Historical heritage of neighboring peoples must serve as a basis for understanding and cooperation
Last year was fruitful and rich in publishing the results of research conducted by the scientists of Uzhhorod National University in various fields. On Wednesday, December 20th, one of such publications was presented at UzhNU. It is a monograph with a symbolic name "The history that unites. Essays on the latest crossborder cooperation experience in the Carpathian region", which was recently published by the university publishing house "Hoverla".
The monograph is a joint work of the team consisting of 35 researchers from 5 countries written under the guidance of Doctor of sociological sciences, the head of the Department of International Studies and Public Communications of UzhNU, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador Serhiy Ustych. It contains the results of interdisciplinary research conducted by the department with the participation of the leading domestic and foreign scholars and the financial support of the State Fund for Fundamental Research.
Moderator of the event, Vice-rector of UzhNU Myroslava Lendel stressed the relevance of the research in her introductory speech. "The book is special because it contains information about the real processes taking place in our lives, and not about some formal things," said Myroslava Lendel and thanked Serhiy Ustych for the efforts he made to unite a large number of authors into one creative team.
"The main goal of this book is to show the genealogical affinity of the inhabitants of the Carpathian region, manifested in historical, ethnic, confessional, cultural, mental proximity, reveal the traditions of tolerance, peaceful coexistence and friendly relations, identify existing and potential conflict factors and find ways to prevent them, and the most important thing is to determine the large-scale prospects for the development of fruitful cooperation in the Carpathians," said Professor Serhiy Ustych presenting the book.
The monograph consists of four sections. The authors of the articles are well-known researchers from Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania including Doctors of Science Stepan Vidnianskyi, Serhiy Ustych, Ivan Vovkanych, Ihor Todorov, Myroslava Lendel, Heorhiy Denys, Volodymyr Prykhodko, Mykhailo Palinchak (Ukraine), Waclaw Wezbinec (Poland), Marian Gaidos and Stanislav Konečný (Slovakia), Irina-Lubov Horvath (Romania), István Süli-Zakar (Hungary). The foreword was written by the Vice-President of the European Investment Bank, a famous Slovak political and public figure, Vazil Hudak.
Participants of the presentation stressed that today, unfortunately, the problems of the past in relations between the countries, including the neighboring countries, came to the fore. The historical heritage of the neighboring peoples in the Carpathian region has powerful unifying factors, developed over the centuries of good-neighborliness. Therefore, it is very important not to let the problems of the past overshadow the present and not to destroy the prospects of good-neighborliness. The given book will serve this purpose. The authors of the study intend to present it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to facilitate the process of "reloading" cross-border co-operation.
