The Land in Between: The “Eastern Question” as Contemporary History in South-Eastern Europe - Detailseite

The question of the fate of the territories after the potential retreat of the Ottoman Empire from South-Eastern Europe preoccupied the minds of the elites of the Great Powers during the whole of the 19^th Century. In the midst of open completion for spheres of influence in a multi-polar balance of power system, the new states that emerged in the region had to negotiate a myriad of not only internal problems of social integration but also issues of strategic survival at international level. Paradoxically, the Eastern Question was, in theory, resolved not with the division of these lands among the three Empires that surrounded them but with the disappearance of the Habsburg, Romanov and Ottoman Empires. Almost a hundred years after this event, South-Eastern Europe is once again “the land in between” three potential competitors, this time in the shape of the EU, Turkey and Russia. This seminar will offer a critical overview of the main events of the 19^th century in order to assess their relevance for the present and the ways this past is used as a reservoir of legitimacy for the political projects of the future.

 Mazower, Mark The Balkans: From the end of Byzantium to the present day (London, 2000) Chapter 3: Eastern Questions pp. 86-115