Regional heterotopia of Central Europe: 'Lost' identity in the process of deterritorialisation of Europe

Abstract

© 2016 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. In this text, the authors reflect on the historical, political and geographical changes of discourse on Central Europe. We claim that the contemporary re-Actualisation of this discourse faces the continent with a form of regional heterotopia and the geography of the scattered - where the old contours of borders, space and territoriality can no longer be defined. Despite its different meanings, historically the discourse on Central Europe has had real implications for integrative political processes. Since this discourse of the European inner other cannot be placed in the 'imaginary centre' of Europe anymore, we discuss the significance of this discourse as a model that reflects the contemporary processes of deconstruction of the conventional geography of territorialisation and as a model of cultural identity that has a potential for political motivation in the processes of integration in European and international institutions as opposed to the models of local national separation and closure.