Changing conceptions of "Europe" in selected countries of Central Eastern Europe : a comparative analysis of pre-1989 era with the EU accession process

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2004
Alpan, Başak
Departing from the idea of a slippery ideological surface over which the term أEuropeؤ is conceptualized, which is continuously susceptible to shifts and redefinitions, this thesis is devoted to the attempt to outline the differences between the two ways of the conceptualization of أEuropeؤ in Central Eastern Europe in two specific periods and political contexts. The first period mentioned is the early 1980s, or pre-1989 period, punctuated with the Central European intellectuals̕ (the so-called dissidents̕) discourse on the أEuropeanؤ affiliation of the region-especially in cultural terms. The transformation literature is also mentioned in order to pose the counter-factual arguments of this intellectual strand. The second period mentioned is the late 1990s and early 2000s, where the idea of أEuropeؤ is identified with the EU and the EU accession. In this respect, Poland and Hungary are chosen as the sample countries for the scrutiny of the second period. Euro-discourses of the political parties and the concept of أparty-based Euroscepticismؤ are scrutinised. The Polish and Hungarian media and the public opinion are also investigated to understand how and with what references أEuropeؤ is conceptualised in late 1990s and early 2000s in the political space of Central Eastern Europe. Thus, in this study, the basic claim is that the intense debates and the literature on the أEuropeannessؤ of Central Europe and on the transition that these countries have to realize in order to be أEuropeanؤ do not have a substantial basis in the conceptualization of أEuropeؤ in the current political spaces of Poland and Hungary.

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Citation Formats
B. Alpan, “Changing conceptions of “Europe” in selected countries of Central Eastern Europe : a comparative analysis of pre-1989 era with the EU accession process,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2004.