Globalizing Eastern Europe

Gilad Ben-Nun is professor for global studies at Leipzig University, where he teaches history of International Law, and Muslim-Jewish relations.Katja Castryck-Naumann is senior researcher at the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO) Leipzig.Lena Dallywater is researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography Leipzig, Germany and coordinator of the Leibniz Science Campus “Eastern Europe – Global Area” (EEGA).

It is no coincidence that the cover of this book features Warsaw, a city caught between East and West, different cultures and languages, ‘globalized’ for centuries, voluntarily and forcibly, by Poles and Jews, Russians and Germans. At least until the early 1990s, I associated this city, where my family has lived for five generations, not so much with globalization as with isolation and backwardness. This book, pioneering and surprising, allows me to verify this view and look at Eastern Europe from a different, non-stereotypical side. It shows how diverse, innovative, and at the same time hardly noticed and appreciated the region's contribution to the global sphere of ideas, science or culture is. It demonstrates the need to look holistically, broadly, and deeply, and it teaches but also warns—a must-read for these difficult times.

• Preface Matthias MiddellAcknowledgementsIntroduction Ben-Nun, Castryck-Naumann, DallywaterCh. 1 Longue Durée Connectivity: Islam in Eastern Europe from the 11th to the 21st century Zaur GasimovCh. 2: Recent Dynamics: Natural Resources, Environmental Policies, and Climate Change Benjamin BeuerlePart I: International Political and Legal SpheresEditor’s Cohesion Notes: Actors of Global ChangeCh. 3: Shaping the International Sphere: Eastern Europe’s Involvement in International Organisations Katja Castryck-NaumannCh. 4: Beyond ‘Western’ Standards: Global Imprints on Domestic Law Azar AliyevCh. 5: Socialist Childhoods: Internationalising Education and Children’s Rights Elizabeth WhiteCh. 6: Eastern Europe’s Impacts on Modern International Law Gilad Ben-NunPart II: Impacts on Cultures and SocietiesEditor’s Cohesion Notes: Encounters between Worlds – Mobility and TransferCh. 7: Literature and Film: Aesthetics of a Region Mónika Dánél / Stephan KrauseCh. 8: Migration and Migratory Impacts: Coping Strategies on a Global Scale Michael G. EschCh. 9: Transnational and Global Aspects of Eastern European Music History Stefan KeymPart III: Forays into Global Economic ProcessesEditor’s Cohesion Notes: Moments of Global ChangeCh. 10: Positioning Strategies in the Global Commodity Market since 1850 Uwe MüllerCh. 11: Into ‘History’s Dustbin’? Visions of Economic Development (1917–1989) Max TreckerCh. 12: Regional Development and Core-Periphery Divides Thilo LangCh. 13: Eastern Europe and China Lela RekhviashviliEditors and AuthorsAbbreviationsIndex