Principal Investigator: Isabella Löhr (Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam (ZZF), CMB Berlin)
Funding: Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
Project partners: CEU – Democracy Institute in Budapest, New Europe College in Bucharest, Institute of Political Science at Leipzig University
Duration: 2024 – 2026

Website: steppe.hypotheses.org/

The European Union is facing immense political challenges. In many countries, democratic principles are being questioned and “illiberal policies” are being explicitly positioned as a defense of national values against the “liberal values of the West”. “Liberal democracies” and ‘illiberal regimes’ are thus juxtaposed and old dichotomies are revived: while Eastern Europe is said to have a democratic and rule of law deficit, Western Europe appears to be merely interested in maintaining its discursive and political dominance. This East/West opposition lends a geopolitical and territorial dimension to the crisis of confidence between the European states.

Against this background, the project examines the transnational dimensions of political movements and ideological conflicts in Europe. The BMBF project started in July 2024 at the Centre Marc Bloch. It questions the dichotomy between Western and Eastern Europe as an analytical category for understanding historical and current social developments and political conflicts.

STEPPE addresses multidirectional transfers and the underlying experiences that have shaped European societies. East-West interdependencies are highlighted as a central but often overlooked component of European political culture and social ideas. Four thematic approaches structure the project: three forms of ideological transfer (liberal, illiberal, left) as well as transnational academic networks that both observe and shape the exchange.

For this purpose, an international network with partners in Central Eastern and South Eastern Europe is being established and expanded. As part of regular network meetings, a fellow program with short-term fellowships for young researchers and targeted training, a follow-up application for EU research funding is being developed in the project.