Residual pan-Slavism and representations of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Eastern Europe

Abstract

This public talk will contextualize our work on the upcoming Palgrave volume on Pan-Slavism in the contemporary perspective. The first part of the talk (Vladimir Đorđević) will pay special attention to how and why the Russian role in the invasion of Ukraine has been presented and framed in the media in the region of the Western Balkans. The primary concern is the framing of the Pan-Slavic agenda by local media and political elites. In the case of Serbia, many of them are either pro-Russian and/or significantly anti-Western in their approach. The second part of the talk (Marek Čejka) will focus on visual representations of Pan-Slavism in historic and contemporary discourses. There will be presented main Pan-Slavic symbols used now, and the presentation with be accompanied by selected photos from various events and demonstrations where pan-Slavist symbols appear (eg. rides of the Night Wolves motorcycle gang).

This public talk is timed to the visit of Marek Čejka and Vladimir Đorđević to the University of Copenhagen, during which they will present the volume, co-edited by Mikhail Suslov, Marek Čejka and Vladimir Đorđević, and entitled “Pan-Slavism and Slavophilia in Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe - Origins, Manifestations and Functions” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022).

Bios

Vladimir Đorđević is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Territorial Studies, Mendel University in Brno. Vladimir does research in International Relations, Human Rights, Europeanization, Security, and Foreign Policy. His most recent publications include: “Revisiting Pan-Slavism in the Contemporary Perspective” (co-authored) in Nationalities Papers (2022); “Regional security cooperation revisited: the Western Balkans as the future security provider” (co-authored) in European Secutiry (2021), and the co-authored book Balkanizing Europeanization: Fight against Corruption and Regional Relations in the Western Balkans (Peter Lang, 2019).

Marek Čejka is an Associate Professor at the Department of Territorial Studies, Mendel University in Brno. Marek’s academic profile includes studies on human rights, conflict processes, international relations, and international security. Among his recent publications, there are: “Beyond Contemporary Scholarship and toward Exploring Current Manifestations of Pan-Slavism” (co-authored) in Canadian-American Slavic Studies (2021), “Christian Armed Groups - A Forgotten Actor of the Middle Eastern Conflicts” in Obrana a strategie (2020), “The narrative of the Czech-Israeli strategic relations in the European context” in Central-European Journal of International and Security Studies (2017).