Abstract
Eastern Europe is more than only a pure geographical term; it is an invention of the eighteenth century. Later, it became a catchword for the Soviet bloc. The puzzle consists in the fact that it did not disappear after the end-of-state socialism. The paper presents good causes as to why there should be further pursuing of an academic discipline of area studies on Eastern Europe. The thesis will be demonstrated by resuming the discussion about the nature of state socialism.
Notes
1. See for the whole of the discussion in the journal “Osteuropa” the volume edited by Creuzberger u.a. (Citation2000).
2. Compare Attila Ágh (Citation1998): He has differentiated between Central Europe, Southeastern Europe and the “proper Eastern Europe”; the latter is identical with the successor states of Soviet Union minus the Baltic States.
3. See: http://www.forschungsstelle.uni-bremen.de/ (the text is originally written in German, read at November 15, 2012, translation into English by D.S.).
4. The results of the conference were published in a book by the Vienna publishing house Braumüller (Segert Citation2007.)
5. The term “footprint” was coined by David Lane (Citation2005, 48).
6. See the Marxian term “ursprüngliche Akkumulation des Kapitals” in “Das Kapital”, vol. 1, chap. 23 (Marx Citation1967).
7. The question remains whether and if so to which degree the state socialist modernization was able to override the backwardness. But the answer could be given only in empirical analyses.
8. Compare Yurchak, chapter “Activists, dissidents and svoi” (Citation2006, 102–108).