those places at the time.
Indeed, the region is moving in the right direction, with infrastructure connectivity and energy projects bringing it together. Connectivity always comes first, as it fosters closer ties, which are natural given shared interests. But, I must correct you on one point: the 3SI was a joint Croatian-Polish initiative.
Despite successes, demographics are the most critical issue. Success requires strategic long-term planning, avoiding Western European mistakes. Short-term economic interests are at odds with foresight, but social cohesion is essential. Even if the public is critical of such approaches, those who want to see quick results will push to further open up labor markets and brand pro-natalist measures as ineffective. It is important to resist this.
However, if this succeeds and a “conservative modernity” takes shape, these countries could even serve as a model for Western European nations.
Do you have some potential Czech companies that could become big multinationals and are locally owned? Recently I heard about success story of CZG and there is Skoda but it’s not 100% in Czechs hands
I like the article you wrote, but I don't agree with the idea that the difference between western and eastern Europe was economic. I think there truly is something to it that's deeper. It's not so much that eastern Europe was poorer and therefore it didn't have enlightenment. Eastern Europe was poorer because it didn't have enlightenment. That kind of thinking just doesn't register to people there.
I once read an article on substack where a psychologist from Nigeria made a case why Africa is poor. And his point wasn't that it was cause of low IQ, but more so that people there just think differently. They don't have enlightenment values in them and are by their own nature, more tribal and mystical. I believe the same case can be applied here.
Poland really did have rather strange laws and customs compared to western Europe. Polish serfs were really treated close to slaves. Polish nobility really did have a thing for oriental fashion. A lot of Poles (majority?) even have "eastern roots" to them. Be that Ukrainian, Belarusian, Armenian, Tatar. There were big Jewish and Byzantine influence in Poland too. Never dominant of course, but it really did exist there.
I think that's just how eastern Europe is. It's not economic, it's cultural or genetic. Even the thing you posted like the part about Poland being the most "pro-capitalist". I know deeply that this sentiment didn't come from some rational argument. It's just Poles hopping onto the idea they they can get rich and that they can make their neighbors jealous. In Poland people are mostly fine with building 5 shopping malls next to each other cause it shows "how rich we are".
The thing about not pursuing climate friendly policies seems similar to me. This one mostly comes from the following line of thought: "my grandma heated everything with coal, and the fact that everyone around us got lung cancer don't change shit". There's no further plan to improve things. It's just one big "works for me, and I don't care about anyone else" that's quite common in Poland. Kraków remains one of the most polluted cities in Europe when it comes to air quality.
This feels very different compared to places where you had enlightenment or Protestantism. Where things usually really do just work and people have some semblance of long term thinking. I'm pretty sure that no matter what trouble hits the Netherlands, it will be a prosperous place in the long term. Cause it does return to that positions as the years pass, even if some times are worse than others. Because people there think a certain way.
Poland on the other hand is a dice roll. It might be rich, it might even be gigantic, but few decades after that it might no longer exist. Then it might spring back to live again. It might disappear again though. You never know. Cause there things are determined by dice roles, emotions and mysterious powers. And this goes on till pretty much Russia. Where this kind of thinking still prevails.
Here's the link to the article I mentioned earlier
I understand what you mean. It is probably not genetic — genetically speaking, the difference between, say, Poles and Germans is minuscule, much smaller than between Germans and Spaniards. But the cultures are certainly markedly different. The key is to understand these differences and make policy in accordance with the mentality of the given nation. You simply cannot transplant Danish-style policies to Poland or Slovakia, any more than you could do the reverse. Nations have mentalities and characters, and while one cannot be fatalistic about them, they must nonetheless be respected. I am currently in rural Denmark and while it is absolutely beautiful, clean, prosperous and orderly, one can almost feel a certain subconscious-level suffocating homogeneity in the air. A person from our part of the world would probably feel the urge to build some ugly bright green cubicle house, festooned with tasteless decorative elements, just to spite the picturesque and tasteful wooden vernacular architecture all around. Because fuck you, why not. I sort of like that impulse.
I know what you mean. Having been often to places like these, Denmark included, made me feel similar things. Having worked in Netherlands I even was few time close to my boiling point seeing how "by the rules" people there are. But I can't deny that there isn't something to their borderline autism that makes things "just work". And I suspect that had played a very big role in how quickly these countries became industrialized, how protestantism spread there, enlightenment and with how wealthy they tend to be nowadays.
Incredible summary, yes indeed it seems like in the 21st century Eastern Europe is better ready and more realistic about the challenges. Their only problem remains demography and brain drain but they have been reversing that, and the situation is much less worse than the Balkans.
It's Central, thank you.
Go tell Visehrad, thou who reads by, that here obedient to its laws, I lie.
When I read Orientalism, I was surprised at how Said gives example after example of strange and occasionally repulsive behavior described by European visitors to the Middle East, and then he claims that "we" used it to keep "them" oppressed.
Why not just assume that descriptions of other cultures and people is precisely that? That's how travel descriptions have always been.
My guess is that it's the same with Eastern Europe. Rather than dismiss those descriptions, we should read them and assume they describe the actual culture of those places at the time.
THIS
Another great article.
Interesting that a Czechian man married a Slovak woman. Trying to unify Bohemia and Moravia into Czehoslovakia again, are we? :D
Indeed, the region is moving in the right direction, with infrastructure connectivity and energy projects bringing it together. Connectivity always comes first, as it fosters closer ties, which are natural given shared interests. But, I must correct you on one point: the 3SI was a joint Croatian-Polish initiative.
Despite successes, demographics are the most critical issue. Success requires strategic long-term planning, avoiding Western European mistakes. Short-term economic interests are at odds with foresight, but social cohesion is essential. Even if the public is critical of such approaches, those who want to see quick results will push to further open up labor markets and brand pro-natalist measures as ineffective. It is important to resist this.
However, if this succeeds and a “conservative modernity” takes shape, these countries could even serve as a model for Western European nations.
It is crucial for Eastern Europe to resist the disastrous immigration, social, and economic policies that are destroying Britain and Western Europe.
Do you have some potential Czech companies that could become big multinationals and are locally owned? Recently I heard about success story of CZG and there is Skoda but it’s not 100% in Czechs hands
Česká zbrojovka?
Yup, that’s CSG
I like the article you wrote, but I don't agree with the idea that the difference between western and eastern Europe was economic. I think there truly is something to it that's deeper. It's not so much that eastern Europe was poorer and therefore it didn't have enlightenment. Eastern Europe was poorer because it didn't have enlightenment. That kind of thinking just doesn't register to people there.
I once read an article on substack where a psychologist from Nigeria made a case why Africa is poor. And his point wasn't that it was cause of low IQ, but more so that people there just think differently. They don't have enlightenment values in them and are by their own nature, more tribal and mystical. I believe the same case can be applied here.
Poland really did have rather strange laws and customs compared to western Europe. Polish serfs were really treated close to slaves. Polish nobility really did have a thing for oriental fashion. A lot of Poles (majority?) even have "eastern roots" to them. Be that Ukrainian, Belarusian, Armenian, Tatar. There were big Jewish and Byzantine influence in Poland too. Never dominant of course, but it really did exist there.
I think that's just how eastern Europe is. It's not economic, it's cultural or genetic. Even the thing you posted like the part about Poland being the most "pro-capitalist". I know deeply that this sentiment didn't come from some rational argument. It's just Poles hopping onto the idea they they can get rich and that they can make their neighbors jealous. In Poland people are mostly fine with building 5 shopping malls next to each other cause it shows "how rich we are".
The thing about not pursuing climate friendly policies seems similar to me. This one mostly comes from the following line of thought: "my grandma heated everything with coal, and the fact that everyone around us got lung cancer don't change shit". There's no further plan to improve things. It's just one big "works for me, and I don't care about anyone else" that's quite common in Poland. Kraków remains one of the most polluted cities in Europe when it comes to air quality.
This feels very different compared to places where you had enlightenment or Protestantism. Where things usually really do just work and people have some semblance of long term thinking. I'm pretty sure that no matter what trouble hits the Netherlands, it will be a prosperous place in the long term. Cause it does return to that positions as the years pass, even if some times are worse than others. Because people there think a certain way.
Poland on the other hand is a dice roll. It might be rich, it might even be gigantic, but few decades after that it might no longer exist. Then it might spring back to live again. It might disappear again though. You never know. Cause there things are determined by dice roles, emotions and mysterious powers. And this goes on till pretty much Russia. Where this kind of thinking still prevails.
Here's the link to the article I mentioned earlier
https://woodfromeden.substack.com/p/guest-post-the-global-iq-debate-a
I understand what you mean. It is probably not genetic — genetically speaking, the difference between, say, Poles and Germans is minuscule, much smaller than between Germans and Spaniards. But the cultures are certainly markedly different. The key is to understand these differences and make policy in accordance with the mentality of the given nation. You simply cannot transplant Danish-style policies to Poland or Slovakia, any more than you could do the reverse. Nations have mentalities and characters, and while one cannot be fatalistic about them, they must nonetheless be respected. I am currently in rural Denmark and while it is absolutely beautiful, clean, prosperous and orderly, one can almost feel a certain subconscious-level suffocating homogeneity in the air. A person from our part of the world would probably feel the urge to build some ugly bright green cubicle house, festooned with tasteless decorative elements, just to spite the picturesque and tasteful wooden vernacular architecture all around. Because fuck you, why not. I sort of like that impulse.
I know what you mean. Having been often to places like these, Denmark included, made me feel similar things. Having worked in Netherlands I even was few time close to my boiling point seeing how "by the rules" people there are. But I can't deny that there isn't something to their borderline autism that makes things "just work". And I suspect that had played a very big role in how quickly these countries became industrialized, how protestantism spread there, enlightenment and with how wealthy they tend to be nowadays.