Lukes Interviewed on EU Rift With Poland and Turkey
Igor Lukes, Professor of International Relations and History at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was recently interviewed on the growing rift between the European Union and the governments of Poland and Turkey over rule of law in the countries.
Lukes was interviewed for an August 30, 2017 article by Handelsblatt Global entitled “The Rift Deepens With Poland and Turkey.”
From the text of the article:
“Unfortunately, Brussels and Berlin are not going to be able to solve the problem in Poland,” said Igor Lukes, a professor of international relations at Boston University. “Threats won’t work if they come from the mouth of a German politician, because Poles will then fall back on their stereotypical memories of what happened in 1939.”
Mr. Lukes said that on a recent trip to Poland he found signs that the country was almost evenly split between young, Europe-focused urban professionals and rural people who felt left behind by economic development and were nostalgic for a past when life had certainty even though living conditions were fairly awful.
“Because of membership in the European Union, Poland’s economy is doing really well,” Mr. Lukes said. “But that’s mainly in the cities. It’s not so apparent in the towns and it’s invisible in the countryside.”
Igor Lukes writes primarily about Central Europe. His publications deal with the interwar period, the Cold War, and contemporary developments in East Central Europe and Russia. His work has won the support of various other institutions, including Fulbright, Fulbright-Hays, the Woodrow Wilson Center, IREX, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 1997 Lukes won the Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching at Boston University.