One of the biggest stories in 2017 has been the growing tensions and challenges in Polish-Ukrainian relations. With both sides escalating rhetoric, it begs the question – how to break the impasse? Yet, before addressing the mending of relations, we present two voices which attempt to better describe how we got here in the first place – one supporting the Polish point of view and one supporting the Ukrainian point of view.

November/December 2017: Central Asia. (Is this how you imagine) The forgotten region? Central Asia is an ethnically, geographically and culturally diverse region, covering a similar land mass as the European Union. Yet, it remains one of the least familiar to the general public in the West. An important region in its own right, located in a volatile geopolitical area between Russia, China, Afghanistan and Iran, the five states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan rarely make headlines in the mainstream media. Owing to this neglect the region has fallen victim to orientalist clichés, presenting it as a spacious blank steppe dividing the big players or as a collection of post-Soviet artificial entities devoid of agency in international relations.

Stories of an unfinished transformation Anyone interested in Central and Eastern Europe understands that this region is far from monolithic, also in the implementation (or lack thereof) of western economic and political systems. At the same time we cannot deny there is something idiosyncratic about the former Soviet bloc, something which links its societies together. Either through common experience or history (or both).

This special series of articles about the life and work of Joseph Conrad first appeared in Issue 5/2017 of New Eastern Europe. Subscribe now.

Call for applications is now open for the first International School titled: Poland and Central and Eastern Europe – 2017: The school is dedicated to young historians, social scientists, journalists, social activists, popularizers of Polish and Central European history. The School is open to people from Western and Eastern Europe, the United States, Canada, Israel, […]

On July 6-7 2017, Lazarski Unviersity in Warsaw organised and hosted a conference titled: “Intermarium in the 21st Century: Visions, Architectures and Feasibilities”. This international gathering brought together Central and Eastern European scholars to examine the diversity of interpretations of the Intermarium concept and assess chances for its various configurations to come into being. The conference focused on the nature of Intermarium as well as debated the feasibility of its geographic, political, economic, cultural and security dimensions.

Get this issue delivered straight to your doorstep. Click here to subscribe online today.  “The price of Europeanising the Balkans is much higher than the price of the Balkanisation of Europe,” claims Zagreb-based writer Miljenko Jergović in the opening essay to this issue of New Eastern Europe. This poignant statement calls for wide attention, especially […]

Europe with a View to the Future is an international forum for European reflection.  This year’s forum will be held on May 25-27 2017 at the European Solidarity Centre in Gdańsk. Topics to be discussed include: – Russia: 100 years after the revolution. A return to imperial politics in Europe? – Antiliberal counter-revolutions. How are […]

Registration is now open for the 2017 Personal Democracy Forum April 6-7 2017, European Solidarity Centre, Gdańsk, Poland   About The Event The 5th edition of Personal Democracy Forum will serve as a platform of idea and experience exchange for people working for civic participation and transparency in public life with the help of new […]

On behalf of the editors and publishers of New Eastern Europe, we would like to wish all of our readers a very Happy Holiday Season and a Happy New Year 2017!  Speaking of holidays…why not purchase a gift subscription to New Eastern Europe for the special reader in your life. And while you are celebrating the holidays make sure to listen to some Polish Christmas Carols […]

New Eastern Europe asked a few prominent region watchers what the election of Donald Trump for President of the United States means for Eastern Europe. Here is what they think:

Day three: emotions at the Conrad Festival

From private emotions, born around the family table, through emotions connected with the feeling of power, to the intense experience of reality – this was the path, travelled by the participants of the Conrad Festival together with the invited guests.