Melegh's work offers a powerful analysis of the sociological and symbolic meanings of East-West in Europe after the end of the Cold War. Melegh exposes the underbelly of liberal characterizations of East-West, highlighting the polarizing effect of extreme nationalism and ethnic racism. The theoretical underpinnings of this work involve the ideas of preeminent theorists such as Karl Mannheim, Michel Foucault and more recently Maria Todorova and Iver Neumann. The importance of this work lies in its ability to cast into fine relief how the "East-West Slope" oriented negatively from West to East has emerged from liberal characterizations of this project. In addition this is one of the first attempts to link post-colonial analysis to developments in Eastern Europe.