Westsplaining (ablend word ofwest and the informal form-splaining of thegerundexplaining) is apejorative term that represents criticism ofWestern world sociopolitical views of other parts of the world. It has been used primarily in relation to Western discussions ofCentral and Eastern Europe and its historical and current relations with theSoviet Union andRussia.[1]
The word becamevirally popular during theRussian invasion of Ukraine[2] after Jan Smoleński and Jan Dutkiewicz defined the word to mean "[the] phenomenon of people from theAnglosphere loudly foisting their analytical schema and political prescriptions onto the [Central and Eastern European] region", which "ignore voices from the region".[3][2]
The earliest known usage of the term was in May 2017 during a keynote address byEinat Wilf at the second annual Academic Engagement Network conference in Chicago.[4] Wilf coined the term to describe a phenomenon wherein Western audiences, Wilf argues, hear what Muslim and Arab leaders say and, rather than "respecting what they say and taking them at their word," they attempt to re-present the information in a way that serves a Western political agenda.[5][6]
The term first appeared in relation to Europe on the news websiteBalkan Insight in 2017, where an editor headlined an article 'Westsplaining the Balkans'. In the article, its author Srdjan Garcevic states, "Balkanism gives birth to the worst type of tourist – the kind who after reading one book and spending a few days in the region 'westsplains' history and politics to the locals."[7]
In 2019, journalistEdward Lucas described the termwestsplaining as referring to a common event in conferences, diplomatic meetings andonline social networks, in which Westerners criticised Eastern Europeans distrust of "dialogue with Russia". Lucas saw westsplainers as includingright-wing Westerners who "secretly" admiredRussian military interventions; left-wingWesterners who sawNATO, the United States and defence spending as "the real enemy"; and a third group who were "just greedy". Lucas argued that westsplaining led Westerners to misjudge Russian threats and actions against Western and Eastern Europe and failed to learn from Easterners.[1]
In an essay published inThe New Republic on 4 March 2022,University of Warsaw lecturer Jan Smoleński[8] and researcher Jan Dutkiewicz fromConcordia University andHarvard University[9] argued that the sociopolitical analysis of theRussian invasion of Ukraine by thecore Anglosphere ignored analysis by Eastern European scholars and the experiences of peoples from the region. The latter described the Anglosphere attitude aswestsplaining.[3][10] Smoleński and Dutkiewicz accused Anglosphere scholars and political commentators from across the political spectrum, includingJohn Mearsheimer,[10] Ted Galen Carpenter of theCato Institute,Wolfgang Streeck,Jeffrey Sachs,Yannis Varoufakis,Tucker Carlson, andMariana Mazzucato, of focusing on theenlargement of NATO andRussia–United States relations as having primary importance, neglectingUkraine's international legal right ofself-determination. Smoleński and Dutkiewicz state that "[i]n the westsplaining framework, the concerns of Russia are recognized but those of Eastern Europe are not."[3] Legal scholar Patryk Labuda described westsplaining in this context as ignoringRussian imperialism as an explanation of the invasion, in favour of NATO expansion as the main causal factor. Labuda stated that there was "a real risk" of international lawyers westsplaining in the broader contexts of their legal analyses of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[2]
Smoleński and Dutkiewicz refer to an article by Hanna Hrytsenko, published byEuromaidan Press on 6 June 2022, which claimed that the term had been coined "in the Ukrainian segment of Twitter" following reactions from a number of Western journalists to a thread by Sergei Sumlenny comparing the treatment of Ukrainians under the Russian Empire and during the Soviet Union to "blacks in racist America."[11][10]
Left-wing Westerners were criticised by Eastern Europeans, including anarchist Zosia Brom and philosopher Tereza Handl, as westsplaining in that they ignored self-determination and thepolitical agency of Eastern Europeans in the context of discussions related to the invasion, and they ignored Russian imperialism.[12][10]
The editors ofInternational Feminist Journal of Politics argued for a feminist view of westsplaining in relation to the invasion, in which they saw intellectuals and politicians "imagining an apocalyptic encounter between the powers of 'freedom' and 'authoritarian darkness'" and ignoring questions ofdiscrimination for "gender, race, sexuality, or queerness".[13]
The departure of theLeft Together Polish political party from theProgressive International coalition and fromDiEM25 was attributed to westsplaining of the invasion (a failure to unambiguously declare support for Ukrainian sovereignty) by Western members of the coalition.[12][10]
Yanis Varoufakis, a Greek economist and politician accused of westsplaining by Smoleński and Dutkiewicz,[3] interpretedwestsplaining to mean the denial of Eastern Europeans' political agency. Varoufakis responded to the criticism by saying that he was aware of the Easterners' view that non-expansion by NATO would still have led to a Russian invasion of Ukraine, but disagreed with it. He argued that both the Easterners' view and the alternative hypothesis, that NATO non-expansion would have led to no war and "no dangerous tensions in Eastern Europe", were unprovablecounterfactuals, and that describing him as a westsplainer was not justified as part of respectful dialogue among leftists.[14]
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