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This volume by an international team of scholars addresses the historical trajectory and current path of Pan-Slavism. Born in the early nineteenth century, Pan-Slavism represents an attempt to transcend localized identities and create a higher sense of awareness within the ethnolinguistic group. The concept has demonstrated a strong potential for mobilization across a larger territorial and cultural space than the homelands of its individual advocates. The ostensible goal is for the "brotherhood and unity" of Slavic peoples, but mutual relations between the groupings have not always been harmonious. The thesis of this collection, if one exists, concerns the intricate love-hate relationship between the members of the Slavic world and the continued potency of the ideology.The volume is structured around five sections: "Pan-Slavism as History," "Pan-Slavism as a (Political) Tool," "On Pan-Slavism, Identity, and Other Issues," "On Pan-Slavism, East vs. West Divide, and Orthodoxy," and "An Ethnographic Look on Pan-Slavism." Each section contains two to four chapters of approximately equal length. The collection is well researched and provides the most comprehensive account of Pan-Slavism in English since the pioneering work of Hans Kohn.After an introduction by the editors dealing with methodology, the chapters provide case studies of how Pan-Slavic agendas inspired national liberation struggles. Mikhail Suslov begins Part 1 with an essay on the Russian origins of Pan-Slavism and its recurrent resurgence. Suslov profiles the intellectual forerunners (e.g., Aleksei Khomiakov, Nikolai Danilevsky, and Mikhail Katkov) to demonstrate the gradual disconnect from a liberal idea to a right-wing political-cultural movement. The following chapter by Jakub Woroncow assesses the impact of pro-Russian Pan-Slavism in Poland. We are reminded of how the goal of liberation evolved into a propaganda tool of oppression. Susan Baker concludes Part 1 with a chapter revisiting the classic thinkers Ljudovit Gaj, Vuk Karadžić, and Jovan Skerlić.Part 2 opens with an essay by Suslov covering geopolitical populism in Putin's Russia, illustrating how today's Kremlin employs a loose collection of concepts and policies to promote notions of victimization and Slavic solidarity. The subsequent piece by Veera Laine, Alaiksei Lastouski, and Ryhor Nizhnikau probes conditions in Belarus, where President Alexander Lukashenko has encouraged the congregations of all-Slavic assemblies to demonstrate the connections to neighboring peoples, primarily Ukraine and Russia ("Three countries—one people"). The following chapter by Dejana Vukasović and Miša Stojadinović analyzes the imagery and mythology of Pan-Slavism in the collective identity of contemporary Serbs, with an emphasis on how the special Serbian-Russian relationship has influenced foreign policy and identity. A companion piece by Przemysław Witkowski explores the multifaceted nature of Pan-Slavism in Poland.Part 3 opens with an essay by Tin Puljić and Senada Šelo Šabić on Pan-Slavism in Croatia, where ideas of cultural, linguistic, and historical commonalities have had little resonance because of a preference for South Slavism. The following chapter by Cvete Koneska on Macedonian national identity illuminates contemporary politics. Next, a contribution by Mykola Riabchuk employs statistics to demonstrate the ambivalence of many Ukrainians regarding their relations with Russia and the Slavonic idea.In Part 4, Nevena Nancheva delves into Bulgaria's search for national and geopolitical identity as a Slavic country with a deep historical legacy. Nancheva's original entry or provides a glimpse from the perspective of gender relations and human rights. The subsequent chapter by Vladimir Vučković and Miloš Petrović investigates Montenegro with a focus on the supranational idea of Slavic Orthodoxy. The next essay by Miroslav Mareš and Petra Mlejnková analyzing the role of Pan-Slavism in the Czech Republic warns of the danger of extremist political agendas. The section's last chapter by Juraj Marušiak examines Slovakia and the emergence of a pseudo-Pan-Slavism in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict after 2014.In the final section, Jasmin Hasić and Maja Savić-Bojanić survey Pan-Slavism in diaspora communities in the United States, and Keith Doubt studies Pan-Slavism in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The book concludes with an afterward by Marlene Laruelle and an appendix of illustrations.The volume overall provides innovative analysis of the ideology from the main regions of inquiry. The general conclusion concerns the evolution of Pan-Slavism from the cultural and literary realm to the political and ideological arena. In many respects, Pan-Slavism has become a powerful political fantasy. Used as a foil for the pragmatic interests of empires, it has also exhibited weakness: the trope of Russia as protector has forced some Slavic nations to resist Moscow's impulses. It should be noted that no Russian-based scholars contributed to this book.Today, Pan-Slavism endures as an illiberal political agenda as well as a vision of a just world consisting of several autonomous civilizations. As debates about unity continue, Pan-Slavism possesses a conceptual vagueness that can be used as a convenient tool to frame the West as the enemy.
Lucien Frary (Wed,) studied this question.