The Global East and the Globe

Abstract

The article is a detailed response to the text by Martin Müller “In Search for the Global East”, written on the basis of the experience of a scientist specializing in post-socialist realities, and included in the global circulation of social and humanitarian knowledge. It deals with the possibility of reflection of the place of the post-socialist part of the world in the world as a whole, from the point of view of a community formed by those who live in the post-socialist space and those who explore different aspects of post-socialist life. The genealogy of discussions about the Global South and the Global North, which are fundamental for such disciplines as geography (political, economic, and human) and urban studies, as well as the formation of the conceptual link of “development = the global South” in the political history of the second half of the twentieth century and in the intellectual history of this period is discussed. It is argued that the Global South is actively discussed in the global debates of geographers, urbanists, and historians. It also occupies a prominent place in transnational, big stories about what is happening in the world, and with the world. At the same time, the post-socialist world (Müller proposes the name “Global East” for it) occupies an insignificant place in these narratives. “Development” (no matter how different and controversial it may be) in relation to that part of the “global” which is comprised from Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia, is understood as a task of national governments, and which must be solved by following Western recipes. The article explains the reasons for the lack of understanding of what this region means today, as well as the difficulties of conducting and popularizing research about it, in particular, the ongoing post-colonial decentralization of the West as a privileged place of knowledge production. The conclusion of the article is that much more research is needed in which different perceptions of the global are compared, including the ones generated in/by the “Global East”. © 2020, RUSSIAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW. All rights reserved.