ProEUCulture in new collaborative project between AESC and the Ukrainian European Studies Association.
The Regional Government of Styria (Austria), under grant ABT09-35/2021, is supporting AESC in collaboration with UESA to conduct a comparative study on the impact of cultural festivals in Lvivska oblast (Ukraine) and Kakheti region (Georgia) on the formation of a European identity.
The narrative of Europeanisation represents a strong pull factor in both countries. But it is contested ground because there is much political dissatisfaction with the current elites, and Russian “soft power” is insinuating that Ukraine after Euromaidan is a failed state while Georgian cultural roots in Orthodoxy and many centuries of close connections make the attempt of the EU to create a Europeanisation narrative supposedly unfeasible. From a more critical perspective, there are also voices that claim that the EU’s neo-liberal policies play into the hands of local elites who abuse public office to seek rents for themselves while promoting a Europeanisation narrative for the single purpose of creating the illusion of economic progress.
The comparative study will be presented and discussed at a workshop in Graz (Austria) with representatives of the Styrian government, Lvivska oblast and Kakheti.
Lead researchers for the policy study are Prof. Natalya Shalenna and Ms. Maya Targamadze, UESA is represented by Prof. Oksana Holovko-Havrysheva.