Anti-Europeanism in the Balkans, Anti-Americanism in Latin America: a Comparison

Since the mid-nineteenth century Balkan intellectuals have been referring to ‘Europe’ as a positive model of civilisation and welfare but also as a source of aggression and moral decay. Somewhat later Latin American societies came to revolve around the increasingly powerful USA, with a similar range of positive and negative perceptions. This paper deals with the negative perceptions of the ‘mighty neighbour’ and the role of religion in these perceptions. In the Americas as well as in Europe the cleavage between centre and periphery at least partly coincides with religious differences. Latin America is overwhelmingly Catholic in contrast to the USA which is strongly permeated by Protestantism. The Balkans are dominated by Orthodoxy and partly by Islam, while to the west Catholicism and Protestantism prevail. In both cases, religious difference has helped to construct boundaries between the self and the ‘mighty neighbour’, but this function has been anything but universal. A more important factor has been nation-building, a process which proved more difficult in Latin America since social homogeneity was harder to achieve. In this situation, the external foe in the shape of the USA became central for creating a sense of unity. At times, the conflict between the Americas was explained in terms of incompatible Catholic and Protestant mentalities, but this feature could not become dominant since Latin Americans also mistrusted Catholicism as a former instrument of Spanish colonial rule. In the Balkan case, the ‘othering potential’ between Orthodoxy and the West is very high, and Orthodox theological elites have been trying to spread fundamental religious criticism of the West since the beginning of the twentieth century. Their success has been limited, however, because here nation-building has led to intense conflicts between the ethno-religious groups within the region. As a result, religious othering has turned into an important feature between the emerging Balkan nations, but not so much between the Balkans and Western Europe.