Text resize: A A

Change contrast

Us and Them: The evolution of identity

May 25, 2013 - Example Author - New Eastern Europe newsletter

"The concept of 'us' is always dependent on how we understand 'them'. The more we think about other regions of the world, for example the Arab world, as being different from us, the more we are prone to regard our immediate neighbours as 'us'."

Ziemowit Szczerek talks to Hans Henning Hahn, renown German historian, specialist in Eastern Europe and identity.

To read the full interview visit: https://www.neweasterneurope.eu/node/825

Partners

Issue 1/2023: In the throes of crises

The consequences of Russia’s invasion are visible not only in Ukraine. The Kremlin has set off or exploited a series of crises that face most European countries.

Subscribe to NEE

Issue 6/2022: Point of no return

New thinking is needed in policies towards Russia, in whatever form it will take after the war.

Subscribe to NEE

Issue 5/2022: Loss and division

Ukraine’s suffering goes well beyond the front line.

Subscribe to NEE

Issue 4/2022: Values under Siege

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine we now see our western values under siege, whether we consciously recognise it or not.

Subscribe to NEE

Issue 3/2022: The Pain of War

The invasion by Russian forces of Ukraine from the north, south and east – with the initial aim to take the capital Kyiv – has changed our region, and indeed our world, forever.

Subscribe to NEE

Issue 1-2/2022: Tug of war?

The situation with Russian threats towards Ukraine once again illustrates the high level of instability in our region.

Subscribe to NEE

Issue 6/2021: The Road to Pax Caucasia

Only a year ago we witnessed the second Nagorno-Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. It took at least 5,000 lives and significantly shifted the geopolitics in the South Caucuses.

Subscribe to NEE

Issue 5/2021: Belarusians. One year in protest

This special issue aims to honour the plight of Belarusians whose democratic choice made in August 2020 was shamelessly snubbed by Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

Subscribe to NEE

Issue 4/2021: Ukraine's Unfinished Story

From the social, economic and political points of view, a lot of work still remains for this country. And this is why Ukraine’s story is incomplete.

Subscribe to NEE

Issue 3/2021: Tales from the Baltics

30 years after the fall of the Soviet Union

Subscribe to NEE

Issue 1-2/2021: Whither Democracy?

And what lies ahead for our region...

Subscribe to NEE

Issue 6/2020: Understanding Values in Uncertain Times

Our societies are more polarised than ever before, which makes them more susceptible to disinformation, untruth and conspiracy theories.

Subscribe to NEE

Issue 5/2020: Juggling a Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed limitations and weaknesses in nearly all countries around the world.

Subscribe to NEE

issue 4/2020: The Kremlin's Hybrid War

The case of Georgia

Subscribe to NEE

Issue 3/2020: The War in Donbas

Its costs, challenges and the commitment to peace.

Subscribe to NEE

Issue 1-2/2020: Bound to Explode?

Uncertainty, volatility and the relationship between Russia and the West.

Subscribe to NEE

Issue 6/2019: New (Old) Faces?

A true makeover or cosmetic change?

Subscribe to NEE

Issue 5 2019: The Black Sea region

The Black Sea region is quickly becoming a geopolitical battleground which is gaining the interest of major powers, regional players and smaller countries – and the stakes are only getting higher.

Subscribe to NEE

Issue 3-4/2019: Eastern Partnership turns 10

This issue is dedicated to the 10 year anniversary of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership as well as the 30 years since the 1989 revolutions in Central Europe.

Subscribe to NEE

Issue 2 2019: Postmodern Geopolitics

The consequences of the emerging multipolar world.

Subscribe to NEE

Issue 1 2019: Public intellecturals

This issue takes a special look at the role and responsibility of the public intellectual in Central and Eastern Europe today.

Subscribe to NEE

Issue 6/2018: 1918. The year of independence

In the eastern parts of the European continent, 1918 is remembered not only as the end of the First World War, but also saw the emergence of newly-independent states and the rise of geopolitical struggles which are felt until this day.

Subscribe to NEE

Issue 5/2018: What's new with Belarus?

It often seems, at least from the outside, that Belarus remains isolated from the West and very static in its transformation. Yet, despite its relative isolation, Belarus is indeed changing.

Subscribe to NEE