Globalizing Eastern Europe

For far too long, views of Eastern Europe as an entrenched, deprived and peripheral region have shaped common perceptions of this area of the world. Presenting important contemporary research, Globalizing Eastern Europe: Politics, Culture and Economics from the 18th to the 21st Century offers a series of refreshing arguments to counter such misconceptions. From grain production, which rose to challenge the American Midwest, to the making of modern international law, and from emancipatory educational concepts that countered Victorian doctrines to the de-nationalisation of classical music, this volume recasts Eastern Europe as a globally active region. With a contemporary focus, its contributions also provide a fresh look at current Chinese infrastructure investments in the region, at Russia's pivotal role in climate change, and at debates regarding the uneven urban developments between core and periphery. With a view to tracking historical trajectories, and an emphasis upon agency as a driving motor in global entanglements, Eastern Europe emerges as a globally engaged region. In doing so, this volume further enriches the perennial debates regarding the region's spatial and cultural boundaries.