Eastern Europe Beyond Empires - (Postcolonial Studies) by Julia Steenpaß & Antonia Stüwe & Manuel Asratian & Luca Lang (Paperback)

About the Book

Rethinking Eastern Europe: Imperial legacies, and knowledge production in a multipolar world.

Book Synopsis

What can Eastern Europe reveal about a world beyond empires? This volume brings together emerging scholars from across Europe to reexamine imperial legacies, postcolonial perspectives, and evolving regional identities in an increasingly multipolar age. The contributors challenge established narratives and inherited geopolitical assumptions while offering fresh insights into the forces reshaping global politics today. Drawing on original empirical research as well as broader reflections on world order, they speak to scholars of Eastern Europe and Area Studies and engage wider debates in international relations, history, and contemporary political thought.

About the Author

Julia Steenpaß is a master's student in Eastern European Studies with a bachelor's degree in geography. Her research interests lie in the fields of international relations, postcoloniality and governance. She has extensive professional experience in promoting democracy and dialogue as well as in international urban development. She is also active at Grand Strategy Europe e.V. and at the Munich Security Conference and founded the interdisciplinary student conference Beyond Empires.

Antonia Stüwe works for the Institute for Eastern European Studies at Freie Universität Berlin, where she is also pursuing a master's degree in Political Sociology. Her research focuses on autocracy and security dynamics in Eastern Europe. She has many years of experience in international communication and academic collaboration and volunteers for human rights causes in Belarus and Ukraine, promotes German-Baltic relations, and is involved with the Munich Security Conference.

Manuel Asratian is a master's student in political science at the Otto Suhr Institute at Freie Universität Berlin, where he has also been working as a student assistant at the Institute for Eastern European Studies since 2023. He previously earned his bachelor's degree in history and political science with a thesis on Russian memory politics. His research focuses on authoritarian regimes, memory politics, and international relations. He is a fellow of the Heinrich Böll Foundation and coordinates the foundation's regional-analytical group »Ostwärts«.

Luca Lang studies Eastern European Studies at Freie Universität Berlin. He previously earned a bachelor's degree in communication studies and sociology from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. He has been a fellow of the Max Weber Program since 2018 and works as a freelance journalist.