Pan-Slavism, its Ambiguities and Conflicting Interpretations

This chapter aims at contributing to a revision of an established view of pan-Slavism, which has been often reduced to its political dimension and the state-building process in Central- and South-Eastern Europe. This contribution has therefore two main goals. The first one is to give back to pan-Slavism all its multidimensionality and integral ambiguities, and the second is to examine expressions of pan-Slavic ideas also including a grass root perspective. The analysis will highlight the many, variegated and sometimes even conflicting interpretations elaborated by the historical actors during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Secondly, the chapter will examine some cases of concrete implications of the pan-Slavist rhetoric observing it from a perspective “from below,” which considers the practices of pan-Slavism. The illustration of cases of alliances as well as rivalries, which the idea of Slavic solidarity and reciprocity could provoke, shows the potential of pan-Slavist discourses in terms of both promoting supra-national cultures, as well as imperialist projects.