What the Shape of Europe is according to
Sara Boutall
– Aspen Young Leaders

Sara Boutall

CEO, Anthropologica
Aspen Young Leaders Program Alumna

Central Europe – a leader, or a follower of global trends?

I’m an archaeologist. I love digging around in nations’ pasts. Understanding Central Europe’s history is key to understanding its status quo. But defining Central Europe is tricky; Schenk, Johnson, and Katzenstein all have different views. This in itself poses an obstacle for Central Europeans in terms of identity. We simply don’t quite know our own place in the world, which has ramifications on our policy.

Let’s take the Visegrad Four as a definition of Central Europe. This particular constellation is glued by a common cultural heritage and by the experience of oppression and terror under Communism, Nazism, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This ‘underdog’ past has led V4 nations to be generally pro-entrepreneurial, state-skeptical, and unenthusiastic about foreign powers forcing policies from outside.

These countries also have a determination to survive, a general reliance on family units, economic nationalism, shy patriotism (our countries are roughly only 100 years old) and a willingness to take risks – mainly because we have often had nothing to lose. Countries such as Britain and France have a very different approach to policy-making. They’re trying to preserve centuries of global domination, tradition and structure. Conversely, the V4 has a ‘hacky’, trial-and-error attitude which leads to some amazing successes. The Czech Republic is a global hub for the AI. Poland is projected to grow 6 times faster than Germany. Slovakia’s exports are booming. Hungary is attracting large investments into its tech startups.

However, we must be careful. Holy speaks of the ‘small-mindedness’, embedded jealousy, and fear of our neighbors (triggered partly by the neighborhood spies network used by the Gestapo and Communist secret police). This phenomenon has seeped to the highest echelons; corruption, blackmail, and conflict of interest amongst politicians are commonplace, and only enforce the public’s apathy with the state, creating an unhealthy chasm between politicians and citizens. Plus, there’s the brain-drain, relatively low purchasing power, and low salaries compared to the West. 

Central Europe needs to attract and keep its young entrepreneurial population, move hard against corruption, and support the growing technology sector in which it has so much potential. It also psychologically needs to shed (but never forget) its painful past in order to build a resilient future and be a true, confident leader on the world stage. We cannot be followers for another century.

The text was created on the occasion of the Aspen Annual Conference “The Shape of Central Europe 2019”. Short Aspen Young Leaders’ insights on the current situation in Central Europe were published in the conference book.