Is there a sharp dividing line separating Europe into East and West? This volume brings together prominent scholars from the United States, France, Poland, and Russia to examine the evolution of the conception of Europe over the two centuries since the French Revolution. Inspired by the ideas of Martin Malia, Evtuhov and Kotkin take a flexible view of the cultural gradient of ideas throughout Europe, examining the emergence, interaction, and reception of ideas in different places. The essays address three dimensions of the cultural gradient: the history of ideas, regimes and political practices, and the contemporary political and intellectual scene. In exploring the movement of ideas across Europe, The Cultural Gradient brings a new historical perspective to the field of European studies.

With a full chronology, general introduction, explanatory annotation, glossary and bibliography, this volume seeks to give students with no specialist knowledge access to both the practical and metaphysical aspects of Hegel's political thought. This collection gathers together for the first time in English translation Hegel's most important political writings, other than the Philosophy of Right, and provides insights into how Hegel's educational and religious views conflicted with the political values around which Prussian authorities organized their authoritarian regime.