Journal of European Studies 2014, Vol. 44(1) 64–80 © The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0047244113508363 jes.sagepub.com The Eastern Question as a Europe question: Viewing the ascent of ‘Europe’ through the lens of Ottoman decline Leslie Rogne Schumacher State University of New York at New Paltz Abstract During the nineteenth century, the decline of the Ottoman Empire emerged as a central issue in European politics and society. While this so-called ‘Eastern Question’ has long featured in diplomatic histories, there has been little attention to how ‘Europe’, as place and idea, may have developed in tandem with the events and dynamics that made up the Eastern Question. This article looks at three major events in the narrative of the Eastern Question to demonstrate how Europeans were – and still are – influenced by their relationship to and role in Ottoman decline, noting how such events produced experiences and values now associated with what, where and why ‘Europe’ is. Indeed, ongoing debates over the accession to the European Union of former Ottoman territories in south-eastern Europe and the Near East clearly exhibit the persistence of language, ideals and forms that were constructed during the era of the Eastern Question. Keywords Eastern Question, European Studies, European Union, Orientalism, Ottoman Empire Introduction Scholars of European history and society never fail to note that ‘Europe’ is an idea more than it is a thing (Balzaretti, 1992; Neubauer, 2006; Woolf, 2003). This has, however, led to a paradox wherein everyone agrees that the category of Europe exists, but it is so con- tested as to defy attempts to cast it in a coherent shape. Indeed, Europe almost never means the same thing to different people, while even within the confines of a single mind it feels dishonest to treat it as a creature rather than an abstraction. Scholarship is Corresponding author: Leslie Rogne Schumacher, Department of History, State University of New York at New Paltz, New Paltz, NY, USA. Email: leslie.schumacher@gmail.com 508363JES 44 1 10.1177/0047244113508363Journal of European StudiesSchumacher research-article 2013 by guest on February 4, 2016 jes.sagepub.com Downloaded from