White, but not entirely.

Are Central and Eastern European countries politically backward compared to Western Europe? Are they power-hungry? Are they prone to dictatorship? Were they deprived of their rights by the long Soviet rule?

Not at all. In the four Central European countries—Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary—there is a deep sense of frustration at being treated as second-class citizens by Western Europeans. Their economies are exploited as mere extensions of production lines, they lack major Western investments, and Central European politics are perceived as remarkably backward.

Ivan Kalmer argues that the illiberalism in these countries is a misguided reaction to the destructive effects of global neoliberalism. After the fall of communism in 1989, these countries were never truly accepted into the Western club. It wasn’t their incompetence that sparked the illiberal revolution in Central and Eastern Europe, but rather the arrogance of Western Europeans. Even the extreme right-wing models were imported from the West: a reaction to the inherent racism of the West against the “East.” The population of Central and Eastern Europe is white, but not entirely so.