Debating the Global East with Colleagues

Abstract

The foreword to the thematic issue deals with the attempts to institutionalize and promote the central concept of the Global East. It discusses the “transfer” of the results of the geographical and epistemological reflection between different professional and intellectual communities and networks formed by specialists and “sympathizers”. The role of “face-to-face” discussions in attracting and retaining the interest of colleagues in the conceptual movement, the benefits of which are not obvious to all, is emphasized. It is stated that the debate about the new concept and its ability to generate changes in the organization of knowledge in and about the post-socialist region of the world is important for strengthening cooperation and activating interdisciplinary international research and its publication. It is argued that professional networks and the ways in which knowledge is disseminated within and between them depends on informal social connections. These connections become points of the crystallization of scientific collaboration or the exchange between different groups of specialists. © 2020, RUSSIAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW. All rights reserved.