The Muslim World and Europe

Post
www.iwm.at
No. 88 Spring 2005
Newsletter of the INSTITUT FÜR DIE WISSENSCHAFTEN VOM MENSCHEN, Vienna
and of the INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN SCIENCES at Boston University
Contents
POLITICAL SALON
Speaking in the IWM library, Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis
3 Conference
The Orthodox Spirit
and the Ethic of Capitalism
described the “catastrophic effect” of Islamic extremism, but
expressed hope that the similarities between Islam and
6 Fellows Meeting
Looking Back on a Successful Year
Christianity could produce a common understanding. The March
8 Eurozine Editorial Board Meeting
and the West and was the second in a series of “Political
10 Tischner Debate
Justice, Freedom, and Solidarity
12 IHS at Boston University
The US and Europe:
Still Sharing the Same Values?
22 Notes on Books
Jerzy Szacki on
Barbarian Europe
Marci Shore on
The Production of Presence
25 Krzysztof Michalski
Johannes Paul II 1920 – 2005
Gastbeiträge / Guest Contributions
25 Giuliano Amato
Bauwerk Europa
29 Wojciech Orlinski
Stereotyping:
The Horrors from the East
9 Ausschreibung
Research Fellowship:
The Meaning of Death in Society
Today
9 discussion addressed the tense relationship between Islam
Salons” hosted by the IWM and the Austrian daily newspaper
Die Presse.
The Muslim World and Europe
Bernard Lewis, professor emeritus of
Near Eastern studies at Princeton
University and the author of more
than two dozen books, spoke about
the relationship between the Muslim
world and Europe. Sharing the podium with Lewis were Die Presse editor-in-chief Michael Fleischhacker and
IWM rector Krzysztof Michalski.
In his introductory talk, Lewis remarked that Islam is necessary for the
very idea of Europe: “There is a sense
in which Europe is defined by Islam,” he said. “It was that
part of Christendom which remained after the Islamic conquest of the seventh century.” After the conquest, noted
Lewis, Europe’s “frontiers were established by the Arabs in
the south, the Turks in the southeast and the Tatars in the east.”
European Views of Islam
The Muslim world describes Europe, but Lewis believes
that Europeans still have a tendency to view Islam in simplistic terms – either as a religion that is irredeemably violent or as one that is essentially benign. “The truth,” Lewis
said, “is in its usual place: somewhere in between.”
According to Lewis, throughout most of history, Islamic religious institutions were more tolerant and peaceful
than their Christian counterparts. For centuries, as Europe
embarked on its religious wars and pogroms, the Ottoman
Empire served as a haven for Catholics fleeing Protestant
persecution, Protestants fleeing Catholic persecution, and
Jews fleeing both.
Lewis also noted that Islam, because of its view of war-
In welchem Verhältnis stehen der Islam und der
Westen zueinander? Auf
diese Frage versuchte der
Islamwissenschaftler
Bernard Lewis im Rahmen
des zweiten „Politischen
Salons“ am 9. März zu antworten. Zwar betonte er in
der Diskussion mit Michael Fleischhacker, Die Presse, und Krzysztof Michalski, Rektor des IWM, die
Konfliktträchtigkeit des
prekären Verhältnisses,
zugleich verwies Lewis jedoch auf Chancen durch
die Ähnlichkeit islamischer
und christlicher Weltkonzeptionen.
GZ: 05Z036175 M - P.b.b. Verlagspostamt 1090 Wien
Bernard Lewis POLITISCHER SALON
2
Bernard Lewis ist Professor Emeritus of Near
Eastern Studies an der
Universität Princeton und
langjähriges Mitglied des
Wissenschaftlichen Beirats des IWM. Er gilt als einer der renommiertesten
Islamwissenschaftler der
Gegenwart und untersucht die Beziehung zwischen Islam und dem Westen seit mehr als sechs
Jahrzehnten. Sein Werk
What Went Wrong, eine
Untersuchung der Umstände, die zur Dominanz
des Westens über den Islam führten, hielt sich 2002
18 Wochen lang in der
Bestseller-Liste der New
York Times. Das Buch basiert auf Vorlesungen die
Lewis 1999 am IWM gehalten hat und die 2001 unter
dem Titel Kultur und Modernisierung im Nahen
Osten im Passagen Verlag,
Wien, erschienen sind.
Ausgewählte
Publikationen:
Die Wut der arabischen
Welt
Frankfurt/Main 2003
Kultur und Modernisierung im Nahen Osten.
IWM-Vorlesungen zur
modernen Philosophie,
Wien 2001
Die Araber. Aufstieg und
Niedergang eines Weltreichs
München 1995
Der Atem Allahs.
Die islamische Welt und
der Westen
München 1994
No. 88
Spring 2005
fare as a religious obligation, elaborately regulates
the conduct of combatants. There are clear strictures, Lewis commented, that guarantee the humane treatment of civilians and prisoners and that
limit the types of weapons allowed.
According to Lewis, Islam does not condone
suicide under any circumstances: “The condemnation of suicide is very clear and very unequivocal,”
he said, noting that some Islamic texts say that those
who commit suicide are doomed to repeat the act
for eternity.
Tolerance and Extremism in Muslim History
“On the whole I would say that the record of tolerance – until very recently – has been better in the
Islamic world than in the Christian world,” Lewis
said. But then how can the current rash of kidnappings
and suicide bombings by Muslims be explained?
Lewis traced their ideology back to
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, an eighteenthcentury Islamic scholar born on the Arab Peninsula.
Wahhab sought to purge Islam of what he saw as
idolatries such as grave worship and prayers to
saints. The result was a theology that was literalist
and puritanical, a creed that Lewis called a “fanatical, violent and intolerant Islam.”
The Rise of the Saud Dynasty
Fleeing persecution for his teachings, Wahhab
found refuge in the city of Diriyah, home to tribal
leader Muhammad bin Saud. In 1744, the two
formed an alliance, formalized by the wedding of
Saud’s son to Wahhab’s daughter, and the House of
Saud rose to become the dominant state in Arabia,
with Wahhab’s interpretation of Islam as the state’s
official religion.
In 1924, the Saud dynasty conquered the
Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina, an event
that earned the Saudis great respect among Muslims and gave rise to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The 1938 discovery of oil in this kingdom provided the Saudis with revenue to disseminate
Wahhab’s beliefs through religious schools,
mosques, and newspapers in Muslim expatriate
communities throughout Europe and the United States.
Stopping the flow of oil-money
“We now have a situation in which this fanatical,
marginal, eccentric version of Islam is the most
strongly supported, the most widely disseminated,” said Lewis. “And this is having what I can
only describe as a catastrophic effect.” The only way
to stop the spread of Wahhab’s beliefs, according to
Lewis, is to find a substitute for oil. “Stop the flow
of money and we can stop the whole thing.”
Following Lewis’ remarks were questions by
Die Presse’s Fleischhacker and the IWM’s Michalski.
In the discussion, Lewis touched upon the history
of Turkish military coups, which he defended as a
means of combating government corruption. Answering critical questions from the audience, Lewis
also defended the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. “An
odious tyranny has been overthrown,” he said.
“And we see the beginnings of a remarkably promising movement towards democracy, which I think
may very well spread to the rest of the region.”
Building on the Resemblances
Despite Lewis’ sober view of the current state of
Islam, the London-born historian sees the potential
for an understanding with the West: “What
brought Islam and Christendom into conflict is not
their differences but their similarities,” he noted,
citing that followers of each religion believe that
they alone possess the one true faith and have the
obligation to spread it. “When you have two religions with this common self-perception, this common sense of mission, geographically adjoining
each other, I would say clash and conflict are inevitable.”
But this common ground could also lead to
understanding: “I see that as the best hope for the
future, building on the resemblances.”
Eoin O’Carroll
Bernard Lewis is Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern
Studies at Princeton University and a long standing
member of the IWM Academic Advisory Board. He is one
of the most eminent Islam scholars of today and has
explored the relationship of Islam and the West for more
than six decades. Following the September 11, 2001,
attacks in the United States, Lewis saw interest in his work
surge. What Went Wrong?, his examination of how the
Muslim world became overshadowed and dominated by
the West, spent 18 weeks on The New York Times
bestseller list in 2002. The book is based on a series of
lectures he delivered at the IWM in 1999.
Selected Publications:
From Babel to Dragomans:
Interpreting the Middle
East
Oxford/New York 2004
The Crisis of Islam: Holy
War and Unholy Terror
New York 2003
What Went Wrong?
Western Impact and
Middle Eastern Response
Oxford/New York 2002
The Multiple Identities
of the Middle East
New York 1998
The Future of the Middle
East
London 1997
The Shaping of the
Modern Middle East
New York 1993
Eoin O’Carroll is candidate for an MS degree in Print
Journalism at Boston University and currently IWM Junior Visiting Fellow.
CONFERENCE
There are over 200 million Eastern Orthodox Christians in
the world, many of them located in strategically important
The Political Salons were established in 2004 as a new
discussion forum on current political and societal
questions. The series is jointly organized by the IWM and
Die Presse and supported by the Austrian Ministry of
Defense.
Die Politischen Salons wurden 2004 als neues
Diskussionsforum zu aktuellen politischen und gesellschaftlichen Fragestellungen eingerichtet. Die Reihe
wird gemeinsam vom IWM und der Presse organisiert
und von der Direktion für Sicherheitspolitik des Bundesministeriums für Landesverteidigung unterstützt.
Krzysztof Michalski, Ralf Dahrendorf, and Michael Fleischhacker
at the first Political Salon on November 18, 2004
Nächster Politischer Salon am 23. Mai:
General a.D. Dr. h.c. Klaus Naumann ist am 23. Mai 2005 zu
Gast beim dritten Politischen Salon. Er diskutiert zum
Thema „Europa – ein Pol in einer multipolaren Welt?“.
Klaus Naumann war von 1991-1996 Generalinspekteur
der deutschen Bundeswehr und von 1996-1999 Vorsitzender des NATO-Militärausschusses. Er ist Beiratsmitglied des International Institute for Strategic Studies,
London und seit November 2003 Vizepräsident der
Atlantic Treaty Association.
Next Political Salon on May 23:
General a.D. Dr. h.c. Klaus Naumann will discuss the
question “Europe – one Pole in a Multipolar World?” on
May 23, 2005 at the third Political Salon.
Klaus Naumann was Chief of Staff of the German Federal
Armed Forces (1991-1996) and Chairman of the NATO
Military Committee (1996-1999). He is a member of the
Council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies
and since November 2003 Vice President of the Atlantic
Treaty Association.
countries, such as Russia, the Balkans, and the Middle
East. The question of how the Orthodox world will deal
with democracy and the market economy was the focus of
an international conference, which took place at the IWM
on March 7-9,. 2005.
The Orthodox Spirit and the Ethic
of Capitalism
“The ghost of Max Weber is hanging over this
table,” said Peter Berger, Professor Emeritus of Religion, Sociology and Theology and Director of the
Institute for the Study of Economic Culture at
Boston University, on the first morning of the conference titled “The Orthodox Spirit and the Ethic
of Capitalism.” Around the table in the IWM library were a dozen social scientists and Orthodox
theologians gathered to discuss how the beliefs and
institutions of Christianity can provide a moral
foundation for 21st century capitalism.
Berger was not the only one to invoke the author of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, which in 1904 first proposed that modern
capitalism has its origins in Calvinist asceticism.
Weber’s spirit was felt in the IWM library many
times during the conference, materializing in the
participant’s questions: What values of production
come out of Orthodoxy? Is
the pursuit of wealth compatible with the pursuit of salvation? How can Orthodox
churches foster the levels of
trust between people, businesses and governments necessary for free trade? Can Orthodox theology be construed
to provide, in Berger’s words,
a “moral legitimization of individual enterprise?” And if it
can, should it?
The talks were the second in a series of three
organized by Boston University’s Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs and the J.M.
Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies at
Baylor University in Waco, Texas. The series is supported by a grant from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, a conservative philanthropy group
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Die Frage nach dem Umgang der orthodoxen
Welt mit Demokratie und
Marktwirtschaft stand im
Zentrum einer internationalen Konferenz am IWM
(7.-9. März), die in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Institute on Culture, Religion and
World Affairs an der Boston University sowie dem
J.M. Dawson Institute of
Church-State Studies an
der Baylor University organisiert und von der
Lynde and Harry Bradley
Foundation unterstützt
wurde.
Peter Berger
Orthodoxy and Global Pluralism
Delivering the keynote address, Berger, a Viennaborn sociologist well known for his work on reliNo. 88
Spring 2005
3
The Orthodox Spirit and the Ethic of Capitalism CONFERENCE
4
gion and economic culture, remarked on
the challenges faced by Orthodoxy in
modern, pluralist societies. In such societies, Berger argued, religion’s “taken-forgrantedness” has vanished. The beliefs
and values of religion have become a matter of personal choice. Orthodoxy, says
Berger, must now compete with other religions to gain followers in pluralist societies.
The Eastern Orthodox churches
have more than 200 million members
worldwide. The religion has its roots in the
earliest days of Christianity. In the first
millennium after Jesus, churches in this
tradition were part of a unified Christendom, but longstanding political and theological differences led in 1054 to a split
between churches in the eastern and western halves of the old Roman Empire, with
churches in the East rejecting the legitimacy of the Pope. Following this split, the
autonomous churches in the east became
organized mostly around national and
ethnic lines.
Despite 70 years of persecution under the Soviet government, the Russian
Orthodox Church remains the largest of
the eastern churches, with an estimated
70 million adherents. This fact, combined
with the sharp increase in inequality and
poverty in Russia following the conversion of the world’s largest state-run
economy to a market economy, made the
relationship between Russian capitalism
and Russian Orthodoxy a natural focus
for the conference.
The “Crisis of Public Morality”
The first morning began with a discussion
of a paper by Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin,
a senior spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchate which heads the Russian Orthodox Church. Chaplin’s paper detailed the
“disastrous crisis of public morality”
caused by the rapid dismantling of the
Soviet system and called for Russian Orthodoxy to develop a “solid moral foundation” for economics. The paper called
upon the Orthodox hierarchy to address
Russian economic developments, with
special attention to economic globalization, and to criticize international financial
groups when appropriate.
Janos Kovacs, permanent fellow at
the IWM, saw in Chaplin’s paper a critique of neoliberalism, but no critique of
communism. But despite the paper’s critiNo. 88
Spring 2005
cism of the handling of Russia’s rapid
privatization, Pavel Shashkin of the Moscow Patriarchate said he saw no conflict
between Orthodoxy and capitalism,
which he called the “most effective form of
economic development.” Russia, he said,
needs “capitalism, but a socially responsible capitalism,” such as that found in
Western European economies. Boston
University’s Elizabeth Prodromou shared
Shashkin’s wariness of extremes saying
that countries must avoid excesses of
predatory capitalism and state capitalism.
The Third Way – an Illusion
But none doubted that some form of capitalism is needed for development. “The
rich do well under any system,” said
Berger. “It’s the poor who benefit from
capitalism.” Berger went on to dismiss the
model, held by some Roman Catholic
theologians, that it is possible to craft a coherent alternative to capitalism and socialism. “The third way,” he said, “is an illusion.” Irinej Dobrijevic of the Serbian Orthodox Church also rejected the third
way, but agreed that a theological approach was needed. He said that he saw in
Orthodox thinking growing efforts at a
“doctrinalization of capitalism.”
But Orthodox thinkers have come to
global capitalism’s ethical
dimension only recently. As
pointed out by Baylor
Christopher
University’s
Marsh, it was only in February 2004 – more than 12
years after the dissolution of
the USSR and the beginning of Yeltsin’s “shock program” of economic restructuring – that the Russian
Orthodox Church released
its “Code of Moral Principles and Rules in Economic Activity,” a set of
moral guidelines resembling the biblical Ten Commandments. “The Church
was largely uninvolved during the first ten years of economic transition,” Marsh
said.
The Church hierarchy
may not have been drafting
moral principles of economics during the 1990s, but it
was undertaking a vast hu-
manitarian effort. With the help of the
Orthodox Church of America, in the
1990s the Russian church distributed
tens of millions of dollars in food and
medicine to those most affected by the
economic crisis. “The Church’s response
was massive,” said Leonid Kishkovsky of the
Orthodox Church of America. “There
were, at the time, few humanitarian institutions.”
Mistrust of the Church
Indeed, Orthodoxy remains Russia’s largest civic organization. Despite its prominence, however, some participants noted
that the Church still fails to inspire confidence. In his paper, Marsh presented data
from the World Values Survey, which
showed that many Russians who identify
themselves as Orthodox pray every day,
but only 38 percent say that they trust the
Church. Vladimir Mau of the Academy of
National Economy in Moscow agreed
with this assessment. “I’m not sure if the
Church created a bank, people would put
money in it,” he said. Sharyl Cross, a professor of political science at the U.S. Air
Force Academy, was skeptical, saying that
she had seen data showing that the
Church was Russia’s most trusted institution.
The Orthodox Spirit and the Ethic of Capitalism CONFERENCE
But all agreed that mistrust of the Russian Orthodox Church persists, partly because of the
Church’s dealings in the alcohol and tobacco industries and partly because of reports in 2000 that the
current head of the Church, Patriarch Alexy II, had
collaborated with the Soviet security services since
the 1950s. As for the last charge, Kishkovsky said
that the Church should not be singled out. “Every
institution was penetrated by the Soviet state,” he
said. “The Moscow Patriarchy is no exception.”
Many Russians also lack confidence in their
country’s other institutions, such as the police, the
courts, and businesses. In some instances, the mistrust appears among the institutions themselves.
Hyperbolic Distrust
Irina Papkova of Georgetown University presented
a paper describing the resistance of many in the
Church to the government’s plan in 2000 to assign
electronic tax identification cards to all citizens.
Many believed that the government had planned
to introduce bar codes that contained lines that
could represent the number 666. According to the
Book of Revelation in the New Testament, 666 is
the “number of the beast,” whose arrival is associated with a series of disasters culminating with the
destruction of the world. Many also believed that
the numbers assigned by the government would
somehow replace their given names, which in Orthodoxy is given in a special rite on the eighth day
after birth.
Some parishes went as far as to deny communion to those who had completed their tax forms.
The Church leadership criticized those priests, but
also called upon the government to set up another
recordkeeping system so that those who refused the
electronic cards could still receive benefits. Participants agreed that such hyperbolic distrust – widespread belief that the government is in league with
the Antichrist – severely hampers economic development. A system in which strangers exchange
goods and services on a large scale requires a high
level of generalized trust in civic institutions.
But all agreed that government alone cannot
foster such trust. “Confidence cannot be imposed
by legislation,” said Mau. “You cannot pass a law
that courts should not be corrupt or that businesses
should be moral. You need tradition.”
Firm Ethical Framework Needed
The Russian Orthodox Church may be well positioned to extend its moral traditions into the economic sphere. Near the end of Chaplin’s paper, an
accountant for a firm “whose entire corporate culture is based on Orthodoxy” is quoted describing
her experience.
“[O]ur culture implies common responsibility, confidence in other people, full trust in them.
Working in this firm, I am sure that I will not be set
up or swindled or cheated. I can fully rely on these
people.”
Many participants agreed that Orthodoxy
could contribute to the civic engagement necessary
for capitalism to work. But despite the many allusions to Weber’s work, none wished to say that Orthodoxy would do for capitalism in the East of
Christendom what Protestantism did for it in the
West.
For one thing, capitalism at the beginning of
the 21st century is different from capitalism in early
modern Europe. As the title of the conference suggests, what is needed now is not only a spirit of
entrepreneurship, but also a firm ethical framework. “We’re not talking about capitalism emerging,” said Marsh. “We’re talking about the adaptation of capitalism.”
More importantly, Orthodoxy, with its strong
tradition of monasticism, lacks Calvinism’s tendency to see wealth as a sign of salvation. The economic values that come out of Orthodox thought
will naturally reflect an emphasis on the transcendent. “The contribution of the Orthodox Church
will never be that the goal is economic success,” said
Kishkovsky. “The goal will always be the acquisition of the Holy Spirit.”
Eoin O’Carroll
Program
Keynote speech
Orthodoxy and Global Pluralism
Peter Berger
Professor Emeritus of Religion, Sociology, and Theology;
Director of the Institute for the Study of Economic Culture
at Boston University
Session 1: The Russian Orthodox Church and the
Economy
Session 2: Russian Orthodoxy and Civil Society
Session 3: Comparative Perspectives on Orthodoxy
and Economic Development
Eoin O’Carroll is candidate for an MS degree in Print
Journalism at Boston University and currently IWM Junior Visiting Fellow.
Participants
Right Reverend Hilarion
Alfeyev, Russian Orthodox Church in the EU
Peter L. Berger, Boston
University
Sharyl Cross, U.S. Air
Force Academy
Reverend Irinej
Dobrijevic, Serbian
Orthodox Patriarchate
Valentina Fedotova,
Russian Academy of
Sciences
Ingeborg Gerda Gabriel,
University of Vienna
Daniela Kalkandjieva,
University of Sofia
Very Reverend Leonid
Kishkovsky, Orthodox
Church in America
Janos Kovacs, IWM
Permanent Fellow
Vasilios Makrides,
University of Erfurt
Christopher Marsh,
Baylor University
Vladimir Mau, Academy
of National Economy,
Moscow
Inna Naletova, Vienna
Irina Papkova,
Georgetown University
Michael Plekon, City
University of New York
Elizabeth Prodromou,
Boston University
Pavel Shashkin,
Moscow Patriarchate
No. 88
Spring 2005
5
FELLOWS MEETING
The IWM dedicated its 2005
Fellows Meeting to the circle of
IWM friends, the Institute’s
newly founded network of
friends and supporters. At the
annual meeting, Prince
Looking Back on a Successful Year
Schwarzenberg
Schwarzenberg, a
longstanding friend of the IWM,
spoke on “The Recent
Revolutions in Europe.”
Das diesjährige Fellows-Treffen des IWM stand
im Zeichen des neu gegründeten Netzwerkes
von Freunden und Förderern des Instituts: den
IWM friends
friends. Den traditionellen Vortrag bestritt
an diesem Abend Fürst Schwarzenberg
Schwarzenberg, langjähriger Freund des Instituts und Vorsitzender
des IWM-Kuratoriums, mit seinen “Reflexionen zu den jüngsten Revolutionen in Europa”.
6
Prince Schwarzenberg
Gottfried Boehm, Cornelia Klinger
The annual Fellows Meeting has always
been an occasion to look back on the past
twelve months and to share news and information with the friends of the Institute. This year, more than 80 people gathered in the Institute’s library. Krzyzstof
Michalski, Rector of the IWM, opened the
evening, calling the meeting “a peak of our
annual activities for more than twenty
years.” He continued describing the
Institute’s program as a combination of
“abstract, scholarly reflection on various
topics, an interest in societal and political
processes and the wish and desire to
change what we think should be changed.”
advisor to President Vaclav Havel after the
“Velvet Revolution.” In 1989, he was
honoured with the European Human
Rights Award for his commitment to human rights issues and is broadly respected
for his dedication to the consolidation of
Europe.
Karl Schwarzenberg’s talk, titled “Reflections on the Recent Revolutions in
Europe,” started with a surprise: “You
came under false pretext,” he told the audience, “there were no revolutions.” To explain this statement, he gave his definition
of the term revolution: “a violent turnover
with the establishment of new elites.”
The New Network: IWM Friends
No Change of Elites
But, as Krzysztof Michalski said, this
work not only depends on the IWM itself
but also on outside support. To widen this
support, the Institute has initiated the
IWM friends, a new network that offers
the opportunity to actively support the
Institute’s manifold activities, among
them numerous public events and the fellowship programs for junior and senior
scholars. Already, more than 40 people
have joined the circle of IWM friends.
And, as Krzysztof Michalski said, he was
proud to welcome some of them at this
year’s Fellows Meeting.
In the future, the Institute also wants
to include in the circle of IWM friends
many of its numerous former fellows and
guests who together constitute an outstanding, exceptionally diverse international network of researchers and intellectuals. Accordingly, the IWM wants to offer more opportunities for them to take
part in its programs but also to intensify
the exchange with and among them.
The major changes throughout Central
Eastern Europe in 1989 were peaceful. “It
was an implosion of the Soviet empire,”
said Schwarzenberg, who went on to describe the situation in Poland, Hungary,
the Czech Republic, and the GDR.
But even given differences in the
situation of these countries, his conclusion
remained the same for all of them: There
was no violence and no change of the
elites, the second “key element of a revolution” according to Schwarzenberg. “If we
look at all those countries, we can see that
ten, fifteen years after 1989 the greater
part of the communist intelligence were
again in leading positions – not only in
politics, but also in economy and administration,” Schwarzenberg said.
The Revolutions of 1989
Michalski
then introduced Prince
Schwarzenberg, chairman of the IWM
Board of Patrons and a longstanding
friend and supporter of the Institute. A
member of the Czech Senate, Schwarzenberg is well known for his strong backing
of the Czech dissidents and became chief
No. 88
Gerald Rainer, Hans-Henning Horstmann
Spring 2005
The Negative Side of the Change
According to Schwarzenberg, the negative
side of this way of change is apparent today: The long communist regime has
strongly affected society. “The most horrible effect of those fifty years of totalitarianism was what this time did to the characters of the people,” Schwarzenberg said.
As a result, he today perceives a “stunning
loss of morals,” and in his talk referred to
the high degree of corruption and a
“sometimes incredibly irresponsible behavior in politics” in the former communist countries.
Looking Back on a Successful Year FELLOWS MEETING
The Multi-dimensions of Revolution
Anette Laborey, Christopher Schönberger
Justus de Visser, Susanne Fröschl
In the discussion following Schwarzenberg’s talk, Gerhard Botz, Director of the
Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Historical Social Science, pointed out that revolutions are not only about “a rapid and
deep reaching change in the political ruling classes, but also in the political system
and in the multi-dimensions of society, in
economy and in the mentality.
Aleksander Smolar, member of the
IWM Academic Advisory Board and
President of the Stefan Batory Foundation
in
Warsaw,
agreed
with
Schwarzenberg: “We are talking about political revolutions. Certainly, there were no
revolutions because there was continuation,” he said. Nevertheless, Smolar sees a
much deeper transformation of the economic, social, and political system after
1989 in the countries discussed than after
the communist revolution. “The latter
took at least twenty years to transform
economy and society. Here, you had – almost from one day to another – a complete breakdown of the political system,”
Smolar said.
Timothy Snyder, Assistant Professor of
History at Yale University and currently
IWM Visiting Fellow, noted that the
American Revolution met Schwarzenberg’s criteria, its outcome involving the
end of military occupation and the writing of a new constitution. According to
Snyder, these might be features worth
noting of the revolutions of 1989 as well –
even more so, as Schwarzenberg concentrated on the continuity of elites. “But Soviet elties,” said Snyder, “the people who
had real power, are gone, at least from
Eastern Europe.”
We would like to express our sincere gratitude
to all the people who have already joined the
circle of IWM friends and who are supporting
the Institute:
Shlomo Avineri, Bogdan Barbu, Rudolf Beer,
Nelly Bekus Goncharova, Otmar Binder, Pierre
Bruyre, Helga Casper, Herberth Czermak, Ralf
Dahrendorf, Klas Daublebsky, Brigitte Döring,
Malgorzata Dymnicki-Gawrys, Klaus Feldmann, Rita Felski, Norbert Griesmayer, Siegried Herbert Gruber, Hans Peter Haberland,
Markus Haffner, Georg Hoffmann-Ostenhof,
Hans-Henning Horstmann, Slavica Jakelic,
Johann Kainrath, Andreas Kappeler, Lubor
Karlik, Hans Kirchmeir, Herbert Klauser, Max
Kothbauer, Ivan Krastev, Christine Kronaus,
Karl Lewalski, Gerda Mehta, Eva Menasse,
Jyoti Mistry, Erich Mladek, Franz Piribauer,
Martin Rokita, Ingrid Sager, Elisabeth
Scherbantin, Camillo Schwarz, Otto
Steinhauser, Charles Taylor, Chris Taylor,
Armand van Nimmen, and Martha Willinger.
7
Barbara Baumann, IWM, welcomes the IWM
friends at the Fellows Meeting.
Andreas Kappeler, Tania Zhuzhenko
www.iwm.at/friends
The audience of Prince Schwarzenberg’s talk in the Institute’s library, including Aleksander Smolar,
Christiane Hartnack, Raoul Kneucker, and Helga Nowotny
No. 88
Spring 2005
MEETING
After meetings in Bratislava, Coimbra, Hamburg and Vienna in previous years, it was again the turn
of IWM’s Transit - Europäische Revue to invite the Eurozine team and editorial board to discuss and
plan future contents and events as well as recruitment and fund raising strategies. Based in Vienna,
Eurozine is an independent network of and portal for European cultural journals and a multilingual
magazine of its own. We take the opportunity to inform IWM Post readers about this endeavour
which has been successfully contributing to building a European public sphere.
Eurozine Editorial Board Meeting
Redaktion und Redaktionskomitee des europäischen
Zeitschriftennetzwerks und
Online-Magazins Eurozine
(www.eurozine.com) hielten vom 4. bis 6. März auf
Einladung von T ransit –
Europäische Revue am
IWM ihr regelmäßiges
Arbeitstreffen ab. Die am
IWM herausgegebene
Zeitschrift Transit zählt zu
den Gründungsmitgliedern von Eurozine.
8
Michaela Adelberger,
Märt Väljataga,
Carl Henrik Fredriksson,
Gaby Zipfel, Klaus Nellen,
António Ribeiro
How Does Eurozine Work?
Eurozine links and promotes leading cultural magazines from all over Europe. Drawing on its network
of currently 53 partners from 34 European countries (as well as many more affiliated journals) it
publishes contemporary essays on its website. By
providing a Europe-wide overview of current
themes and discussions, as published in the cultural
journals involved in the project, Eurozine facilitates
communication and exchange between the journals themselves and offers a rich source of information for an international readership. By presenting
the best articles from its partners and their countries
in a variety of languages, as well as original texts on
the most pressing issues of our times, Eurozine
opens up a new space for transnational debate.
Eurozine’s editorial office is based in Vienna.
The network was founded in 1998 by the journals
Transit, Kritika & Kontext (Bratislava), Mittelweg
36 (Hamburg), Ord & Bild (Gothenburg), Revista
Critica de Ciencias Sociais (Coimbra) and
Wespennest (Vienna). Main funders are Gemeinde
Wien MA7, Bundeskanzleramt - Sektion Kunst,
European Commission / Culture 2000, Hamburger Stiftung zur Förderung von Wissenschaft
und Kultur, and the European Cultural Foundation.
Partner journals include Esprit (Paris), Glänta
(Gothenburg), Index on Censorship (London),
Krytyka (Kiev), le Monde diplomatique (Berlin),
Neprikosnovennij Zapas (Moscow), Osteuropa (Berlin), Reset (Rome), Varlik (Istanbul), Vikerkaar
(Tallinn), Zeszyty Literackie (Warsaw).
What is Eurozine about?
Most articles in Eurozine are organized around Focal Points reflecting debates on current issues in
politics, culture and society, such as „Europe talks
to Europe – towards a European public sphere?“,
“Politics of border making and (cross-)border identities”, “[Re]Constructing the Balkans”, “Politics of
translation”, “Changing Europe: Enlargement,
Identity, Diversity”, “Solidarities“, „Transnationalisation” and “Transitional Justice”. The next Focal
Point will be dedicated to “European Histories” on
the occasion of the 60th anniversary of V-Day in
May. Among further possible topics discussed during the meeting were “The Future of War” and
“Cultural Citizenship”; also the idea to develop a
section presenting contemporary literature and literary criticism in Europe.
Last but not least, Eurozine organizes the annual European Meetings of Cultural Journals. Last
year’s conference in Tallinn was devoted to the
question “The Republic of Letters? Cultural Journals in a European Public Space”. The 18th meeting will take place in November 2005 in Istanbul
under the title “Neighborhoods.”
Eurozine Editorial Board Meeting
IWM Library
March 4-6, 2005
Michaela Adelberger
Managing Director,
Eurozine
Carl Henrik Fredriksson
Editor-in-Chief, Eurozine
Klaus Nellen
Managing Editor, Transit
– Europäische Revue;
Permanent Fellow, IWM
www.eurozine.com
No. 88
Spring 2005
Antonio Sousa Ribeiro
Managing Editor, Revista
Critica de Ciencias
Sociai; Professor of
German Studies,
University of Coimbra
Märt Väljataga
Editor, Vikerkaar
Gaby Zipfel
Co-Editor, Mittelweg 36
P r o c e d u r e
4
The objective of the fellowships is to support research that:
_ contributes to the present understanding of death and dying, considering historical, cultural, religious, and societal
aspects
_ analyzes the implications for society as
well as society’s coping with death
_ creates awareness for ethical, legal,
political and scientific issues related to
death and dying.
Transdisciplinary and comparative approaches looking at a specific question (or
set of questions) from a broader angle will
be given preference.
A p p l i c a t i o n
O b j e c t i v e
1
The fellowships shall enable doctoral, postdoctoral or senior scholars to concentrate
on their research while working in residence at the Institute for Human Sciences
(IWM) in Vienna for three to six months
during the academic year 2005/06. The
Research Fellows will receive a stipend to
compensate for a loss of income and to
cover travel, accommodation and other living expenses. The amount of the stipend
will be determined with prospective fellows
according to the “no gain, no loss” principle based on the current income of the
recipient. Furthermore, fellows will be provided with an office and personal computer, and will have access to e-mail,
Internet, in-house research facilities and
other relevant sources in Vienna. During
their stay fellows will take part in the scholarly community and activities of the IWM.
E l i g i b i l i t y
R e q u i r e m e n t s
3
Candidates for the fellowships must:
_ be pursuing a Ph.D. degree in the humanities or social sciences, or
_ be engaged in post-doctoral research
at an academic institution, or
_ hold a senior academic position
with a research focus related to the objective of this program.
In addition to pursuing their own research
project, prospective fellows will be asked
to provide editorial assistance during their
Research Fellowship in the publication of a
collection of essays, which will result from
the project on “The Meaning of Death in
Society Today.” Perfect command of German and English is a prerequisite.
Deadline for application is
May 15, 2005
Please send your application to:
Institut für die Wissenschaften vom
Menschen
Fellowship Coordinator
Spittelauer Lände 3
1090 Wien
AUSTRIA
or submit by e-mail to:
[email protected]
Subject header:
Fellowships on “The Meaning of Death”
5
S e l e c t i o n
C o n d i t i o n s
2
The application consists of the following
materials:
1. the application form (please download
from www.iwm.at/f-death.htm)
2. a concise research proposal (max. 4
pages) in English or German, including:
_ the scientific problem(s) addressed
_ a critical consideration of current relevant research and literature
_ research goals and expected results
_ the planned work and time schedule (if
the proposal is part of a larger, ongoing project, please indicate which part
you intend to complete during the fellowship)
3. a Curriculum Vitae
4. Ph.D. and Post-doctoral candidates are
asked to provide two letters of reference
by senior faculty familiar with their work.
Senior scholars are asked to substantiate their expertise in the field with their
publication record.
A jury of experts will meet in June 2005 to
evaluate the applications and select the
finalists.
Research Fellowships
The Meaning of Death
in Society Today 2005/06
The Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften,
the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, and the Institut für die
Wissenschaften vom Menschen (IWM), Vienna, have
launched a project in 2003 on “The Meaning of Death
in Society Today” with the support of the Fritz Thyssen
Stiftung. It is based on the presumption that European/
Western modernity is characterized by a break with tradition in many aspects, including its relation to death.
The secularization of modern society has ended the role
of religion as the leading normative discourse covering
all levels and aspects of society. It has led to the
privatization of all religious questions, including the central dilemma of giving meaning to life and death. In a
series of four workshops, this project sets out to discuss
the specific occidental and epochal understanding of
death – not least with regard to the possible ‘end of
modernity,’ which might eventually lead to a change in
our relation to death again.
The project aims at the scientific examination of and
scholarly reflection on death with regard to the specific
and presently relevant issues related to the subject, their
genesis as well as possible scenarios for their development in the future. For a more detailed outline of the
project’s theme and main questions, see www.iwm.at/fdeath.htm.
9
To complement this project, the Berlin-Brandenburgische
Akademie der Wissenschaften, the Akademie der Künste,
Berlin, and the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen
jointly invite scholars in the humanities and social sciences to submit proposals for Research Fellowships at
the IWM, Vienna.
The jury includes:
Alois Hahn
Professor of Sociology, University of Trier
Cornelia Klinger
Professor of Philosophy, Eberhard-KarlsUniversity Tübingen; Permanent Fellow,
IWM
Christoph Markschies
Professor of Church History, Humboldt
University Berlin; Member, BerlinBrandenburgische Akademie der
Wissenschaften
Institut für die
Wissenschaften
vom Menschen
Applicants will be notified of the jury decision in July 2005. It is not required for the
jury to publicly justify its decisions.
No. 88
Spring 2005
TISCHNER DEBATE
The IWM and Warsaw University have jointly launched a new series in memory of the Polish priest
and philosopher Jozef Tischner, founding president of the IWM. The Tischner Debates serve as a
forum for discussion between politicians, scholars, and intellectuals on a variety of relevant issues.
The first debate, “On Solidarity,” took place on March 7 at Warsaw University.
Justice, Freedom, and Solidarity
Gemeinsam mit der Universität Warschau hat
das IWM eine neue Veranstaltungsreihe begonnen: In Erinnerung an den
polnischen Priester und
Philosophen Jozef Tischner, Gründungspräsident
des IWM, diskutieren Politiker, Wissenschaftler
und Intellektuelle in Warschau zu aktuellen
Themenfeldern. Die erste
Tischner-Debatte am 7.
März stand unter dem
Thema „Über Solidarität“.
10
Almost 800 people came to listen to the first
Tischner Debate in the Auditorium Maximum at
Warsaw University. They were welcomed by
Krzysztof Michalski, Rector of the IWM; Marcin Krol,
Professor of History of Ideas at Warsaw University;
and Piotr Weglenski, Rector of Warsaw University.
The panel consisted of Kurt Biedenkopf, Ombudsman of the German government for the labor market reform and former Prime Minister of Saxony;
Marek Borowski, Chairman of the “Social Democracy of Poland” party; Jan Maria Rokita, Chairman
of the “Citizens Platform,” Sejm; Aleksander Smolar,
President of the Stefan Batory Foundation, Warsaw; and Jerzy Szacki, Professor of Sociology at Warsaw University.
Kurt Biedenkopf opened the debate with a
short speech on generational interdependence and
the demographic gap in today’s Europe through
the prism of the German experience, focusing on
the balance between three key phenomena essential
to a free society: justice, freedom, and solidarity.
Biedenkopf drew attention to the growing disproportion between generations, a situation that
has swung the balance of Germany’s social security
system. The once economically efficient system became problematic with the decline of the birthrate
and the lower GDP growth. In European societies,
said Biedenkopf, the problem has raised the “awareness that solidarity is a two-way street.” It addresses
the question of justice for the older generation as
well as the question of freedom for the younger one.
situation as unjust or as a limitation of their freedom. Therefore, “if the state exceeds a plausible
load, it begins to provide an excuse for avoiding the
load and this can erode solidarity even in a free society,” said Biedenkopf.
According to this, individualism in European
societies counteracts increased demands of solidarity and thus damages a net of dependences between two other key ideas: justice and freedom.
Concluding his introductory speech, Biedenkopf
said that “if solidarity does not exist within a society,
the society can only exist under conditions of force
and dictatorship,” which would be a negation of
European identity.
The Practice of Solidarity
Following Biedenkopf ’s statement the audience
posed a series of questions, starting with the practice
of solidarity. Marek Borowski expressed his belief
that the distributive functions of the state as a tool
for preserving solidarity in a society have greater
economic efficiency than competition-based systems. According to him, a state should provide pensions for the older generation as well as scholarships
for the young to provide an opportunity for those
individuals who push the whole society to greater
prosperity. In practice, he sees no possibility for a
free choice of non-state social insurance agencies or
for limiting the burdens of people with a higher
income because doing so would in turn limit the
The Challenge of Individualization
One of the biggest challenges to solidarity,
Biedenkopf argued, is
the gradual individualization of our societies, a
strong and rapid process. Due to the decrease
of the working population and the increase in
the number of retirees,
the state burdens people
who are employed with
more and more taxation
and other loads. These
people may perceive this
No. 88
Spring 2005
Marcin Krol, Marek Borowski, Kurt Biedenkopf, Aleksander Smolar, Jerzy Szacki
Justice, Freedom, and Solidarity TISCHNER DEBATE
state budget and possible actions to help
the poor.
Solidarity, Diversity, and Moral Unity
Next, Aleksander Smolar focused on the
problems of solidarity, diversity, and moral
unity in society, drawing a comparison between continental Europe and the AngloSaxon countries, where he sees a lower acceptance of redistributive functions of the
state. Smolar identified several crucial dangers to the idea of solidarity in Europe,
among them the new individualism and
the budgetary crisis. This leads to a crisis of
the general concept of a welfare state,
which in Smolar’s words is “an institutionalized form of social solidarity.”
Jan Maria Rokita concentrated on the
history of solidarity in Poland. He said that
the free Poland was born out of the idea of
solidarity, which initially meant to the Polish people a devotion for the collective
good that overcomes selfishness. He
claimed that solidarity had then been reinterpreted as a force against communist oppression, mostly because of the Solidarnosc
movement. In the meantime, the primary
idea of solidarity was lost and, according to
Rokita, egoism has now taken its place.
Referring to Kurt Biedenkopf’s speech,
Rokita pointed out that in Poland there is
a lack of generational solidarity between
the relatively secure older generation and
the younger one, which receives little support in comparison to their elders despite
high unemployment rates among young
graduates. He concluded that he does not
believe in rebuilding solidarity through an
increase in the index of goods-redistribution.
The Idea of Solidarity – Extinct?
The fourth speaker, Jerzy Szacki, concluded that, despite fervent arguments
taking place in respect to the idea of solidarity, the idea itself seems almost extinct.
He defined solidarity as a “way between
individualism and collectivism.” In the
sphere of practice, he argued, this would
mean to search for common conclusions
even in the most polarized disputes about
goals and ideas, as opposed to disputes
aimed only against political opponents.
Szacki expressed his doubts that solidarity
would exist in a society without a threat or
an enemy; he also considered the possibility of solidarity as an everyday quality as
unlikely at present.
The panelists summarized their
standpoints in their final remarks. Marek
Borowski proclaimed that consensus and
solidarity are essential to every community. Jan Maria Rokita stressed the importance of three political tools for nourishing
solidarity in a society: political language as
a method of mass-education, increasing
the effectiveness of legal instruments, and
investments in non-governmental organizations, that stimulate social solidarity.
Jerzy Szacki expressed his distrust in
radical changes in Polish politics because
of the lack of positive historical examples
and drew attention to the importance of
the virtue of solidarity, admitting that the
moral question is to be properly addressed
to make significant changes in a state. Kurt
Biedenkopf said that “there is much more
solidarity in society than we see but it is
not very transparent;” according to him,
this is mostly a matter of personal solidarity. Biedenkopf finally warned of equating
solidarity with equality, which would result in a feeling of disappointment.
Wojciech Przybylski
The series of the Tischner Debates is supported by the City of Warsaw, the Austrian
Cultural Forum, Warsaw, the journal
Rzeczpospolita, and the Polish Broadcasting
Corporation. The second debate, “On Inequality,” took place in Warsaw on April 11. On May
20, participants of the third Tischner Debate will
discuss “The Public Role of Religion.”
Józef Tischner (1931-2000) was one of the most
eminent contemporary Polish philosophers.
The first chaplain of Solidarnosc, he was an
exceptional moral authority and, at the same
time, one of the most famous and beloved
figures in Polish public life.
Die Reihe der Tischner-Debatten wird von der
Stadt Warschau, dem Österreichischen Kulturforum, Warschau, der Zeitung Rzeczpospolita und dem Polnischen Rundfunk unterstützt. Die zweite Debatte, “Über Ungleichheit”,
fand am 11. April in Warschau statt. Am 20. Mai
werden die Teilnehmer der dritten TischnerDebatte zur “Öffentlichen Rolle der Religion”
diskutieren.
Józef Tischner (1931-2000), einer der
einflussreichsten polnischen Philosophen des
20. Jahrhunderts und der erste Seelsorger der
Solidarnosc, war eine herausragende moralische Autorität und gleichzeitig eine der beliebtesten Persönlichkeiten des öffentlichen Lebens in Polen.
Wojciech Przybylski is Reasearch Assistant at
the Erasmus of Rotterdam Chair, Warsaw
University, and project coordinator of the
Tischner Debates.
Krzysztof Michalski, Lech Kaczynski, Lord Dahrendorf, Miroslawa Marody
No. 88
Spring 2005
11
IHS BOSTON
The Institute for Human Sciences at Boston University was founded in 2001 as a forum for nonpartisan debate, research, and education. Its activities cover a wide range of issues with a special
focus on the relationship between Europe and the United States.
The US and Europe: Still Sharing the Same Values?
Peter Schneider, Quentin Peel
Roman Szporluk, Lilia Shevtsova
12
Piotr Sommer,
Irena Grudzinka Gross
(IHS Executive Director),
Rosanna Warren
Stanley Hoffmann, Sir Stephen Wall,
John Rankin
(British Consul General to New England)
On January 27, in cooperation with the GoetheInstitut Boston, the Institute for Human Sciences
hosted a panel discussion with Berlin-based author
Peter Schneider and International Affairs editor of
the Financial Times, Quentin Peel. The discussion
took place as part of the Institute’s ongoing series on
the transatlantic relationship. It centered on the
breakdown in the relationship between the US and
Europe following the terrorist attacks of September
11, 2001, and the famous Le Monde headline
„Nous sommes tous Américains.“
According to Peter Schneider, the Iraq war was
merely a magnifying glass, revealing deeper tensions. He did not dismiss the threat posed by international terrorism, which he believes is real. But, he
argued, the US administration abused the legitimate fears of Americans after 9/11 to create a “culture of fear” – thus explaining the re-election of
George Bush following the well-publicized deceptions leading up to the war in
Iraq. Distinguishing between
“real” and “perceived” fear, he
noted that the cities that had experienced the actual terror voted
overwhelmingly against politicians engaged in the culture of
fear. Making Simon Schama’s distinction between “worldly” and
“godly” America, he said Europe
and “worldly” America must come together to defend our enlightenment inheritance of secular humanism.
Quentin Peel, citing the results of the
German Marshall Fund poll, argued that the
differences between the US and Europe run
deeper than the partisan divide in the US. He
said he believes that the US and Europe do
share essential enlightenment values, but differ over the “absoluteness” with which they
are prepared to pursue them. Europeans do
not like absolutes, hence their aversion to
Bush’s attempt to divide the world into good and
evil. The real problem, Peel concluded, between the
US and Europe is that we think we know each
other, but we do not.
Ukraine and Russia in Today’s World
On March 14, Institute board member Lilia
Shevtsova, Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Moscow, and Roman Szporluk, Mykhailo Hrushevs’ky Professor of
Ukrainian History at Harvard University, discussed
No. 88
Spring 2005
the recent “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine which
brought opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko to
power over Russian-backed prime minister Viktor
Yanukovych.
Shevtsova, speaking for what she called a liberal democratic minority in Russia, said Ukraine
represented a “test” for the maturity of the postSoviet space. She said the revolutions in Georgia
and Ukraine were different than earlier uprisings in
Eastern Europe in so far as they were revolutions
not against dictatorships but against the imitation
of democracy. The implication is that the political
system in Russia is not sustainable. She outlined the
challenges facing Yushchenko and expressed hope
that Ukraine would emerge as a benevolent zone
through which Russia also can be integrated into
Europe.
Szporluk offered a historical perspective on the
“Orange Revolution” of 2004, tracing its origin
back to the formation of the Soviet bloc and the
end of the Polish-Ukrainian conflict in 1945. According to him, the overcoming of the long-standing Polish-Ukrainian antagonism was an important
factor leading to the “Orange Revolution.” Russia
did not foresee the events of 2004, because the
authorities did not understand the moral and psychological nature of this revolution, less an imitation of the revolution in Georgia than of movements in Poland and Czechoslovakia, nor did they
foresee the level of insult on the part of Ukrainians
at having Yanukovych imposed on them.
Muslims in Europe
In cooperation with the European Studies program
at Boston University and the Departments of Anthropology and International Relations, the Institute organized a conference on the complex role of
Muslims and Islam in the European public sphere
(on April 5). The keynote address, entitled “Being
British, Feeling Muslim,” was given by Farhan
Nizami, Director of the Oxford Centre for Islamic
Studies and Prince of Wales Fellow in the Study of
the Islamic World, Magdalen College, Oxford.
Nizami asked whether a religious commitment
to Islam is compatible with being a citizen in a modern European state. According to Nizami, living in
accordance with faith inevitably puts the believer
in a position at odds with the values and assumptions of a materialistic culture, but the resultant
threat is perceived differently when the challenge
comes from Islam versus the established religion.
The stereotypes of Muslims create a climate of fear
The US and Europe IHS BOSTON
and distrust. He stressed the need for a
new definition of European identity in
which all citizens have an experience of
tolerance and belonging. Muslims for
their part do not possess the confidence to
respond to this challenge, giving rise to
helplessness, anger, and extremism. The
world is changing, Nizami concluded,
and our categories of self-image have to
grow with these changes.
Nizami’s speech was followed by a
panel discussion featuring Jocelyne
Césari, Visiting Associate Professor in the
Department of Anthropology at Harvard
and the Harvard Divinity School; Jytte
Klausen, Associate Professor of Comparative Politics at Brandeis University, and
Ahmet Yukleyan, PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology at Boston University and IWM Junior Visiting Fellow
(July – December 2005). Speakers discussed the diverse ethnic, religious, and
generational identities among Muslims,
exploring the different ways in which
Muslims are adapting and integrating as
well as resisting their European setting.
Jenny White, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Boston University, served as
moderator.
The Institute is now planning a series
of meetings on the theme “Muslims in
Europe” over the next three years.
From Elsewhere: Poetry and National
Borders
A poetry reading and discussion with the
Polish poet Piotr Sommer and Rosanna
Warren, Emma MacLachlan Metcalf Professor of the Humanities at Boston University and newly elected member of the
American Academy of Arts and Letters,
took place on April 6. Sommer read a selection of poems from Continued, his new
book of poetry in English translation.
Warren read some newer poems as well as a
selection from her book Departure. Following the readings by both poets, Institute director Irena Grudzinska Gross
moderated a discussion about the ties between their work as poets and translators,
and questions of nationality and culture.
Rosanna Warren acknowledged that
despite the references to European culture
in her poetry, she is an “American” poet.
But while she understands the need for a
national myth to create a literature, she
rebels against nationalism. She said there is
“Another Republic” where she longs to be
citizen, referring to the anthology of European and Latin American poetry edited by
Charles Simic and Mark Strand. The implication of Warren’s comment: there is a
way in which poetry, for all its
embeddedness in culture, transcends national borders. Sommer added that it transcends such categories as “classical” as well.
He made the point that English is a language without a nationality, so this may be
particularly true of poetry in English.
The UK, the EU, and the United States?
On April 7, Sir Stephen Wall, principal advisor to Cardinal Murphy O’Connor, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster,
and former EU advisor to Tony Blair, gave
a lecture on Britain’s changing relationships with the EU and the United States.
He said, “Britain finds itself torn more
than in the past between the United
States whose closest friend it wants to be
and its European partners with whom its
interests most closely align.” A strong supporter of the EU, which he called the most
important political development” of his
lifetime, he argued that Britain’s future lies
with Europe. Over British and French
fears of loss of national sovereignty, he
stressed the importance of supranational
institutions able to manage “the querulous
relationship between countries that remain fiercely nationalistic” and at the same
time “capable of harnessing the shared
value systems and economic interests of
the member states and creating value
added for the membership of the Union
as a whole.” Referring to the pending referenda on the EU constitutional treaty, he concluded,
“Unless Blair, Chirac and
Schroeder, and the other
governments of Europe can
rediscover and champion the
supranational vision of Europe we will not carry conviction with our publics or
maintain our coherence and
momentum. And we will be a querulous
partner of the United States, not an effective one.” Responding to Sir Stephen was
Stanley Hoffmann, Paul and Catherine
Buttenwieser University Professor at
Harvard University. Professor Hoffmann
shared Sir Stephen’s hopes that the constitutional treaty would be ratified in both
France and Britain, noting that both
countries had taken an unnecessary risk in
putting the treaty to a vote.
The Future of Humanitarian Aid
On April 12, the Institute hosted a panel
discussion on the “Future of Humanitarian Aid” with Janina Ochojska, founder
and President of the Polish Humanitarian
Organization, the first such organization
created in Eastern Europe to help victims
of war, natural disasters and severe poverty
in, among other places, Kazakhstan,
Kosovo, Chechnya, Afghanistan and Iraq;
and Larry Cox, Senior Program Officer of
the Human Rights and International Cooperation Unit at the Ford Foundation.
Ochojska discussed the issues and challenges facing humanitarian aid and development assistance in today’s world, and
outlined the “ten commandments” which
direct the way her organization provides
aid in an effort to ensure that “the aid does
not become humiliation instead of relief,
addiction instead of problem solution, or
humanitarian industry instead of real aid
to human beings.” She gave several examples from her work in war-torn and disaster-ridden countries and stressed the
need for knowledge, which forms the basis of solidarity, shaping our awareness and
the will to help.
Larry Cox addressed some of the political dilemmas faced by humanitarian organizations today, and the criticisms leveled at them. He noted, for example, the
growing convergence between human
rights work and humanitarianism, but
whereas some, notably David Rieff, find
this trend worrisome, Cox argued they
share the same values and are fighting the
same enemies and “need each other if the
fight is going to be won.” He did, however, express worry over the militarization
and commercialization of human rights
and humanitarian aid.
Ahmet Yukleyan, Augustus Richard Norton,
Farhan Nizami, Jenny White, Jocelyne Césari,
Jytte Klausen
No. 88
Spring 2005
13
TUESDAY LECTURES
Every Tuesday evening the
IWM hosts a speaker, often a
current fellow or guest, who
Tuesday Lectures
holds a public lecture related
to one of the Institute’s projects
or research fields. An e-mail
information service on
upcoming events is available at
www.iwm.at.
Jeden Dienstag ist die Bibliothek des IWM
Schauplatz eines öffentlichen Vortrags, gefolgt
von einer informellen Diskussion. Fellows und
Gäste des Instituts sowie internationale Wissenschaftler und Intellektuelle werden eingeladen, ihre aktuellen Forschungsergebnisse zu
präsentieren. Einen E-Mail-Informationsservice zu bevorstehenden Veranstaltungen
bietet die Website des IWM, www.iwm.at.
14
FEBRUARY 1
Wang Hui
China’s New Order: Society,
Politics, and Economy in
Transition
In 1989, Wang Hui participated in the
massive student demonstration of
Tiananmen Square, which ended in a
massacre when the People’s Liberation
Army was ordered to fire on the demonstrators. In his lecture on neo-liberalism
and the events of 1989, Wang Hui delved
into the question of whether the Chinese
social movement of 1989 was a social or a
student movement. According to him, it
was a broad social movement, with participants and supporters from all areas of Chinese society. Wang Hui also pointed out
that foreign policy has had a strong impact
on the cultural and social
changes that have occurred in China since
1989, and that, while
there are still faults in
China’s social policy, the
huge strides taken as a result of 1989 should not
be ignored.
Wang Hui is Research Professor in the School
of Humanities and Social Sciences at Tsinghua
University and currently the editor of Dushu
(‘Reading’), a Chinese intellectual journal.
In cooperation with
FEBRUARY 15
Marci Shore
Pastries, Herring and Caviar:
How the Polish Avant-Garde
Found Its Way to (and from)
Marxism
A circle of Polish intellectuals born around
1900 embarked on a journey from the
cafés to the corridors of power. Marci
Shore’s lecture traced the lives of these intellectuals and explored why and how
these writers came to embrace Marxism at
different moments, and what the implications were of those choices. This generation came to Marxism for the most part in
the 1920s, before Stalinism, before socialNo. 88
Spring 2005
ist realism, before Marxism meant the imposition
of Soviet communism in
Poland. Their Marxism
was a much more multivalent and contestatory
one, chosen at moments
when there was little
space for opportunism.
Marci Shore is Assistant Professor of History
at Indiana University and currently IWM
Visiting Fellow.
FEBRUARY 22
Philipp Ther
Deutsche Geschichte als
imperiale Geschichte
Überlegungen zu einer
transnationalen Geschichte
Zentraleuropas
Die Historiographie ist
nach wie vor von einem
Denken in nationalen Kategorien geprägt. In seinem
Vortrag unternahm Philipp Ther den Versuch, anhand der imperialen Verflechtungen der deutschen
und polnischen Geschichte im 19. Jahrhundert und
in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts
neue Ansätze für eine transnationale Geschichte Zentraleuropas herauszuarbeiten. Dies könnte mit Blick auf das
Habsburgerreich auch für die österreichische Geschichtswissenschaft von Interesse
sein.
Philipp Ther ist Juniorprofessor für Polenund Ukrainestudien an der EuropaUniversität Viadrina und war von Oktober
2004 bis März 2005 Körber Visiting Fellow am
IWM.
MARCH 1
Herbert Gottweis
Verwaltete Körper – Biopolitik
im 21. Jahrhundert
Vor dem Hintergrund eines tendenziellen
Rückzugs des Staates aus der Gesund-
TUESDAY LECTURES
heitspolitik stellte Herbert Gottweis in seinem Vortrag die Frage nach der gegenwärtigen und zukünftigen Entwicklung von
Biopolitik. Neue Problemstellungen bezüglich der ethischen Implikationen der
veränderten biopolitischen Ordnung entstehen angesichts der Möglichkeiten experimenteller Medizin und der Dezentralisierung der Bio-Macht. Gottweis zeichnet die biopolitische Zukunft als ein Dikkicht von Verhandlung und Auseinandersetzung, das von der Vermischung der
politischen Ökonomie der Gesundheitspolitik und der Gesellschaftspolitik mit
ethisch-moralischen Erwägungen geprägt
ist. In dieser Konvertierung des ethischen
Diskurses zu einer „Politik des Lebens“,
wie er es nennt, besteht das spezifisch
Neue der Biopolitik im 21. Jahrhundert.
Herbert Gottweis ist Professor für
Politikwissenschaft an der Universität Wien
und Research Associate des BIOS Centre an
der London School of Economics.
MARCH 7
Peter Berger
Orthodoxy Confronting
Modernity
mind, entend-on la même chose qu’avec
Geist ou qu’avec esprit?
Barbara Cassin est directrice de
recherches au Centre National de la
Recherche Scientifique et codirecteur de la
collection L’Ordre philosophique aux Editions
du Seuil.
En coopération avec
APRIL 5
Arjo Klamer
Money and its Limits
Have you ever bought a friendship? And
is trust to be bought with money? The
market economy has its limits and so does
money. Not everything is for sale. In his
lecture, Arjo Klamer, a cultural economist,
presented a different perspective on the
economy by including the social or third
sphere. According to him, this will affect
the way we see the functioning of markets
and the government. Money proves to be
an important social instrument, that is, an
instrument by which people negotiate
their social relationships.
Peter Berger’s lecture was the keynote address of a conference, see the report on p. 3
in this issue of the IWM Post.
MARCH 15
Barbara Cassin
Le vocabulaire européen des
philosophies. Dictionnaire des
intraduisibles
L’un des problèmes que pose l’Europe est
celui des langues. On peut choisir une langue dominante, dans laquelle se feront désormais les échanges, ou bien jouer le
maintien de la pluralité. Récemment, Barbara Cassin a publié avec un collectif
d’auteurs «Le vocabulaire européen des
philosophies», qui s’inscrit dans la seconde
optique. Ce «Dictionnaire des intraduisibles» a l’ambition de constituer une cartographie des différences philosophiques
européennes, en capitalisant le savoir des
traducteurs. Il explore le lien entre fait de
langue et fait de pensée, et prend appui
sur ces symptômes que sont les difficultés
de passer d’une langue à l’autre - avec
Arjo Klamer is Chair of Economics of Art and
Culture, Erasmus University Rotterdam, and
Research Professor of Economics, The
George Washington University.
In cooperation with
Königlich Niederländische Botschaft
12. APRIL
Benjamin Frommer
One Country, Two Reckonings:
Czech and Slovak Retribution
Against Nazi Collaborators,
1945-1948
In the wake of the Second World War,
countries throughout Europe established
special tribunals to prosecute and punish
Nazi collaborators and war criminals. Post-
war Czechoslovakia
created not one system of retribution,
but two: prior to the
communist coup of
February
1948,
Slovakia had one set
of laws and courts,
while the provinces
of Bohemia, Moravia,
and Silesia shared another. The two approaches to alleged collaborators, which
Czech and Slovak courts adopted, revealed significant differences between
how Czechs and Slovaks viewed their respective relationships to the wartime and
post-war regimes. In his presentation,
Benjamin Frommer discussed the causes,
course, and consequences of this “dual retribution.”
Benjamin Frommer is Assistant Professor of
History at Northwestern University, Evanston,
and currently IWM Visiting Fellow.
APRIL 19
Carol Bacchi
Approaches to Gender
Mainstreaming. What’s the
Problem Represented to Be?
Gender mainstreaming
and gender analysis are
promoted widely as
novel techniques for
achieving gender equality. The question is if
these strategies can
achieve beneficial outcomes
for
diverse
groups of women.
Starting from the assumption that gender
mainstreaming has several incarnations,
the lecture aimed to give a critical analysis
of specific mainstreaming programs with
the help of a methodological tool for interrogating policy proposals. This tool is
called “What’s the problem represented to
be?” The analysis showed that gender
mainstreaming initiatives in fact represent
the problem in quite different ways, and
that these differences matter a great deal.
Carol Bacchi is Associate Professor of
Politics at the University of Adelaide and
Guest of the IWM in April.
No. 88
Spring 2005
15
Visiting Fellows
All IWM Fellows are asked to present their research
projects in the institute’s quarterly newsletter. Some of the
current Fellows have already given a more detailed insight
into their work in the previous newsletter.
Frits Bolkestein
Length of stay:
Project:
Petr Dudek
Length of stay:
Project:
Research:
16
the frontier on both sides of the former “Iron Curtain.” In particular, he aims to evaluate how individuals, communities, and governments experienced
and managed the borderlands in the context of the
Cold War and its aftermath.
Former member of the
European Commission;
Visiting Professor, Universities of Leiden and
Delft
April – June 2005
Fin de siècle of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Senior Producer, BBC World Service, Czech Section
Milena Jesenska Fellow
April – June 2005
Is Communism in Central Europe a Closed Chapter?
Following the democratic revolutions, communist
parties in most countries in Central and Eastern
Europe changed their names and “softened” their
ideologies. The consequences were diverse: some of
these parties weakened or even disappeared, some
thrived. In the Czech Republic, something entirely
different happened: The
Czech communist party
(KSCM) altered its name
only slightly, offered nothing
but formal apology for the
crimes committed in the socialist period, and stuck to its
traditional anti-German,
anti-American, and generally
anti-Western vocabulary. In
return, the party saw its popular support growing.
Dudek aims to describe reasons for the popularity
of old-style communists in the Czech Republic and
to compare it with the fates of former communist
parties in other post-communist countries.
Ludger Hagedorn
Project:
Diana Ivanova
Length of stay:
Project:
Research:
Length of stay:
Project:
Length of stay:
Project:
Research:
No. 88
Spring 2005
Freelance journalist, Sofia
Milena Jesenska Fellow
January – March 2005
Human Library on Socialism
In 2004, Diana Ivanova was
one of the initiators of an
internet-based storytelling
project about socialism – the
first website in Bulgaria to offer
personal stories from the time of socialism,
www.spomeniteni.org. She tries to develop further
the idea of the project as a “human library on socialism” through collecting stories, interviews, and talks
in Prague and Bratislava. Her interest also lies in the
possibility for new narratives about the past to be
born in and shared through the internet.
Susanne Lettow
Benjamin Frommer
Assistant Professor of History, Northwestern University, Evanston
September 2004 – June
2005
Living in the Shadow of
the Iron Curtain: The
Czech/Slovak - Austrian/German Borderlands, 1945 – 2000
Ben Frommer is writing a comparative history of
IWM Research Associate, Patocka Project;
Purkyne-Fellow of the Czech Academy of Sciences,
Prague
Projekt Europa: Die politische Philosophie Jan
Patockas
Research:
Lehrbeauftragte Gender Studies,
Institut für Philosophie, Freie
Universität Berlin
Lise Meitner Fellow
October 2004 – October 2005
Gender in the Philosophical Debates on Biotechnology
At the beginning of the 21st century, information- and biotechnology seem to be
the key technologies of the future. The technological revolutions of biological reproduction, food production, and medicine are far-reaching processes
with consequences, especially concerning gender
relations, which are not yet foreseeable. Lettow’s
project centers on the question of how these processes are articulated in philosophical discourse.
Wojciech Orlinski
Length of stay:
Project:
Research:
Journalist at
Gazeta Wyborcza,
Warsaw
Milena Jesenska
Fellow
April – June
2005
Beer Drinkers,
Vampires, and
Freedom Fighters: Central Eastern Europe as Seen
via Stereotypes of Global Popular Culture
Popular culture stereotypes are a very important yet
often neglected factor shaping decisions in democratic societies. Even if the actual decision makers
are inspired by more sophisticated sources of knowledge, they will be still judged by their voters, who
in turn are inspired by television series and comics
rather than university lectures. In his project,
Wojciech Orlinski attempts do describe, in a nonjudgmental way, the stereotypical portrayal of Central Eastern Europe in global popular culture.
Timothy Snyder
Length of stay:
Project:
Research:
Michael Staudigl
Length of stay:
Project:
Length of stay:
Project:
Project:
Research:
Assistant Professor of History, Indiana University
July 2004 – August 2005
The Wonder of Words: Cosmopolitanism and the
Avant-garde in East-Central Europe, 1919 – 1930
The project focuses on East-Central European
avant-garde movements, exploring how the avantgardes’ understanding of the materiality of language
shaped their philosophy.
Research:
Length of stay:
Project:
Research:
Associate Professor of Philosophy,
Eötvös Lorand University, Budapest
Andrew W. Mellon Fellow
January – March 2005
Hannah Ahrendt and the “Aesthetic” Freedom
Hannah Arendt’s Lectures on Kant’s
Political Philosophy are the starting
point of Endre Szecsenyi’s research.
In these lectures, Arendt’s major interest is to elaborate the political aspects of taste as sensus communis –
but at the expense of its aesthetic nature.
Philipp Ther
Marta Simeckova
Editor at the Slovak
daily Sme,
Bratislava
Milena Jesenka
Fellow
January – March
2005
New Democracies
and Their Questions
In her project, Marta Simeckova attempts to search
for the “inner sense” of the enlargement of Europe.
Together with her colleague, Andrea Pukova, editor
of the Slovak monthly review Anthropos and of the
Slovak daily Sme, she collects a series of interviews
with people from Western and Central Europe. This
is intended to create a colorful mosaic of people
who represent the Europe of today as a “mental
body.” The questions raised by her project center
around the perception of Europe: What is the inner
meaning of a common Europe, of the cohabitation
of Western Europe and the edge, of the center and
the periphery? Who are the Europeans, and, moreover, who are the “new others“? The ultimate goal of
the project is to discover what Europe means from
the specific perspective of its periphery.
Habilitand (Phänomenologie, Politische Philosophie), Universität Wien, APART-Stipendiat der ÖAW
October 2003 – Juni 2005
Phänomen Gewalt. Perspektiven phänomenologischer Forschung
Endre Szecsenyi
Marci Shore
Length of stay:
Assistant Professor of History, Yale University
July 2004 – August 2005
Brotherlands: A Family History of the Slavic, German, and Jewish Nations
The method for this family history of nationality in
Europe is the serial biography of prominent families whose members chose different national identities, 1848 – 1948.
Length of stay:
Project:
Research:
Junior Professor of Polish and Ukrainian Studies,
Europa-Universität Frankfurt/Oder
Körber Visiting Fellow
October 2004 - March 2005
The History and Legacy of 20th Century Ethnic
Cleansing in Europe
Philipp Ther’s research project focuses on the 20th
century as an age of ‘ethnic cleansing.’ Over its course,
about 50 million people have been forced to permanently leave their homelands within Europe alone.
Marcin Zaremba
Length of stay:
Project:
Research:
Senior Lecturer of History, University of Warsaw
Andrew W. Mellon Fellow
April – May 2005
Fear in Communist Poland 19941989
The model for Zaremba’s research is a book by the French
historian Jean Delumeau, La Peur
en Occident. The project focuses on the diverse types
of fear in Communist Poland: fear of approaching
the front, of the Red Army. The fear connected
with robberies by Russian soldiers; the fear of collectivization; of persecutions as well as pacifications
by NKWD and the native “security”; the fear of the
No. 88
Spring 2005
17
next war; the fear of authorities and authority’s fear
of society; the fear of price increases and the fear of
worsening life conditions. Two separate chapters will
address the fear of the Germans and the Jews.
Indeed, both Mach and
Husserl speak explicitly of a
higher standpoint, and by
harmonizing their two “reductions,” their two crusades to
“save the phenomena,”
Charak hopes to illustrate the
affinities between post-modernism in the philosophy of
science and the core philosophical project of political and social awareness.
Junior Visiting Fellows
Asli Baykal
Length of stay:
Project:
Research:
18
Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology, Boston University
February – July 2005
Surviving the Post-Soviet Transition. Changing Family and Community Relations in Uzbekistan
Asli Baykal’s dissertation explores the pressures on
Uzbek society caused by the collapse of the USSR.
She examines the impact such changes have had on
“traditional” means of social organization, such as
family and neighborhood. Her research focuses on
personal and family relations – and how individuals have attempted to cope with rapid changes in
their power, authority, and responsibilities. Tension
has also been apparent at the community level. In
the post-Soviet context, social networks, rituals of
sharing, and the informal economy now promote
the accumulation of wealth among the elite rather
than redistributing wealth to the poor. Uzbek people
under socialism were familiar with status inequalities, but now poverty, particularly with the loss of
benefits they enjoyed under state socialism, has come
alongside inexplicable wealth.
Susan Costello
Length of stay:
Project:
Research:
Eoin O’Carroll
Length of stay:
Project:
Research:
Greg Charak
Length of stay:
Project:
Research:
Ph.D. candidate in Philosophy, University of California, San Diego; Fullbright Fellow, Institut Wiener Kreis
February – March 2005
Reduction and Liberal Renewal
Greg Charak has long been interested in the relationship between philosophy and liberalism, and
particularly in the historical responses of the former
to the “crises” of the latter. His aim is to relate these
interventions to the elusive, at times controversial,
and almost always misunderstood notion of the
“higher standpoint.” With this in mind, Charak
has come to Vienna to study the origins of positivism and phenomenology, which have been described – and derided – as the two
“foundationalist” philosophies of the
20th century. It seems that despite the
eventual industrializations of these
two “movements,” we find in their
original spirit and motives a common
goal, a noble attempt at consciousness
and communication, at liberal renewal, amidst Europe’s greatest crisis.
Emilia Palonen, Asli Baykal, Astrid
Swenson, Susan Costello with her
son Giuseppe, Eoin O’Carroll
No. 88
Spring 2005
Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology, Boston University
January – June 2005
Tibetan Pastoralists’ Uses of Wealth in an Environment of Risk: Choosing Between Tribal and Religious Moral Ideals and Market Efficiency?
Susan Costello’s dissertation describes the conditions
of pastoral production, consumption, and exchange
of the Tibetan nomads who live in the high altitude
Golok Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai
Province, China.
Candidate for MS degree in Print Journalism, Boston
University
January – June 2005
Regardless of Frontiers: Press Freedom in the EU’s
Newest Members
On May 1, 2004, the EU grew from 15 to 25
states, eight of which had spent a generation behind the Iron Curtain. Eoin O’Carrol’s report will
study the challenges faced by reporters in Hungary,
Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Emilia Palonen
Length of stay:
Project:
Research:
Ph.D. Candidate in Ideology and Discourse Analysis,
University of Essex
Körber Junior Visiting Fellow
March – August 2005
Europe in the Contemporary City Image of
Budapest, Graz, and Vienna
Cities are in constant transformation with new build-
ing projects and restoration plans. The projects on
the cityscape and the articulation of the cities’ national and international standing also deal with the
constant reconstruction of the city image(s) seeking
to determine the identity, location, and appearance
of Budapest or Vienna. Emilia Palonen’s project on
Budapest, Vienna, and Graz focuses on contemporary articulations of “Europe” that occur through
the articulations of these city-images. She will investigate how Europeanness is argued for in the transformation of the city image, what meanings are invested in the concept of “Europe,” and how it is
related to other concepts, such as nationhood and
the metropolis. The basic assumption of the research
is that Europe only exists in articulation and gains
its meaning from its uses and its discursive relationships to other concepts. Palonen’s project makes a
contribution to the understanding of the meanings
of “Europe” in contemporary politics and culture.
Emily Rohrbach
Length of stay:
Project:
Ph.D. Candidate in English Literature, Boston University
January – June 2005
European Historiography 1770-1830, Revolution
in Literary Time
Research:
Emily Rohrbach’s research concerns early nineteenth-century historiographical debate and competing notions of contemporaneity in
British and European historical
writings.
Astrid Swenson
Length of stay:
Project:
Research:
Ph.D. Candidate in History, Cambridge University
Körber Junior Visiting Fellow
January – June 2005
Conceptualizing Heritage in 19th Century France,
Germany, and Britain
Within the framework of the Körber Foundation’s
fellowship on “History and Memory in Europe”
the project addresses the need to historicize the central, yet often so poorly defined concepts of “heritage” and “memory.”
Guests
Carol Bacchi
Month of stay:
Associate Professor of Politics, University of Adelaide
April
19
No. 88
Spring 2005
Publications
Carol Bacchi
Timothy Snyder
Carol Bacchi
Guest
“Policy”, in: Blackwell Companion to Gender Studies, P. Essed, A. Kobayashi and D.
T. Goldberg (eds.), London: Blackwell,
2005.
Visiting Fellow
Guest
Kommentar: „Vereintes Europa, geteilte
Geschichte“, in: Transit – Europäische Revue, Nr. 28 (2004).
Lecture: “Gender Analysis: Introducing the
Canadian Approach,” Department of Correctional Services, Adelaide, South Australia (March 18, 2005).
Muriel Blaive
Book review: „The Old Country,“ on
Anatol Lieven, America Right or Wrong: An
Anatomy of American Nationalism, in: Times
Literary Supplement (March 23, 2005).
Körber Junior Visiting Fellow 2004
Une déstalinisation manquée. Tchécoslovaquie 1956, préface de Krzysztof Pomian,
Bruxelles: Éditions Complexe, 2005.
Susanne Lettow
Lise Meitner Fellow
Öffentlichkeiten und Geschlechterverhältnisse. Strategien, Erfahrungen, Subjekte, Susanne Lettow, Ulrike Manz, Katja Sarkowsky (Hrsg.), Königstein/Ts.: Ulrike-HelmerVerlag, 2005; „Zone der Unbestimmtheit.
Biopolitik und Geschlechterverhältnisse
bei Foucault, Agamben und Hardt/Negri“,
in: ebd.
20
Travels and Talks
“Ukraine’s Orange Revolution,” with Timothy Garton Ash, in: New York Review of
Books (April 14, 2005); German translation forthcoming in Transit No. 30.
Michael Staudigl
Visiting Fellow
Perspektiven des Lebensbegriffs. Randgänge
der Phänomenologie (Europaea memoria
34), M. Staudigl, S. Nowotny (Hrsg.),
Hildesheim: Olms, 2005.
Eoin O’Carroll
Marcin Zaremba
Junior Visiting Fellow
„Die Grenzen der grenzenlosen Pressefreiheit“, in: science.ORF.at (online publiziert
am 5. April 2005).
Andrew W. Mellon Fellow
„Propaganda sukcesu. Dekada Gierka”, in:
Propaganda PRL, wybrane problemy, Piotr
Semkow (ed.), Gdansk: IPN, 2004.
Emily Rohrbach
Junior Visiting Fellow
Book review on Kevis Goodman, Georgic
Modernity and British Romanticism: Poetry
and the Mediation of History, in: Revue
d’Etudes Anglophones (forthcoming).
“The Second Step of a Ladder: The Cult
of First Secretaries,” in: The Leader Cult in
Communist Dictatorships. Stalin and the
Eastern Bloc, Balazs Apor, Jan C. Behrends,
Polly Jones, E. A. Rees (eds.), London/New
York: Palgrave Macmillan 2004.
Marci Shore
Visiting Fellow
“Conversing with Ghosts: Jedwabne,
Zydokomuna, and Totalitarianism,” in:
Kritika: Explorations of Russian and Eurasian History, vol. 6, no. 2 (spring 2005).
„Zorganizowane zapominanie o holokauscie w dekadzie Gierka: trwanie i zmiana”,
in: Kwartalnik Historii Zydow (March
2004).
Lecture: “Gender Impact Assessment: Introducing the Netherlands Approach,”
Department of Health, Adelaide, South
Australia (April 6, 2005).
Cornelia Klinger
Permanent Fellow
Vortrag: „Ungleichheit als Prinzip moderner Gesellschaften: Arbeit und Geschlecht“, im Rahmen der Marburger
Arbeitsgespräche 3, In Arbeit: Zukunft,
Institut für Politikwissenschaft, Marburg
(24. Februar 2005).
Vortrag: „Kanonbildung in der Philosophie”, im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung
Gendered Subjects IV: „Ein Kanon ganz für
uns allein?“, Universität Wien (15. März
2005).
Vortrag: „Warum das Glück (k)ein ‚Vogerl’
ist. Individuelle Glücksvorstellungen im
gesellschaftlichen Kontext”, Sigmund
Freud-Gesellschaft, Wien (11. April
2005).
Janos Matyas Kovacs
Permanent Fellow
Participation in an international conference
launching the DIOSCURI project,
Budapest (February 4-5, 2005).
Susanne Lettow
Lise Meitner Fellow
Vortrag: „Biotechnologie und Geschlechterverhältnisse in der Philosophie“, Institut für Philosophie der Universität Wien
(10. März 2005).
Vortrag: „Kybernetik, Subjekt, Geschlecht.
Antiessentialismus als technologisches
Modell und philosophische Strategie“, Institut für Wissenschaft und Kunst (IWK),
Wien (13. April 2005).
No. 88
Spring 2005
Krzysztof Michalski
Rector of the IWM
Interview: “‘The economy alone is not
enough’, Values and Disvalues”, in: EAST
Europe and Asia Strategies, No 3 (February
2005).
Interview: “Na Skrzyzowaniu idei i zycia”,
in: Newsweek Polska (February 13, 2005).
Interview: „Das Leben Karol Wojitylas ist
sein wirkliches Werk“, in: Der Standard
(26./27. Februar 2005).
Interview: „Czlowiek w obliczu zla”, in:
Rzeczpospolita (March 6, 2005).
Chair of the first Tischner Debate, “On Solidarity,” (together with Marcin Krol, Professor of the History of Ideas) at the Auditorium Maximum, Warsaw University; see
report in this issue of the IWM Post, p. 10-11.
Lecture: “What holds Europe together?”
European Economic and Social Committee, Brussels (March 10, 2005).
Chair of the second Tischner Debate, “On
Inequality,” at the Palac Kultury I Nauki,
Warsaw (together with Marcin Krol, Professor of the History of Ideas); introduction: Lord Dahrendorf, member of the British House of Lords; participants: Zyta
Gilowska, member of Parliament,
Platforma Obywatelska (PO);Lech
Kaczynski, Mayor of Warsaw; Miroslawa
Marody, Professor of Sociology at Warsaw
University; and Wiktor Osiatynski, Professor of Law at the Central European
University (April 11, 2005).
“Romantic Self Reflection,” Northeast Modern Language Association Convention,
Cambridge, Mass. (April 2, 2005).
Birgit Sauer
MAGEEQ Senior Researcher
Vortrag: “Demokratie und Geschlechtergerechtigkeit”, im Rahmen der Tagung Die
Zukunft der Demokratie des Instituts für
Politikwissenschaft, Universität Regensburg, Bildungszentrum Wildbad Kreuth
(3.-4. Februar 2005).
Lecture: “What happened to the model
student? State feminism in Austria since
the 1990s,” ECPR Joint Session, Granada
(April 14-19, 2005).
Mieke Verloo
Presentation: “Challenges for the European Union,” at the conference Beijing
+10. Progress made within the European
Union, Luxembourg (February 3, 2005).
Presentation of the SWOT analysis on
Dutch Equal Opportunities Policies, at a
seminar, Rethinking Equal Opportunities
Policies, Soeterbeeck, Netherlands (February 3, 2005).
Timothy Snyder
Visiting Fellow
Radio Interview: “Who is Julia Tymoshenko?” FM4, Vienna (February 2, 2005).
Lecture: “The Nazi and Soviet Occupations of Eastern Europe: Some Preliminary
Comparisons,” Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies (March 11, 2005).
Lecture: “Condemned to Compare: The
Soviet and Nazi Occupations of Poland and
Ukraine,” at the international conference,
Open Wounds: Reflections on Nazism, Communism, and the Twentieth Century,
Einstein Forum, Potsdam (April 15, 2005).
Michael Staudigl
Visiting Fellow
Vortrag: „Zur Bestimmung von Gewalt im
Spannungsfeld von Affektivität und
Intentionalität“, im Rahmen der Konferenz Affekt, Affektion, Affektivität der Österreichischen Gesellschaft für philosophischen Ost-West-Dialog, Otterthal (11.-15.
April 2005).
Emily Rohrbach
Junior Visiting Fellow
Presentation of an introductory paper, “Romantic Self-Reflection and Critical Reception in the Wake of the New
Historicism(s),” and chair of the panel on
Participation in the workshop Agamben
und seine Quellen, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague (April 28-29, 2005).
Non-Resident Permanent Fellow
Lecture: „Toleration, Identity, and Difference. A comment to Anna Elisabetta
Galeotti,“ at the conference Tolerance. Its
Scope and Limits, University of Vienna
(March 4-5, 2005).
Emilia Palonen
Junior Visiting Fellow
Presentation of the paper “Fidesz in Budapest: creating the frontier, occupying space”
(translated into Hungarian and discussed
in Hungarian) at a series of workshops on
Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Party discourse,
Research Centre for Political Discourses,
Institute for Political Sciences, Hungarian
Academy of Sciences (February 8, 2005).
Lecture: “Phenomenological Reflections on
Violence and their Impact on Phenomenological Methodology,“ at the third annual
conference of the Nordic Society for Phenomenology, Phenomenology – from theory
to practice and back again, University of
Bergen, Norway (April 22-24, 2005).
Vortrag: “Perspektiven und Grenzen
phänomenologischer Gewaltanalyse“,
StipendiatInnenwochenende der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften,
Wien (15. April 2005).
Marcin Zaremba
Andrew W. Mellon Fellow
Lecture: “At the Edge of Rebellion: Polish
Workers in the Late Sixties. On the Onset
of the December 1970 Events,” at the conference European Workers in 1968,
Hattingen (February 11-13, 2005).
Varia
Maria Han gewann den 1.
Preis beim Philosophiewettbewerb „Jugend
denkt“ der Kulturstiftung
Hannover. Sie ist von
April bis Juni 2005 zu
Gast am IWM in Wien
und wird sich in dieser
Zeit schwerpunktmäßig mit Philosophie
im Bereich Ethik beschäftigen.
Romana Lanzerstorfer ist Doktorandin der
Politikwissenschaft an der Universität Wien
und absolviert derzeit ein Praktikum am
IWM. Sie arbeitet vor allem in den
Bereichen Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit sowie bei der Redaktion von Transit
– Europäische Revue mit.
No. 88
Spring 2005
21
NOTES ON BOOKS
The IWM regularly asks its fellows, guests, and friends to share their thoughts on current
publications. In this issue of the IWM Post, Jerzy Szacki writes on Barbarzynska Europa by Karol
Modzelewski. Marci Shore introduces The Production of Presence: What Meaning Cannot Convey by
Hans Ulrich Gumprecht.
The Production of
Presence
Barbarian Europe
22
I do not know what experts are going to
say about this book. Those few I have
asked were full of praise, although they
certainly did have various doubts and often found one or another of the author’s
theses questionable. However, I would not
attach much importance to their reservations: in the humanities original ideas
rather inevitably lead to controversies, and
in any case the dispute itself is usually
more valuable than correctness. The latter,
after all, so frequently approaches boredom.
In this case, we are dealing with a
truly fascinating work, a specialized work
which is intentionally addressed not only
to specialists. Moreover, this is a work that
inspires contemplation not only of those
questions to which the book is dedicated,
but also of the fact that historiography
does not have to be an esoteric field, even
in the absence of superficial efforts to
popularize it.
Those questions are quite numerous
so let me just mention those few that fascinate me most. The first one concerns the
European heritage that has been subject
of discussions for so many years, discussions that repeatedly draw upon various
clichés about Mediterranean culture or
Christianity. Certainly, those clichés
should be repeated. However, Modzelewski
is definitely right in posing in this context
a question about barbarians, that is, those
native residents of the whole European
continent who formed a world that was
alien and inscrutable to people of Classical
antiquity and who were later subjected to
Christianization, gradually becoming a
part of the whole named Europe. This
question is accompanied by the convincing presumption that taming barbarians,
Germans, Slavs, Balts, etc. did not mean
and could not mean total extermination of
their culture.
The second issue, which is actually
the central one in Modzelewski’s book, is
the nature of that barbarian culture. The
author believes it is possible and necessary
to attempt a synthesis which would ignore
No. 88
Spring 2005
to some degree significant differences in
space and time to obtain a reconstruction
of a specific social type that the bygone
Barbarian world most probably used to
be. Therefore, the table of contents in
Modzelewski’s book appears to be that of a
book written by a sociologist or anthropologist as opposed to a historian. However, one further glance at it would be sufficient to correct this impression. The
point is that the author is a historian who,
while inspired by the contemporary social
sciences, at the same does not disregard the
rigors of the historical craft and is knowledgeable about details as only a historian
could be.
The third issue that I found particularly interesting in the book is the reflection on intercultural communication, beginning from a comparison between the
positions of a historian and an ethnologist,
who is attempting to learn secrets of an
alien culture, an attempt made more difficult by the fact that the sources originate
in yet another culture.
In short, we were presented with a
work of the highest caliber. So far it is available only in Polish. Its French edition is
soon to be published.
Karol Modzelewski
Barbarzynska Europa
(Barbarian Europe)
Warszawa: Iskry, 2004.
Karol Modzelewski, born in 1937, is Professor
of History at Warsaw University. In 1964, he was
co-author with Jacek Kuron of an open letter
to the members of the Communist Party, for
which he was imprisoned for more than three
years. He was elected a Senator in the first
democratic election in 1989. His main area of
scientific research as a historian is early Polish
history (tenth to thirteenth century).
Jerzy Szacki is Professor for Sociology at
Warsaw University and a member of the IWM
Academic Advisory Board.
The author of The Production of Presence:
What Meaning Cannot Convey is a German intellectual who fell in love with California and Rio de Janeiro, a postwar-born
Bavarian from Würzburg who as a child
enjoyed playing in the ruins of Germany’s
then second-most destroyed city. In his
early adulthood he was haunted by warm
memories of a maternal grandfather who,
he later suspected, had been a Nazi. In his
later adulthood he was haunted by the
news that his Doktorvater, the renowned
reception theorist and literary scholar
Hans Robert Jauss, had in his youth been
a member of the SS. Gumbrecht “began
to become obsessed with the famous question how I would have acted myself before
1945 – if somebody like Jauss, by whose
mind I felt so attracted, had been a Nazi
until the apocalyptic end.”
In 1989 Gumbrecht left Germany –
and Europe – for a professorship at
Stanford University. At the turn of the
century he accepted American citizenship.
“[T]he main reason,” he writes, “behind
my coming to America was indeed the
wish to escape this responsibility-by-contiguity. Of course I know that there is no
real escape...” Gumbrecht is a German intellectual who became a scholar of literature in the romance languages, an American academic, and a thinker deeply influenced by – and to some extent obsessed
with – Heidegger, and at once tormented
by the implications of such a closeness.
“Out of all the philosophers whose
work I more or less know it is,” Gumbrecht writes in an autobiographical essay,
“quite paradoxically, Martin Heidegger
who I think offers a rationalization for my
double reaction of feeling contaminated
by ‘my’ German past and of choosing
American citizenship. I am referring to the
famous passage in paragraph 74 of Being
and Time where Heidegger says that only
‘by handling down to [oneself ] the possibility [one] has inherited (i.e. the history
of one’s nation), [one can] take over [one’s]
own thrownness and be in the immediate
present for [one’s] time.’” In short,
Jerzy Szacki, Marci Shore NOTES ON BOOKS
“[a]ccepting to be German means that I feel personally and publicly accountable for what Heidegger
would describe as part of my thrownness…”
It might seem, not unreasonably, that this
delving into the biography of the author of an academic book is gratuitous. Yet in this case perhaps
not: for the book itself is very much an autobiographical essay, the story of a philosophical trajectory by a thinker who refuses to separate “life” from
intellectual inquiry. Gumbrecht’s prose is altogether unique. His English sparkles precisely because of its idiosyncratic quality – it is “a bit off,”
and in this way fresh, somehow unconstrained by
the conventions of English-language academic
writing. Gumbrecht is fond of anecdotes. Yet his
writing could not simply be described as “anecdotal.” It is, perhaps, better understood through its
confessional motif, an urge to self-disclosure, a playfulness with academic pretensions. He has a tendency to write of himself neither in the first-person
singular nor in the royal “we,” but rather in the
third-person, which reflects his particular style of
self-questioning and self-irony. He harbors at times
a suspiciousness of himself, which nonetheless
could not be described as self-hatred. Pervading
Gumbrecht’s writing is still something more: a love
for the humanities, for intellectual inquiry, and an
insistence that this life of the mind can never be
divorced from quotidian, everyday experience –
that fate and burden the Russians call byt, but
which for Gumbrecht is something not only burdensome, but also liberating, even at moments tantalizing.
The Production of Presence is to some extent an
epilogue, perhaps a postscript, to Gumbrecht’s dazzling book of several years earlier In 1926: Living at
the Edge of Time (Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1997), which begins by presupposing a preconscious desire to “speak to the dead.” Gumbrecht
situates the book as being descriptive as opposed to
analytical, as being concerned with simultaneity as
opposed to sequentiality. In Sausurrean terms, In
1926 is that oxymoronic entity: a synchronic history. The book is in fact a work of art, a portrait of a
moment, of a year the author finds particularly appealing, in some way seductive. The chapters are
not chapters but rather “entries,” embracing both
the tangible and the intangible. Among those “material” entries are Americans in Paris, bullfighting,
jazz, hunger artists, telephones, and mummies.
Among the “non-material”: action vs. impotence,
authenticity vs. artificiality; immanence vs. transcendence; sobriety vs. exuberance. The author’s
desire is fairly explicit: to induce in the reader a
feeling of presence – of being present – in the past.
The Production of Presence is an essay (by an
author enamored – despite himself – of Heidegger)
contesting the dominance of metaphysics and in
particular the centrality of interpretation in the
Western arts and humanities. A Marxist sympathizer in his youth, Gumbrecht dates the origins of
his search for something transcendent of the
hermeneutic to a 1979 colloquium in Dubrovnik.
At that time it was not the colloquium but the city
that was so memorable to Gumbrecht and his Brazilian colleague who travelled there with him:
“what really impressed the two friends was the
beauty and the liveliness of that Croatian city
[Dubrovnik] – an impression they then quite desperately wanted to associate with Yugoslavia’s official status as a socialist country.”
While Marxism was put aside, a certain longing (nostalgia?) for materiality lingered. In The Production of Presence, Gumbrecht articulates a crisis of
Western modernity and intellectual culture revealed in the lack of connection to presence, to material Being. The book is a reflection on the tension
between “presence effects” and “meaning effects” –
and the tendency in Western academic culture to
undervalue the former. The author’s voice, at times
self-mocking, is more gentle than polemical. He
situates himself both within and against
“postmodern” theory. Whatever the problems of
“postmodernity” in the humanities (the unambiguously pejorative connotation of “substance,” the rejection of physicality in favor of discursive constructs), Gumbrecht concedes, the age of modernity – that is, historical time and all it implied:
Hegel, progress, teleology – has come irrevocably to
an end.
Gumbrecht privileges Erleben over Erfahrung
(seeing in the former more of a sense of “lived experience,” and in the latter more of a sense of “interpreted experience”). He appeals above all for “putting more emphasis on the presence element in aesthetic experience.” True aesthetic experience – more
specifically, “moments of intensity,” – demands
presence, Gumbrecht insists. In fact it demands the
privileging of presence over meaning. “Presence,”
in Gumbrecht’s understanding, is very close to
Heidegger’s notion of “Being”: “Both concepts, Being and presence imply substance; both are related
to space; both can be associated with movement.
Heidegger may not have elaborated the dimension
of ‘extreme temporality’ as much as some contemporary thinkers try to do; but what I have tentatively called ‘the movements’ of Being in
Heidegger’s conception make it impossible to think
of Being as something stable. The most important
point of convergence, however, is the tension between meaning (i.e. that which makes things culturally specific), on the one hand, and presence or
Being, on the other.”
We – by whom Gumbrecht means above all
(but not only) those engaged in the humanities –
inhabit a Cartesian world, or perhaps otherwise
Marci Shore is Assistant
Professor of History at Indiana University and
currently Visiting Fellow at
the IWM.
Das IWM lädt regelmäßig
Fellows, Gäste und Freunde des Instituts dazu ein,
ihre Gedanken zu aktuellen Publikationen mit den
Lesern der IWM Post zu
teilen. In dieser Ausgabe
schreibt Jerzy Szacki
über Barbarzynska Europa (Barbarisches Europa) von Karol Modzelewski,
Marci Shore führt ein in
The Production of Presence: What Meaning
Cannot Convey von Hans
Ulrich Gumprecht.
No. 88
Spring 2005
23
Jerzy Szacki, Marci Shore NOTES ON BOOKS
stated a phenomenological world in
which consciousness is the focal point.
About this Cartesian world Gumbrecht
says: “And are we not precisely longing for
presence, is our desire for tangibility not so
intense – because our own everyday environment is so almost insuperably consciousness-centered?” In short, life is elsewhere. And we are missing it. The book is
a plea for repossession of aesthetic experience, and the expression of a hope that
this ästhetisches Erleben, the physicality of
aesthetic experience, “may give us back at
least a feeling of our being-in-the-world.”
As in In 1926, here, too, Gumbrecht
makes an appeal for the value of history as
a making present of the past. The implication is nontrivial for historians: it means a
certain license for imagination over didacticism. It means as well a certain liberation:
the writing of history as effecting a space
whereby the reader can make an imaginative leap into a time and a place where he
24
No. 88
Spring 2005
or she was not. The historian has always
been a detective, trying to glean the contours of a whole from what fragments remain. Yet the primacy of presence suggests
that the historian can act as a magician as
well, conjuring up a moment – its sounds,
sights, smells, tastes – so that it can be felt.
Perhaps understood, perhaps not, but felt
above all and in any case. For historians it
means quite a bit of chutzpah. And a rather
thrilling voyeurism.
Gumbrecht believes we all subliminally desire this, this venture into the past,
away from ourselves, and supposes this is
perhaps because “by crossing the life
world threshold of our birth, we are turning away from the ever-threatening and
ever-present future of our own deaths.” In
any case, a return to “presence” in history
means a certain empathy – for better or for
worse, with all the potential jouissance and
trauma that implies – for those who are
now dead.
Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht
The Production of Presence: What Meaning
Cannot Convey
Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004
GASTBEITRAG
Johannes Paul II.
1920 – 2005
In der vorletzten Ausgabe der IWM Post stellten
Mitglieder der vom IWM einberufenen
Mit dem Tod von Johannes Paul II hat das Institut für die
Wissenschaften vom Menschen einen Freund verloren.
Er war eine der ersten Personen, der wir – mein inzwischen verstorbener Freund und Partner Jozef Tischner
und ich – Anfang der achtziger Jahre von der Idee der
Gründung des Institutes erzählt haben. Ich kannte Karol
Wojtyla von seiner Zeit in Krakau, wo er als Mäzen der
Wissenschaften und Künste – auch wenn sie nichts mit
der Kirche und dem Katholizismus zu tun hatten – wirkte, um die Versäumnisse des damaligen totalitären Staates
wettzumachen. Jozef Tischner war mit ihm befreundet.
Schon in diesem ersten Gespräch unterstützte der
Papst unsere Idee stark und von Herzen - obwohl wir kein
katholisches, sondern ein unabhängiges, keinem Bekenntnis und keiner Ideologie verpflichtetes Institut
gründen wollten. Um seine Unterstützung zu bekräftigen, hat er unseren Wissenschaftlichen Beirat immer wieder zu mehrtägigen Symposien in seiner Sommerresidenz
in Castel Gandolfo eingeladen. Es wurden deren acht,
das letzte fand 1999 statt. Führende Gelehrte nahmen
daran teil: Ralf Dahrendorf, Jean Bethke Elshtain, HansGeorg Gadamer, Ernest Gellner, Bronislaw Geremek,
Leszek Kolakowski, Dharma Kumar, Emmanuel Lévinas,
Paul Ricoeur, Charles Taylor, George Weidenfeld, C.F
von Weizsäcker und eine Reihe anderer. Der Papst hörte
den Diskussionen aufmerksam zu, unterhielt sich während der Mahlzeiten angeregt mit den Teilnehmern mischte sich aber nie in unsere Einladungspolitik. Die
Symposien waren auch nicht von ihm oder vom Vatikan
finanziert, sondern von der Stuttgarter Robert Bosch Stiftung, teilweise auch von der Hamburger Körber Stiftung.
Es hat uns viel Zeit und Mühe gekostet klarzumachen, dass diese Sympathie und Unterstützung des Papstes nicht bedeutet, dass das Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen eine katholische Einrichtung (eine
Art Vorfront-Institution der Kirche) ist. Es gab in der
Geschichte des IWM viele, die meinten, es mit einem
ideologischen oder politischen Etikett versehen zu müssen, darunter eben dieses. Schließlich gelang es uns aber
doch, die meisten von ihnen von unserer Unabhängigkeit zu überzeugen. Das IWM genießt heute breite Anerkennung als ein Ort der geistigen Auseinandersetzung
unterschiedlicher Weltanschauungen und Standpunkte
auf der Basis gegenseitigen Respekts – so, wie wir es uns
damals, vor mehr als zwanzig Jahren, erträumt hatten.
Diesen Traum – und seine spätere Verwirklichung – hat
Johannes Paul II mit Sympathie und Unterstützung begleitet.
Seine Sympathie und Unterstützung werden wir in
dankbarer Erinnerung behalten.
Krzysztof Michalski
Ein längerer Nachruf von Krzysztof Michalski ist auf Polnisch in
der Wochenzeitung Tygodnik Powszechny erschienen (Nr. 16,
17. April) und wird in Kürze auf Deutsch in Transit – Europäische
Revue (Nr. 29) veröffentlicht. Eine gekürzte Version ist im Standard (9./10. April) erschienen.
Reflexionsgruppe zur geistigen und kulturellen
Dimension Europas zentrale Arbeitsergebnisse der
Gruppe vor (“What Holds Europe Together?”, Nr. 86,
Herbst 2004). In seinem Kommentar zu diesem
Europa-Papier plädiert Giuliano Amato für eine
Sichtweise, welche die gemeinsame europäische
Kultur nicht als gegeben, sondern als stets neue
Herausforderung und nie zu vollendende Aufgabe
begreift.
Bauwerk Europa
Das Europa-Papier von Kurt Biedenkopf,
Bronislaw Geremek, Krzysztof Michalski
und Michel Rocard zielt genau auf das entscheidende Dilemma, vor dem Europa
steht. Und die Vorschläge der Autoren, wie
man sich ihm stellen kann (was nicht schon
gleichbedeutend mit seiner Lösung ist),
zeugen von einem ungewöhnlichen, tiefgreifenden Verständnis unserer „Einheit in
der Vielfalt“ und der Mittel, über die wir
verfügen, um aus den darin beschlossenen
Chancen das Beste zu machen.
Das Dilemma ist nicht neu, aber es hat
im erweiterten Europa eine neue Dimension angenommen: einerseits das Projekt Europas als neuer politischer Einheit auf der
Basis gemeinsamer Werte, gemeinsamer
Ziele und gemeinsamer Rechte, wie sie in
der Verfassung niedergelegt sind, und andererseits die verstärkte Vielfalt und Verschiedenartigkeit in unserer erweiterten Familie, die das Projekt in Gefahr bringen
könnten. Das Projekt – so das Argument –
könne nicht mehr auf die gemeinschaftliche Vision und den politischen Willen bauen, die im goldenen Zeitalter der anfänglichen wirtschaftlichen Integration als Basis
dienten, denn deren Potential scheine erschöpft. Gleichzeitig nehme die Verfassung, indem sie das Projekt für das erweiterte Europa neu zu bestimmen versuche, eine
Art von „impossible mission“ in Angriff,
denn es lasse sich kaum erwarten, dass Europa in seiner neuen, heterogenen Zusammensetzung imstande sei, die erforderliche
neue Vision zu formulieren.
Falls sich diese pessimistische Sicht
durchsetzt, kann das für unsere Zukunft
ziemlich ungute Folgen haben: einen Mangel an Vertrauen in die Verfassung, die
25
Giuliano Amato, former
vice-chairman of the
European Convention, is
a member of the IWM
Board of Patrons; he was
Prime Minister of Italy
from 1992-1993 and from
2000-2001.
No. 88
Spring 2005
Giuliano Amato GASTBEITRAG
26
Rückkehr alter Träume; ein Kerneuropa Kitt dienen?
gibt kein weltumspannendes, einheitlials politisches Subjekt, das den übrigen
Hier beweist das Papier wirkliche ches Rechtssystem) sowie die gemeinsaLändern des erweiterten Europa als Wirt- Scharfsicht: Keine Aufzählung oder Fest- men Anliegen, die Europa verfolgt. Ebenschaftsraum gegenübersteht; und schließ- schreibung europäischer kultureller Werte so setzt die bekannte Lehre von John
lich die Bereitschaft, sich mit der Vorstel- ergebe einen Sinn, wird erklärt, und den- Rawls, dass Demokratie „prozedural“ vorlung abzufinden, dass wir zu verschieden- noch existiere eine europäische Kultur. Es zugehen habe, wenn es an einer von allen
artig sind, um eine Einheit zu verwirkli- handele sich dabei um einen Kontext mit geteilten Vorstellung des Guten mangelt,
chen, die über ökonomische Belange hin- offenen Grenzen, dem eine ständige Kon- im Grunde bereits ein substanzielles Einausgeht – ein Szenario, auf das einiges hin- frontation mit dem Neuen greifbare In- vernehmen voraus, denn sonst wäre nicht
zudeuten scheint. Wie lässt sich dagegen halte verleihen könne und tatsächlich einmal eine solche Übereinkunft auf reine
angehen und wo können wir die Mittel auch verleihe – vorausgesetzt, es existiere Verfahrensregeln denkbar (und durchund Kräfte hernehmen, um Europa als eine politische Führung, die in Erfüllung setzbar).
ein integrales politisches Projekt zu erhal- ihrer Aufgabe emotional mitreißend, arDie große Frage ist, welches die geten? Das Europa-Papier erklärt mit aller gumentativ klar und sachlich überzeu- meinsamen kulturellen WertvorstellunEntschiedenheit, die zur Stärkung des gend genug sei; denn unsere gemeinsame gen sind, die unserer europäischen politiZusammenhalts nöschen Identität (und
tigen
Energien
mithin dem europäimüssten „in der geschen Gebäude) zumeinsamen europäigrunde liegen und
schen Kultur gewie sie Anerkennung
sucht und gefungefunden
haben.
den“ werden; und
Hier trifft die Analyunsere europäischen
se des Papiers den
Religionen, die unentscheidenden
trennbare BestandPunkt. Das europäiteile unserer versche Bauwerk war
schiedenen Kultuund ist auch weiterren seien, könnten
hin ein Prozess, in
in hohem Maße
dessen Verlauf es die
dazu beitragen, unAufgabe der Fühsere Völker zusamrung und aller euromenzuführen, statt
päischen Entscheisie (wie in der Ver- A meeting of the Reflection Group on the Spiritual and Cultural Dimension of Europe, Berlin 2004
dungsträger war und
gangenheit) zu entweiterhin sein wird,
zweien.
Kultur – so das Dokument – sei keine Ge- neue Schritte zu unternehmen und darIst das in dem neu geschaffenen Rah- gebenheit, sondern eine Aufgabe.
zutun, von welchen politischen und
men (der in nicht allzu ferner Zukunft
Ich persönlich stimme mit dieser rechtlichen Gründen sie sich dabei leiten
vielleicht noch umfassender sein und die Analyse überein, die uns nicht zuletzt der lassen. Die meisten unserer gemeinsamen
Türkei und die Balkanländer einschließen heimlichen,
aber
unbestreitbaren kulturellen Werte sind uns allererst im
wird) ein gangbarer Weg zu einer stetig Schwachstelle
im
Konzept
des Zuge dieses Prozesses bewusst geworden,
fortschreitenden Integration? Kultur ist Verfassungspatriotismus
innewerden um dann allgemein anerkannt zu werden.
das, worin wir uns voneinander unter- lässt. Die Grundlage dieser Art von Patrio- Als der Europäische Gerichtshof im Jahr
scheiden, und Tatsache ist, dass in Europa tismus müsse, meint Habermas, ganz und 1963 erstmals entschied, dass wir Rechte
mehr von „Kulturen“ als von »Kultur“ die gar politischer Natur sein, denn alles Kul- gegen unseren eigenen Staat einklagen
Rede ist. Genau aus diesem Grund trennt turelle trenne. Wir können aber nicht in können, gab es noch keine Liste dieser
die von Jürgen Habermas weiterentwik- dem für ein europäisches Projekt erforder- Rechte. Und seit dieser ersten Entscheikelte Idee eines „Verfassungspatrio- lichen politischen Willen übereinkom- dung haben wir einhellig die „den Mittismus“, wie ihn auch ein künftiges euro- men, wenn diesem nichts als gemeinsame gliedsstaaten gemeinsamen Verfassungspäisches Volk teilen könnte, diesen Patrio- ökonomische oder politische Interessen traditionen“ als »allgemeine Prinzipien“
tismus von unserer jeweiligen kulturellen, zugrunde liegen. Ein solcher politischer unseres
gemeinsamen
europäischen
ethnischen und nationalen Identität. Da- Wille, wenn es ihn gibt, setzt notwendig Rechts anerkannt. Lässt sich da nicht klar
mit eine politische Identität uns einen gemeinsame kulturelle Wertvorstellungen und deutlich sehen, wie aus unterschiedlikann – so die Überlegung -, muss sie in voraus, ohne die wir das europäische Ge- chen nationalen Kulturen ein gemeinsaeinem gemeinsamen Vorhaben gründen bäude nicht akzeptieren und mittragen mer kultureller Nenner herausdestilliert
und nicht in den „präpolitischen“ Wert- würden – die Rechtsstaatlichkeit, die in und in eine Reihe gemeinsamer allgemeivorstellungen, die uns jeweils auszeich- ihm herrscht, die Bestimmung und den ner Prinzipien übersetzt wird? Ebenso
nen. Wo also findet sich die „gemeinsame Schutz all jener Rechte des Einzelnen, die hatten wir 1993 noch keine übergreifeneuropäische Kultur“, und wie kann sie als „unser“ Rechtssystem mit sich bringt (es de Regelung, die den Schutz der Rechte
No. 88
Spring 2005
Giuliano Amato GASTBEITRAG
von Minderheiten als wesentlichen Aspekt unseres
gemeinschaftlichen Lebens festhielten. Als der Europäische Rat, der im selben Jahr in Kopenhagen
zusammenkam, die Bedingungen für künftige Beitritte
verabschiedete
(der
Schutz
von
Minderheitenrechten war Bestandteil dieser Beschlüsse), stellte sich heraus, dass über diese Frage
durchaus Konsens herrschte.
Es ließen sich noch viele weitere Beispiele anführen (denken wir an die Todesstrafe, die unsere
Kultur ablehnt, wie sich herausstellte, als das Verbot in die Charta unserer Grundrechte aufgenommen wurde), aber das Prinzip dürfte bereits klar
sein und bestätigt die anfängliche These, dass unsere gemeinsame Kultur keine Gegebenheit ist, sondern eine Aufgabe. Und solange diese Aufgabe erfüllt wird, entdecken und anerkennen wir immer
Neues, was sich dem Fundus unserer Gemeinsamkeiten hinzufügen lässt. Nicht einmal die Charta
der Grundrechte, der in Kürze Rechtskraft verliehen werden dürfte, wird diese entscheidende Aufgabe zu einem Abschluss bringen. Die Charta ist
eben dem Vorwurf ausgesetzt worden, dass es sich
bei ihr um einen starren, endgültigen Katalog von
Werten und Rechten handele, der die Lähmung
und Stillstellung des von mir beschriebenen Prozesses zur Folge haben werde. Dem ist aber keineswegs so. Gelähmt würde der Prozess, wenn Europa
den einzigartigen Charakter verlöre, der die Voraussetzung für sein bisheriges Wachsen und Gedeihen
bildet – nämlich (wie das Papier es formuliert) die
Fähigkeit zu ständiger Entwicklung und Erneuerung. Bleibt diese Fähigkeit erhalten, so wird die
Charta selbst zur Quelle weiterer Entdeckungen
und Anerkennungen. Schwände sie, so würden wir
feststellen, dass wir unüberbrückbar verschieden
sind und dass es nur „Kulturen“ ohne gemeinsamen Nenner gibt. Die heikle Balance, die das Motto „in Vielfalt geeint“ ausspricht, würde zerbrechen.
Diese heikle Balance ist es, die der ständig erneuerten Mischung unserer gemeinsamen Kultur
ihren gleichwohl unverwechselbaren Charakter
gibt. Und wir haben keinen Grund, den Prozess
der Erweiterung, selbst wenn er in späteren Stadien
die Türkei und die Balkanländer einschließt, als einen Enteignungsprozess zu fürchten, solange die
Mischung durch den wechselseitigen Austausch
angereichert wird, der die Aufrechterhaltung der
Balance garantiert: die neuen Mitglieder bringen
ihre Eigenarten in unsere Familie ein und unterliegen gleichzeitig dem Einfluss der gemeinsamen
Familienwerte.
Welche Rolle kann in diesem komplexen
Prozess den Religionen zufallen? Tatsächlich spielen sie unabhängig von jeder bewussten Anstrengung, sie ins Spiel zu bringen, je schon dadurch
eine Rolle, dass sie – wie bereits festgestellt – unabdingbarer Bestandteil unserer Kulturen (man beachte den Plural!) sind. Die eigentliche Frage ist, ob
sie zu einer Stärkung der magischen Balance beitragen oder sie durch Zuspitzung unserer Verschiedenartigkeit stören können. Meine These hier wäre,
dass den Religionen ein außerordentliches Potential
zur Stärkung der Balance innewohnt. Ob es sinnvoll genutzt wird, liegt bei ihren jeweiligen Führungen und den Männern und Frauen guten Willens.
Den monotheistischen Religionen unserer
Weltregion ist ein grundlegendes Prinzip gemeinsam: die Überzeugung, dass alle menschlichen Wesen Kinder ein- und desselben Gottes sind. Dieses
eine Prinzip genügt (oder sollte zumindest genügen), um zu verhindern, dass irgendein religiöser
Unterschied in Anspruch genommen wird, um
Identitätskonflikte zu begründen. Darüber hinaus
eignet den moralischen Prinzipien, in denen diese
Religionen ebenfalls übereinkommen – Achtung
vor dem Mitmenschen oder sogar Nächstenliebe,
Solidarität und ein unserem Leben einbeschriebener Sinn, der sich nicht auf die Befriedigung egoistischer Bedürfnisse einschränken lässt –
eine doppelte Bedeutung. Erstens sind sie ihrer
Natur nach kein Spaltpilz, sondern ein Kitt. Zweitens wirkt dieser spezifische Kitt als Gegenmittel
gegen die zerstörerischen Kräfte, die in unseren
(westlichen) Gesellschaften wirksam sind und zur
Folge haben, dass der Gemeinschaftssinn an motivierender Kraft verliert, dass Reichtum und Konsum immer mehr Wert beigemessen wird und dass
sich im Namen von Karrieren und Lebensaussichten, die immer weniger von kollektiven Bindungen und Handlungen abhängen, das Schicksal
des Einzelnen immer stärker von dem der Anderen
abkoppelt. Von daher wage ich zu behaupten, dass angesichts des Mangels an
alternativen Mitteln zur Eindämmung
dieser Tendenzen die Unterstützung
durch die Religionen gänzlich unentbehrlich ist.
Unnötig anzumerken, dass die erhofften segensreichen Wirkungen religiöser Glaubensvorstellungen und Prinzipien
keine selbstverständlichen Gegebenheiten
sind, sondern dass sie ihrerseits nur die
© Audiovisual Library of
the European Commission
In issue 86 of the IWM
Post, members of the IWM
Reflection Group on the
Spiritual and Cultural Dimension of Europe presented central results of
their work (“What holds
Europe together?“, fall
2004). Giuliano Amato’s
commentary on this paper
proposes a view which
conceives the common
European culture not as
something given but as a
constant challenge and a
never accomplished task.
27
No. 88
Spring 2005
Giuliano Amato GASTBEITRAG
Frucht einer zu erfüllenden Aufgabe sein
können – einer Aufgabe, deren sich die
Religionen mit ihren interkonfessionellen
Dialogen bereits angenommen haben,
während das genaue Gegenteil von jenen
politischen Interessen verfolgt wird, welche die Religion instrumentalisieren, um
ethnische Konflikte anzufachen. Für die
Zukunft der gemeinsamen europäischen
Kultur als einer Quelle für den Zusammenhalt des erweiterten und sich erweiternden Europas hängt viel von diesen
gegensätzlichen Rollen der Religion ab.
Wenn Religionen dazu beitragen, bestimmte Kulturen nach außen hin abzuschließen, oder, schlimmer noch, für den
Beweis der Unverträglichkeit von Gruppen, Ländern oder Zivilisationen herangezogen werden, dann gerät das Grundgefüge Europas in Gefahr. Werden hingegen die Prinzipien und Werte der Religio-
nen nach Maßgabe ihres innersten und
wahrhaftigsten Wesens entfaltet (und dies
Wesen schließt die Verschränkung mit
den Kulturen anderer Länder ein), so wird
jenes Gefüge dadurch enorm verstärkt
und zugleich unser Sinn für die magische
Balance zwischen Einheit und Vielfalt
vertieft.
Europa ist ein wundervolles Bauwerk, aber auch eine nie zu vollendende
Aufgabe, eine Herausforderung, mit der
sich jede Generation erneut konfrontiert
sieht. Je mehr Europa wächst und sich erweitert, umso mehr hängt sein künftiger
Zusammenhalt von seinen Führungen
und von seinen Bürgern ab. Wenn unsere
gemeinsame Kultur die Quelle ist, aus der
die für unseren Zusammenhalt nötige
Kraft geschöpft werden muss, dann müssen wir uns dessen bewusst sein, dass folglich auch wir selbst diese Quelle speisen
70!
Cents!
for!
Culture!
28
und dass unsere Politiker dies anerkennen
müssen. Allen, denen Europa etwas bedeutet, könnte man in Abwandlung der
Worte eines einst allseits verehrten amerikanischen Präsidenten zurufen: „Frag
nicht, was Europa für dich tun kann, frag,
was du für Europa tun kannst!“
Aus dem Englischen von Ulrich Enderwitz
© Transit – Europäische Revue
Giuliano Amato, ehemaliger stellvertretender
Vorsitzender des Europäischen Konvents, ist
Mitglied des IWM-Kuratoriums; von 1992 bis
1993 und von 2000 bis 2001 war er italienischer
Premierminister.
Das Europa-Papier und weitere Kommentare
dazu sind deutsch in Transit – Europäische
Revue, Nr. 28 (Winter 2004/05) erschienen.
www.iwm.at/transit
50 cents
10 cents
5 cents
5 cents
“Europe is not only about markets, it is also about
values and culture. (…) If the economy is a necessity for our lives, culture is really about what makes
our life worth living.”
José Manuel Barroso,
President of the European Commission
The European Union currently spends roughly 7 cents per
EU citizen and per year on its culture programme. The
European Cultural Foundation (ECF) and the European Forum for the Arts and Heritage (EFAH) have launched a
campaign to back the cultural vision set out by President
Barroso – a campaign to increase the annual budget by
tenfold, to 340 million.
Join the list of supporters
www.eurocult.org
www.efah.org
No. 88
Spring 2005
GUEST CONTRIBUTION
The image of Central Eastern Europe in popular culture is the subject of an essay the Polish
journalist Wojciech Orlinski is currently writing. In his guest contribution, he details one of the many
aspects to be found in films, videogames, and books: the horrors from the East. He takes the reader
on an adventurous – and often comic – trip through “traditional” landscapes such as Count Dracula’s
Transylvania or as the imaginary country of Molvania, “a land untouched by modern dentistry.”
Stereotyping: The Horrors from the East
Visiting a bank in Vienna, I noticed a multi-lingual
message with lots of flags of the Central-Eastern
European states. Among them, there was a flag of
my own country, which was a nice welcoming surprise. It was accompanied by a message in Polish
saying, “The safety vault is automatic and alarmed.
Our employees cannot open it on their own.” It was
a rather clear message about what sort of guests
from our region this bank is expecting.
Already in the 18th century, Eastern Europe
was imagined in the West as being inhabited by
savage people, wild beasts, and supernatural monsters. There is for example Count Dracula, located
in Transylvania by the imagination of the Irish
writer Bram Stoker in 1897. But the horrors from
the East are also prominent in popular culture created locally. Victor Bocan, the Czech designer of
the video game Operation Flashpoint, portraying
the Russian invasion of a small fictitious country
(called Republic of Nogova and strongly resembling the Czech Republic), said in one interview:
“Obviously, Operation Flashpoint: Resistance is a
realistic game; so forget zombies, ghouls or giants,
although I have to admit that some Russian officers
are really evil.”
Metropolis Software, the Polish developers of
another computer game set in Poland – “Gorky 17”
– went a bit further in terms of the eastern horror.
The storyline is set in 2009, shortly after the admission of Poland to NATO and the EU (it is quite
ironic that when the game was being designed in
the late 1990s, both seemed to be matters of the
distant future; the game was actually released the
same year Poland joined the NATO). A special task
force of NATO troops is sent to investigate a secret
Russian military facility near the Polish city of
Lubin, known under the codename Gorky 17,
only to discover that Russian experiments on genetics and mind control have bred monsters of various
kinds. “Gorky 17” was successful enough on the
international market to justify the release of two
sequels. From my point of view, it is interesting that
Polish and Czech game designers aiming for the
global market consciously (and maybe to some extent cynically) take advantage of the stereotypes of
the East to win international recognition.
One of the wittiest examples of the “fear of the
East” is the fake tourist guide Molvania. A Land
Untouched by Modern Dentistry, written by a trio of
Australian TV comedy producers. The guide looks
very much like a real tourist guide, with maps, photographs, and suggestions of where to eat or stay.
However, the fictitious Central-European state of
Molvania turns out to be a real house of horrors.
Most of the jokes included in this book revolve
around the same scheme: having described something that actually might be a genuine tourist attraction, the authors finally turn it into a grisly joke.
For example, when describing the beauty of the
“Vzinghta Gorge,” the authors mention a “spectacular cable-car” that “sadly no longer operates,”
but you can still admire a “memorial plaque dedicated to the service’s last 23 passengers.”
The authors’ immense imagination saves this
scheme from becoming monotonous after a few
repetitions. But the story always remains the same:
in a nice restaurant, guests are reminded to tip their
waiters generously as they carry concealed weapons.
An interesting ski trail leads through a minefield.
The country capital is worth seeing via bicycle –
and an English language brochure on this subject is
readily available at the casualty ward of the local
hospital.
Partially, this usage of the “Eastern horror”
comes from the fact that this book is actually a twolayered joke. It is not just a parody of Central Eastern Europe, but also a parody of a certain style of
tourist advisory, in which the hardships of travel are
presented as an attraction in themselves. Nevertheless, it is very interesting that the authors of
“Molvania” have particularly chosen Central Eastern Europe as a background for this parody on how
to make your travel unnecessarily tough and dangerous. Tom Glaser, one of the trio of authors, explains it this way: “We trace the origins of
‘Molvania’ to a trip that the three of us made over a
decade ago to Portugal. It might just have been a
coincidence but every monument or tourist attraction we visited seemed to be closed for repairs. At
one point, we started making up fake guidebook
descriptions. (…) When we eventually got around
to writing the book, we decided to place our fictional country in Eastern Europe because we figured no one was too sure of the exact geographical
boundaries in that part of the world.”
It turns out that the real inspiration for
Die Darstellung von Mittelund Osteuropa in der
Populärkultur ist Gegenstand eines Essays, an
dem der polnische Journalist Wojciech Orlinski
derzeit arbeitet. In seinem
Gastbeitrag gibt er Einblick in einen der vielen
Aspekte, die sich in Filmen,
Videospielen und Büchern finden lassen: die
Schrecken aus dem Osten.
Er nimmt den Leser mit auf
eine abenteuerliche –
und oft amüsante – Reise
durch „traditionelle“
Landschaften wie Graf
Drakulas Transylvanian
oder den imaginären Staat
Molwania, „Land des
schadhaften Lächelns“.
Wojciech Orlinski arbeitet
im Kulturressort der Polnischen
Tageszeitung
Gazeta Wyborcza und ist
derzeit Milena Jesenska
Fellow am IWM. Sein Interesse gilt vor allem den
vielfältigen Ausprägungen der Populärkultur.
No. 88
Spring 2005
29
Castelgandolfo-Gespräche
Wojciech Orlinski GUEST CONTRIBUTION
Herausgegeben von
Krzysztof Michalski
Verlag Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart
Von 1983 bis 1998 veranstaltete das Institut für die Wissenschaften vom
Menschen regelmäßig Treffen seines Wissenschaftlichen Beirats in der Sommerresidenz des Papstes. Diese Kolloquien dienten der Förderung des Gedankenaustausches zwischen den verschiedenen Disziplinen, Weltanschauungen
und politischen Überzeugungen: „Schritte ins Offene und Gemeinsame“,
wie Hans-Georg Gadamer im Geleitwort zum ersten Band der „Castelgandolfo-Gespräche“ schrieb.
Die liberale Gesellschaft
Band V
Mit Beiträgen von:
Ralf Dahrendorf, Charles Taylor, Ronald
Dworkin, Frans A. M. Alting von Geusau,
Gertrude Himmelfarb, Leszek Kolakowski,
Robert Spaemann, Roger Kardinal
Etchegaray, Bernard Lewis
Europa und die „Civil Society“
Am Ende des Millenniums
Zeit und Modernitäten
30
Band VIII
Mit Beiträgen von:
Krzysztof Michalski, Jaroslav Pelikan,
Charles Taylor, Robert Spaemann,
Krzysztof Michalski, Leo Ou-fan-Lee,
Bernard Lewis, Arlie Russell-Hochschild, Ralf Dahrendorf
Aufklärung heute
Band VII
Mit Beiträgen von:
Stanley Rosen, Paul Ricoeur, Charles
Taylor, Hans Maier, Hans-Ludwig
Schreiber, Józef Tischner, Jean Betke
Elshtain, Gertrude Himmelfarb, Ira
Katznelson, Robert Spaemann, Claus
Leggewie
Identität im Wandel
Band VI
Mit Beiträgen von:
Krzysztof Michalski, Charles Taylor, Paul
Ricoeur, Leszek Kolakowski, Robert
Spaemann, Ira Katznelson, Bernard
Lewis, Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde,
Richard Schröder, Maarten C. Brands,
Bronislaw Geremek
Klett-Cotta
No. 88
Spring 2005
Band IV (vergriffen)
Mit Beiträgen von:
Edward Shils, Charles Taylor, Emmanuel
Le Roy Ladurie, Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde, Reinhart Koselleck, Owen
Chadwick, Bernard Lewis, Dharma
Kumar, W. Theodore de Bary, Tu WeiMing, Ralf Dahrendorf, Bronislaw
Geremek
Europa und die Folgen
Band III
Mit Beiträgen von:
Franz Kardinal König, Carl-Friedrich von
Weizsäcker, Reinhart Koselleck, Krzysztof
Pomian, Fritz Stern, George L. Kline, Jacek
Wozniakowski, Edward Shils, Wilhelm
Halbfass, Bernard Lewis, Ernest Gellner,
Robert Spaemann
Über die Krise
Band II
Mit Beiträgen von:
Carl-Friedrich von Weizsäcker, René
Thom, Paul Ricoeur, Reinhart Koselleck,
Leszek Kolakowski, Józef Tischner,
Krzysztof Pomian, Knut Borchardt, Marton
Tardos, Jan Bialostocki, Ernst-Wolfgang
Böckenförde
Der Mensch in den modernen
Wissenschaften
Band I
Mit Beiträgen von:
Hans-Georg Gadamer, Carl-Friedrich von
Weizsäcker, René Thom, Emmanuel Le
Roy Ladurie, Aleksander Gieysztor, Gerhard Ebeling, Józef Tischner, Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde, Robert Spaemann,
Charles Taylor, Emmanuel Lévinas
Molvania was actually Portugal – a country located
as far to the west of Europe as geographically possible. In fact, experienced travelers can see that
many of the book’s photographs were actually
taken in southern Italy or on the Iberian Peninsula.
But the Australian authors are right to talk about
geographical ambiguity “in that part of the world”.
One can safely assume that no other part is so
densely inhabited by purely imagined nations.
Apart from the fictitious states already mentioned in this paper there are also Slaka, invented by
British writer Malcolm Bradbury; Orsinia, created
by the American science fiction writer Ursula Le
Guin; and Vulgaria, where the British writers Ian
Fleming and Roald Dahl located some parts of their
book for children, “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”
Video game designers also seem to enjoy locating
their fictitious states on this part of the globe – apart
from the games that we have mentioned already,
there is for example “Republic: The Revolution”,
designed by Elixir; a game that simulates leading
the democratic opposition in the “post-soviet Republic of Novistrana”; or Volgia as the setting of a
dark political thriller videogame, “In Cold Blood”
by Revolution Software.
Comic book fans will certainly know the Central European states of Syldavia and Borduria as the
settings of popular albums from the Tintin series by
the Belgian author Herge. And one should not forget Krakozhia, home of Victor Navarski, the main
protagonist of a recent movie by Steven Spielberg,
“The Terminal.” And last but not least the kingdom
of Ruritania, first mentioned by Anthony Hope in
his novel The Prisoner of Zenda, but then used by
various authors whenever they needed an imaginary country for their narrative (including economists from the Austrian School).
These imaginary states are usually created by
people of the West and most often, while they are
ostensibly located somewhere to the East, they are
actually used by the West to depict the West in
disguise – just as Molvania is really Portugal. The
same happens with countries that do exist in reality.
One of the best examples is Bram Stoker’s
Transylvania. Needless to say, Stoker never has been
to Transylvania nor had he any particular interest in
that region. As we know today, he originally considered the Austrian province of Styria to be the birthplace of his famous blood-thirsty count, whose
name was supposed to be simply “Count
Wampyr”. However, he accidentally found a mention of “Voivod Dracula”, with the explanation that
Dracula means “devil” in the local language of the
“Wallachians” – thus Count Wampyr changed his
name and moved with his coffin about a thousand
kilometers to the East.
While Vlad Dracula was indeed a historical
medieval ruler, he has no visible connection with
Wojciech Orlinski GUEST CONTRIBUTION
Bram Stoker’s Dracula, just as Bram
Stoker’s Transylvania has little to do with
the real region, now a part of modern Romania. In Stoker’s novel, the young solicitor Jonathan Haker travels east to
Transylvania hoping to strike a good deal
on real estate with the mysterious Count.
As a result, he finds himself imprisoned
and haunted by female vampires. He
bravely manages to escape their charms,
but Count Dracula arrives in England.
Lots of horror and carnage on English soil
follow, but it all ends well when Jonathan,
acting under firm guidance of good old
professor Van Helsing, manages to chase
Dracula back into his castle and finally kill
him for good.
Sexual innuendo throughout the
book makes it obvious, that the story is not
about Eastern Europe, but about subconscious fears and desires of Victorian society. Thus, the stereotypical portrayal of
the Eastern horror is not about Eastern
Europe, it is about the West looking for
skeletons in its own closet. This is even
more obvious in the case of the book’s unofficial movie adaptation, “Nosferatu,”
shot by F.W. Murnau in 1922. As it was
aptly demonstrated by Siegfried Kracauer
in his book From Caligari To Hitler, German expressionist horror movies were portraying the fears of the German middleclass in the Weimar Republic, fears that
culminated in putting blind trust in
Hitler as a sort of alleged Van Helsing who
promised to chase the dreadful eastern
monsters back to their homelands. It is
even striking to what extent the visual language used to create horror in Murnau’s
“Nosferatu” resembles the language of
Nazi propaganda.
Stoker’s “Dracula” and Murnau’s
“Nosferatu” present the stereotype of the
Eastern horror in its purest form. It can be
described as: 1. A young and naive Westerner invites someone from the East or accepts an invitation and travel eastwards (or
both); 2. Something terrible happens due
to this mistake and he suffers greatly; 3.
Other Westerners also suffer or their lives
are in jeopardy; 4. Luckily, under the
guidance of an experienced and wise representative of the Western civilization, the
young and naive Westerner is able to repair all the damages he has caused.
During the Cold War, this scheme
was often repeated in James Bond spy
thrillers, where agent 007 was playing the
role of the experienced and wise representative of the Western civilization, whereas
democratic Western governments were
cast for the “young and naive” role, as they
foolishly allowed refugees from the East –
such as Max Zorin or Auric Goldfinger –
to settle in the West and run their profitable businesses, while it’s all too obvious
that these businesses are nothing but a
cover for their real activity in Soviet intelligence. Finally, some kind of Van Helsing
must arrive and save the day – Western
civilization prevails in the end.
This scheme makes it easy to understand why the authors of the guide to
“Molvania” have chosen this particular region. If you want to make a macabre joke
about a young and naive Western tourist
who went somewhere to see great vistas
and subsequently died in a cable-car accident, it’s natural – and stereotypical – to
make him travel to Eastern Europe. In reality it could also happen in – say – Italy,
but it wouldn’t be as funny, as there
would be no appeal to the stereotypes we
all have in mind.
By saying “we”, I mean also those
who live in Central-Eastern Europe. We
get the joke and we laugh at it, because –
to quote Mayakovsky – we think it’s “not
about us, it’s about our neighbors.” Poles
will think that Molvania is actually
Belarus, Czechs will locate it perhaps in
Slovakia, Hungarians most probably will
say it’s very much like Romania. We all
know the “fear of the East” as it is something deeply rooted in our own popular
culture. And in fact, it is something significantly older than popular culture itself; its origins can be traced to the ancient
times and the period of the barbaric invasions from the East.
This stereotype unfortunately has
visible political implications for the contemporary European Union. After all, the
idea of enlarging the boundaries of the
Union is all too similar to the first part of
the “eastern horror” stereotype, when the
naive Westerner invites someone from the
East. Economists and politicians say that it
was a rational thing to do – but the subconscious fear of those raised on spy thrillers and vampire tales also takes its toll.
To quote The London Times from
March 24, 2005: “France heaved a sigh of
relief yesterday after it emerged from the
European Union summit in Brussels that
President Chirac had won his battle
against the monster that has been terrorizing his country. The creature’s name is
Bolkestein’s directive (…) Frits Bolkestein,
a Dutch member of the last Commission,
merely sought to implement a 45-year-old
commitment to open European frontiers
for the service industries that now account
for 70 per cent of its economy (…) Leftwing opponents have succeeded in demonizing the directive as the harbinger of
the hell of ‘social dumping’. In the popular view, this means invasion by cut-price
Polish plumbers, Estonian electricians and
Slovenian surgeons, who will push French
professionals out of business.”
Anyone who ever tried to find a good
plumber in Warsaw must at least giggle
trying to imagine something like a horde
of Polish plumbers invading France, especially when you consider that all of them
would have to speak French fluently
enough to apply for a job in this language,
while in fact finding one that would speak
proper Polish might be difficult enough.
The fear of francophone Polish plumbers
is no more rational than fearing Nosferatu
or James Bond villains. However, it is not
just the French who are haunted by these
nightmares after 2004 – nightmares of
monsters likely to come from the East.
Since in reality we cannot hope to be saved
by Professor Van Helsing or Commander
Bond, the least we can do is to inform
these monsters in their native language
that the safety vault is automatic and
alarmed.
Wojciech Orlinski is a journalist working at the
cultural desk of the Polish daily Gazeta
Wyborcza and currently Milena Jesenska
Fellow at the IWM. He specializes in the many
aspects of popular culture.
No. 88
Spring 2005
31
IWM EVENTS
Upcoming Events
The following events will take place at the
IWM at 6 p.m.
Die folgenden Veranstaltungen finden um
18:00 Uhr in der Bibliothek des IWM statt.
24. Mai
Reihe: Über Morgen
21. Juni
On Modern History of Central and Eastern Europe
Lucian Hölscher
Professor für Neuere Geschichte an der RuhrUniversität Bochum
Norman Naimark
Robert and Florence McDonnell Professor of East European Studies at Stanford University and currently
Körber Visiting Fellow at the IWM
Hat die „Zukunft“ eine Zukunft?
Kommentator:
Karl Öllinger
Abgeordneter zum Nationalrat, Sozialsprecher und
stellvertretender Bundessprecher der Grünen
In Zusammenarbeit mit
der Grünen Bildungswerkstatt
31. Mai
32
Christa Bürger
bis 1998 als Professorin am Institut für Deutsche
Sprache und Literatur der Universität Frankfurt/M.
tätig
Peter Bürger
bis 1998 Professor für Literaturwissenschaft und
Ästhetische Theorie an der Universität Bremen
Adorno – Adorno
In Zusammenarbeit mit dem Renner Institut
2. Juni, Achtung! Donnerstag
Reihe: Über Morgen
Susan Buck-Morss
Professor of Political Philosophy and Social Theory at
Cornell University, Ithaka
Visual Experience and Global Imagination
Kommentatorin:
Marie Ringler
Gemeinderätin und Kultursprecherin der Wiener
Grünen
In Zusammenarbeit mit
der Grünen Bildungswerkstatt
7. Juni
On Modern History of Central and Eastern Europe
János Mátyás Kovács
Professor of Economics and IWM Permanent Fellow
“Little America” On the Role of Eastern European
Economic Cultures in the EU
14. Juni
Frits Bolkestein
Former member of the European Commission and currently IWM Visiting Fellow
Fin de siècle of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
NO. 88
Spring 2005
Stalin and Europe: Soviet Foreign Policy and
European Politics, 1945-1953
Tischner Debates
The IWM and
Warsaw University
have jointly
launched a new
series in remembrance of the
Polish priest and
philosopher Jozef
Tischner, former
President of the IWM.
The Public Role of Religion
May 20, 2005, Warsaw University
Introduction: Charles Taylor
Professor of Philosophy, Northwestern University, Chicago; Chair of the IWM Academic Advisory Board
Participants:
Adam Boniecki
Editor-in-chief, Tygodnik Powszechny
Jaroslaw Kaczynski
Chairman of the “Law and Justice” party
Marcin Krol
Professor of the History of Ideas; member of the IWM
Academic Advisory Board
Tadeusz Mazowiecki
A Leader of the “Democratic Party”; former Prime
Minister of Poland
Impressum
Responsible for the
contens of the IWM Post:
Institut für
die Wissenschaften
vom Menschen
Spittelauer Lände 3
1090 Wien
AUSTRIA
Ph. (+43 1) 313 58-0
F. (+43 1) 313 58-30
[email protected]
www.iwm.at
Editor
Sabine Aßmann
Editorial Assistance
Romana Lanzerstorfer,
Anna Verner
Production Manager,
Layout
Iris Strohschein
Photos
Renate Apostel,
Audiovisual Library of
the European Commission, IHS Boston
University, IWM,
Bruno Klomfar
Design
Gerri Zotter
The IWM Post is
published four times a
year. Current circulation:
6200. Printed by Rema
Print.
© IWM 2005