Domestic Extremism in Europe - Athena Institute

where human rights, civil liberties and democratic values
are being slowly eroded and extremist agendas are being
fulfilled even though extremists are not the ones holding
the wheel (Popham, 2012).
WEST VS. EAST - NO TWO EUROPE
In the last chapter of this segment, the Institute tries to
shine a light on the misconception Western politicians
and experts have about the differences between East and
West. Here, the East means the former communist coun-
tries, and the West means the countries that were outside
the Soviet sphere of interest.
In several ways, historically, culturally, developmentally,
politically, etc., westerners see Eastern Europe as being
beneath them. The historical era after the Second World
War ripped Europe into two parts. This division was not
necessarily new; these two parts of Europe had had their
differences even before the Iron Curtain came down.
However, many argue that after the fall of the USSR and
the democratic transition of the East, there were still very
strong cultural and historical misconceptions that led to
the emergence of certain discursive trends and processes
that portrayed and still portray the relation and the dif-
Domestic Extremism in Europe - Threat Landscape 49