Welcome to the ENRI-East project website!
Principal Investigator,
Prof. Hans-Georg Heinrich
Project Coordinator
Dr. Alexander Chvorostov
Dear visitor,
Welcome to the ENRI-East project website!
ENRI-East is an acronym for an international research project with a full title “Interplay of European, National and Regional Identities: nations between states along the new eastern borders of the European Union”. This project is supported and primarily funded by the European Commission through its Seventh Framework Program (FP7).
The call for more research (”more research is needed”) is often powered by the needs of scientists themselves and not by those of the potential beneficiaries of the investigation. This project seeks not only to generate new knowledge and new data, but tries to find answers to concrete questions and problems that rank high on the political agenda of the EU. The fracas around the Lissabon Treaty demonstrates that the idea of the Union does not “go over” and that there is a problem with the image it projects. The problem is compounded by the fact, that identities have become flexible and opaque under the impact of increased mobility. They can go with a deep commitment to values and symbols, but can also be chosen out of pragmatic considerations, a phenomenon which can also be observed in the transition to a lifestyle society.
So we are dealing with a delicate subject and are facing a challenging task, which entails a multitude of theoretical and practical questions, from establishing basic criteria to sampling and data analysis. We are, however, confident to be able to deliver and make a contribution in promoting the European idea.
Eleven teams embracing more than 50 scientists from ten EU and CIS countries work closely within the frameworks of the ENRI-East project to acquire new knowledge and achieve a deeper understanding of the interplay of European, national and regional identities along the new eastern borders of the European Union.
[read more about the project's goals, objectives and methods]
[read more about the project's consortium]
We have chosen a slogan for the project, “Moving peoples and moving borders” that reflects a highly dynamic social and political landscape of the Eastern Europe. The geographical coverage of the project includes four regions that are located along the line that divides (or unites!) the European continent into its “Western” and “Eastern” parts. Such line has many dimensions, such as historical (it is a constantly moving borderline), political (power games, geopolitics, wars and peace) or social (peoples’ habits, cultures, religions)… Thus, in order to better understand what exactly is uniting or dividing peoples of Europe along and across this line, we have designed the ENRI-East project and have selected four regions for an in-depth analysis. These regions are conventionally labeled as “Baltic region”, “Eastern Europe”, “Central Europe” and “Carpathian basin”.
[read more about the project's regions
The whole project lasts three and a half years, 2008-2011. We have been designing the project in the Spring 2007 and the official commencement day is 1st April 2008. Having accomplished a number of preparatory efforts, such as preliminary analysis of literature, adjustment of theoretical frameworks, statistical studies and survey design (by the Spring 2009), the consortium shall implement a series of innovative international sociological surveys. First project results combining the newly gained empirical knowledge and the agglomerated background knowledge shall be published in 2010. At the final stage of project implementation (Winter/Spring 2010/2011) we organize a chain of workshops in the four selected regions and a concluding open conference in Vienna (Spring 2001).
[read more about the project's timeline]
This website is designed as a primary communication platform for project members and a wider audience of social scientists involved in identity studies and researchers doing regional studies in Eastern Europe. Furthermore, this site is thought as one of the main dissemination tools to communicate the project results to international academic communities, politicians, NGOs and the public interested in the project themes.
We have designed this website in English, German and Russian assuming that these three languages are most common in the countries where the ENRI-East project is implemented.
At the same time we took the convenience decision that the official working language of the project be English. This means in particular that most project deliverables shall be produced and published in English. Another linguistic implication would be the “consecutive” mode of translations: German and Russian web-updates shall be accomplished with certain delays.
[read more about the project's dissemination activities]
We hope the information we have collected and presented on this website would be interesting and useful for you, your colleagues and friends and to win You as frequent visitors of our website and welcome your comments.