Славянский мир и Европа

The author of the study deals with the topival question of national identity, in this case a wider question of the identity of the Slavs. There are several opinioons, most often contradictory. One is based on the presupposition that there are no Slavs in fact; there are but separate nations speaking Slavonic languages. The other accentuates common places, loci communes, not only the language, but also some other qualities, such as mentality, history etc. The third, more or less compromising, is based on the conviction that in this historical stage of development of mankind, in the era of globalisation the Slavonic identity is not so important and topical. The author manifests the significant role of the volitional aspect of the whole process: the most important thing is the Slavs' will to be identified as a specific ethnical layer in Europe. This, of course, depends on many factors of both the present and the future.