Estonian ‘Balticness’ as a social construct: meanings and contextual specifics
This paper explores the Estonian vision of Baltic identity. Estonia’s authorities have repeatedly articulated their scepticism towards the concept of a stand-alone ‘Baltic region’ and the inclusion of Estonia in it, preferring to position their state as a Nordic country. Yet, in numerous cases, they have ...
Land Use Policy and Land Management in Estonia
... policy has led to the adoption of a new reform aimed at the municipalisation, privatisation, and denationalisation of real estate. The article describes mechanisms of the Romano-Germanic land management model, which has replaced the Soviet model in Estonia. It is shown that the model’s introduction has contributed to the development of the Republic’s land market and increased land use efficiency, in particular, in agriculture. There are positive trends towards land market development and an ...
Russian-Estonian relations: a medium-term forecast
This article shows why the non-existent political dialogue between Russia and Estonia will hardly develop in the next five years and why Estonia can lose its significance for the Russian foreign policy rhetoric and Russian mass media. This conclusion is drawn from a medium-term forecast about the changing role of Estonia in Russian ...
Discursive practices of the Russian diaspora in Estonia: language contacts
In this article, I use the concept of discursive practices to consider the speech practices of the Russian diaspora of Estonia. The findings of the study suggest the existence of an invariant discourse generated by an exemplary member of the diaspora. Such a discourse has formal (borrowings, code-switching, etc.), semantic (referential shifts, semantically re-oriented ...
Russian-Estonian Economic and Investment Cooperation During the Crisis: Dynamics and Possibilities
... political and economic factors in the decision-making by Estonian government. A number of special aspects, trends and problems in trade and investment ties are detected. The aim of the study is to uncover key motivation behind the actions of both Russia and Estonia, to identify the drivers for economic and political development in the region, and to work out recommendations to adjust them. The questions put forward by the authors of this article could not be more topical at the time, when Russian economic ...
The regional approach in the policy of the Russian Federation towards the Republic of Estonia
This author uses regionalism as a theoretical framework for analyzing the foreign policy of the Russian Federation towards the Republic of Estonia. Regionalism is interpreted as a situation, when a political leader’s beliefs change depending on what region of the world is considered. Leaders of great powers often assume that, for example, small European countries are subject to a treatment ...
Estonian Political Parties in the mid-2010s
The article provides an analysis of political party system of the Republic of Estonia in the mid-2010s. The analysis is based on the works of Moris Duverger. As one might expect, the establishment of proportionate electoral system in Estonia has resulted in the formation of a multi-party system, in which no single party dominates ...
On crisis trends in the legitimacy of the political regimes of the Baltic States
... analysing three major parameters: confidence in political institutions, level of corruption, and the development of their party systems. The author identifies the major crisis trends in the legitimacy of the political regimes of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. The article stresses the problem of legitimacy reproduction resulting from the limited representation of the national party systems. Special attention is paid to compensatory mechanisms used by political elites to ‘artificially’ reproduce ...
Party system nationalization in Estonia
... Estonians and ethnic Russians vote for the same political parties in comparable proportions or there are ‘Estonian’ and ‘Russian’ parties in the country. The analysis of the outcomes of four local and four parliamentary elections that took place in Estonia in 2005—2019 shows that by the mid-2000s Estonia achieved a considerable level of political party system nationalization at both national and local levels. At the national level, political party system nationalization remained high in 2007—2019 ...
The potential for expanding inter-cluster cooperation between the ship-building industries of Estonia, Finland, and North-West Russia
The shipbuilding industry clusters in the Eastern Baltic Sea region, i. e. Estonia, Finland and North-West Russia, may benefit significantly from increased mutual cooperation; however, the international networks between the clusters are still poorly developed. The aim of this article is to analyse the preconditions for cluster ...
On the potential and opportunities for cooperation between the Baltics in the field of innovations
This article compares the research and innovation potential of Russia in general, the Northwestern federal district and the Baltics (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia) and explores the opportunities for cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Baltics in the field of innovations. The authors identify possible areas of cooperation and describe its mechanisms.
1. Zverev, Yu. М., Batorshina, I. А....
Economic activity of the leading religious organizations in Estonia
... regions and countries is dynamically changing and acquiring new characteristics. But these changes and the factors that determine them are not fully reflected in academic research. One of the least studied topics is the economic activity of confessions. Estonia is one of the few countries in the Baltic region where religion has not been a public institution until nowadays, therefore it hasn’t provided access to the financial records of its religious organizations.
At the same time, the population ...
Key actors of German ‘soft power’ in the Baltics
This article focuses on Germany’s key ‘soft power’ actors promoting the country’s interests in the Baltics. The authors analyse the policies of ‘soft power’ aimed to create a positive image of Germany in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. The article examines the activity of German political foundations, research institutions, communities, language centres, and scientific and cultural organisations. It is stressed that Germany makes use of the Baltics’ historical familiarity ...
The Role of Political Elites in the Development of Politics of Memory in the Baltic States
... policy tool that not only serves the interests of the Baltic and Eastern European politicians, but also finds ideological supporters in Western Europe and the United States.
1. Astrov, А. 2009, Jestonija: politicheskaja bor'ba za mesto v istorii [Estonia: the political struggle for a place in history], Pro et Contra, no. 3—4, p. 109—124.
2. «Atmoda» skvoz' «perestrojku»: sjuzhety latvijskoj (anti)sovetskoj istorii v period raspada SSSR ["Atmoda" through "restructuring": ...
The Role of Small Countries in Post-Soviet Territorial Restructuring: the Baltic Case
This author analyses the 2013 Lithuanian presidency of the EU in the context of the Ukrainian crisis and evaluates the contribution of Latvia and Estonia (the former Soviet republics set to preside over the EU in 2015 and 2018) to the shift in the power balance in the post-Soviet space. Through assessing the actions of small countries in promoting the Eastern Partnership programme with an emphasis ...
On the international cooperation of North-West Russia in the field of innovations in the Baltic
This article focuses on the cooperation between the constituent entities of the Northwestern Federal District of the Russian Federation and the Baltic countries (Finland, Estonia, and Norway) in the field of innovations at national and regional levels, as well as at the level of corporate cooperation. The author reviews successful implementation of innovation projects within cross-border and transnational cooperation programmes....
The transformation of the Baltic countries’ political elites: general and specific features
... The thesis is put forward that despite some differences between the Baltic States their political elites have undergone very similar transformations since the 1990s. At the time, Baltic elites asserted continuity with pre-war Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia and detachment from the Soviet past. The 1990s elite struggle for power led to sharp ethnic, linguistic and political divides in Baltic societies. These rifts limit competition between power groups and reduce the ability of political systems to ...
Migration from Post-Soviet countries to Poland and the Baltic States: trends and features
This article aims to analyse migration from the post-Soviet space to the north-eastern periphery of the EU (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) and examines the hypothesis about these states, once countries of origin, turning into destinations for migrants. A change in the socio-economic paradigm and accession to the EU sped up economic development in the Baltics and Poland. Despite ...
Disease control and border lockdown at the EU’s internal borders during Covid-19 pandemic: the case of Finland
... ‘non-essential’ travel from non-Schengen countries such as Russia, China and Thailand but, with some exceptions, it also restricted travel-to-work commuting and everyday cross-border encounters between Finland and its Schengen neighbours of Sweden, Norway and Estonia. The restrictions hampered tourism and migrant-dependent industries as well as complicated the lives of migrants’ families. While the lockdown of the Estonian and Russian border does not cause any debates in Finnish society, the closure of the ...
Multidimensional poverty in the Baltic States in the EU context: theoretical and practical aspects
... services. Despite the versatility and severity of multidimensional poverty in some European countries, this phenomenon has not been sufficiently explored in socio-economic studies carried out in the Baltic countries of the EU — Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. This article aims to identify the characteristics of multidimensional poverty in the Baltic countries and the EU. Its objective is to examine the spread of multidimensional poverty in the Baltic countries and compare it to the situation on a ...
Russian soft power in the Baltic States through the lens of research: traditions, competition, confrontation
In this article, we aim to analyse the research discourse in the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) as regards Russian soft power, which is considered as hard power, and to compare the theses that dominate this discourse with the actual interactions between Russia and the three states in media, education, and culture....