“Where Are You, Professors?”
Expert Communication and the Russia-Ukraine Crisis
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The Russia-Ukraine crisis has raised questions concerning the conditions by which academic knowledge makes its way to the political world and the general public. Social and media transformation promotes the formation of isolated “knowledge communities”. The interpretative authority of academic experts is receding. Moreover, in Eastern Europe, those sciences that have the political authority to interpret and are therefore instrumentalised by the political world or kept on a tight rein are now at risk of being isolated within their own country. The aspiration to maintain dialogue with East European partners must not be allowed to undermine standards of quality in the acquisition of knowledge. Transfer of knowledge on Eastern Europe faces a dual challenge.
(Osteuropa 1-2/2017, pp. 67–77)