The ethnic democracy thesis and the citizenship question in Estonia and Latvia

Nationalities Papers

Volumn 24, Issue 2, 1996, Pages 199-216

  Smith, Graham ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CITIZENSHIP; ETHNIC DEMOCRACY; RACIAL TENSION; REGIONAL SUCCESSION;

ESTONIA, NARVA; LATVIA;

EID: 0030452458     PISSN: 00905992     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00905999608408438     Document Type: Article

References (80)

1. It should also be noted that most commentaries on the citizenship question focus on either Estonia or Latvia; there has been little attempt to examine them within a comparative context. Some of the existing literature include: A. Park, 1994, "Ethnicity and Independence: The Case of Estonia in Comparative Perspective," Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 46, No. 1, 1994, pp. 69-87;
2. R. Vetik, "Ethnic Conflict and Accommodation in Post-Communist Estonia," Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 30, No. 3, 1993, pp. 271-280;
3. P. Kolsto, The New Russian Diaspora (London: Hurst, 1994);
4. R. Karklins, Ethnopolitics and Transition to Democracy. The Collapse of the USSR and Latvia (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994);
5. P. Kask, National Radicalization in Estonia: Legislation on Citizenship and Related Issues, Nationalities Papers, Vol. 22, No. 2, 1994, pp. 379-392;
6. M. Kirch and A. Kirch, "Search for Security in Estonia: New Identity Architecture," Security Dialogue, Vol. 26, No. 4, 1995, pp. 439-449.
7. By October 1994, 110,000 non-Estonians out of 600,000 had received citizenship; in Latvia, as of January 1994, 364,036 non-Latvians out of 1,015,887 had acquired citizenship. Data from their respective Central Government Statistical Offices, Tallinn and Riga, 1994.
8. S. Smooha and T. Hanf, "The Diverse Modes of Conflict Regulation in Deeply Divided Societies" in A. Smith, ed., Ethnicity and Nationalism (Leiden, 1992), p. 32.
9. See also S. Smooha, "Minority Status in an Ethnic Democracy: The Status of the Arab Minority in Israel, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 13, No. 3, 1990, pp. 389-413.
10. For a critique of the ethnic democracy model, see O. Yiftachel, "The Concept of 'Ethnic Democracy' and Its Applicability to the Case of Israel," Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 15, No. 1, 1993, pp. 125-136.
11. According to Yiftachel's work on Malaysia, that country also displays the characteristics of an ethnic democracy; see Yiftachel, Ethnic and Racial Studies, op. cit., 1993.
12. Smooha and Hanf, Ethnic and Racial Studies, op. cit., 1992, p. 32.
13. Subsequent 1995 citizenship legislation in Estonia has extended a residency qualification to five years, although this does not affect residents who qualified under the 1992 citizenship legislation.
14. For studies concerning the ethnic composition of political parties and representation in their respective parliaments, see G. Smith, A. Aasland and R. Mole, "Statehood, Ethnic Relations and Citizenship" in G. Smith, ed., The Baltic States. The National Self-Determination of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (London: Macmillan Press, 1994), pp. 181-205.
15. Natsional'nyi sostav naseleniya SSR (Moscow: Finansy i Statistika, 1991).
16. In contrast, more recent surveys of the Russian settlers would suggest that the 1989 Soviet census figures are on the high side. See R. Rose and W. Maley, Nationalities in the Baltic States: A Survey Study (Centre for the Study of Public Policy, University of Strathclyde, Public Policy Paper No. 222, 1994), p. 52.
17. A New Law on Local Elections in Estonia was passed in October 1993 in which non-citizens, provided they have resided in their electoral constituency for five years, have the right to vote and stand for election.
18. On 26 October 1993, a law was passed in Estonia granting citizens of minority groups the right to apply for cultural autonomy. Accordingly, non-Estonians have the right to establish their own educational institutions and local councils to handle cultural issues. This, however, does not apply to permanent residents without citizenship. Consequently, in predominantly Russian, 'non-citizen' cities like Sillamae in north-east Estonia, whose inhabitants have little or no knowledge of the state language, and despite the municipal government petitioning both in 1995 and 1996 for the right to use the Russian language along with Estonian in official business, it has been unsuccessful.
19. A. Smith and C. Williams, "The National Construction of Social Space," Progress in Human Geography, Vol. 7, No. 4, 1993.
20. For considerations of the formation of the Popular Fronts, see G. Smith, "The Emergence of Nationalism" in G Smith, ed., The Baltic States. The National Self-Determination of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (London: Macmillan, 1994), pp. 121-143.
21. See, for example, A. Smith, Nations and Nationalism in a Global Era (Oxford: Polity Press, 1995).
22. H. Linz, "From Primordialism to Nationalism" in E. Tiryakian and R. Rogowski, Ethnic Nationalisms in the Developed West (London: Allen and Unwin, 1985), pp. 203-253.
23. Padomju Jaunatne, 25 July 1989.
24. For summaries of the programs of the respective Popular Fronts, see Narodnyi Kongress: Sbornik Materialov Kongressa Narodnogo Fronta Estonii (Tallinn, 1988);
25. Narodnyi Front Latvii, Programma (Riga, 1988).
26. Narodnyi Kongress, op. cit.
27. Resolution No. 8 as cited in E. Rundeschiold, "Ethnic Dimension in Contemporary Latvian Politics: Focusing Forces for Change," Soviet Studies, Vol. 44, No 4, 1992, p. 613.
28. R. Kionka, "Are the Baltic Laws Discriminatory?" RFE/RL Research Report, Vol. 156, 1991, pp. 21-24.
29. Literaturnaya gazeta, 18 July 1989.
30. FBIS-SOV-90-085:89.
31. Atmoda, 12 June 1989.
32. G. Ginsburgs, "The Citizenship of the Baltic States," Journal of Baltic Studies, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 3-26.
33. G. Smith, Journal of Baltic Studies, op. cit., 1994, pp. 86-120.
34. For an examination of the "founding elections" in Estonia and Latvia and their comparative impact on their respective state-building processes, see J. Ishiyama (1993), "Founding Elections and the Development of Transitional Parties: The Cases of Estonia and Latvia, 1990-1992," Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Vol. 26, No. 3, 1993, pp. 277-299.
35. Diena, 3 November 1993.
36. Rossiskaya gazeta, 18 July 1992.
37. Nezavizamaya gazeta, 13 April 1993.
38. Nezavizamaya gazeta, 31 March 1993.
39. For example, economic organizations like the European Bank For Reconstruction and Development purposely linked development aid to citizenship, a sharp reminder of the economic leverage that the West can exercise over the Baltic States.
40. Estonia's law on citizenship was sufficient not to act as an impediment to membership of the Council of Europe, along with Lithuania, in May 1993. Latvia, however, had to wait until February 1995. In order to become a member, Latvia had to revise its 1994 Citizenship Law, dropping proposals to implement a quota system whereby only a restricted number of non-citizens could become citizens in any given year.
41. A. Sheehy, "Estonia's Law on Aliens," RFE/RL Research Report, Vol. 2, No. 38, 1993, pp. 7-11.
42. Smooha and Hanf, RFE/RL Research Report, op. cit., 1991.
43. Yiftachel, RFE/RL Research Report, op. cit., 1992, p. 130.
44. It was, of course, Hirschman who first considered exit as one option to political exclusion, the others being voice and loyalty. See A. O. Hirschman, Exit, Voice and Loyalty (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1970).
45. Postimees, 30 October 1995.
46. See, for example, R. Merton, and A. Rossi, "Contributions to the Theory of Reference Group Behaviour" in R. Merton, ed., Social Theory and Social Structure (New York: The Free Press, 1968), pp. 279-344;
47. T. Gurr, Minorities at Risk. A Global View of Ethnopolitical Conflicts (Washington DC: Institute of Peace Studies, 1993).
48. Such findings include those conducted by the following: A. Kirch, A. Kirch and T. Tuisk, "Russians in the Baltic States," Journal of Baltic Studies, Vol. 24, No. 2, 1993, pp. 173-188;
49. A. Kirch. and A. Kirch, "Ethnic Relations. Estonians and Non-Estonians," Nationalities Papers, Vol. 23, No. 1, 1995, pp. 43-60;
50. R. Rose and W. Maley, "Nationalities in the Baltic States. A Survey Study," (Centre for the Study of Public Policy, University of Strathclyde) No. 222, 1994, pp. 74;
51. R. Vetik, "Estonia and the Estonians" in G. Smith, ed., The Nationalities Question in the Post-Soviet States (London: Longman, 1995), pp. 129-146.
52. The public opinion survey of the ethnic Russian communities in the Baltic States was based on 517 structured interviews conducted in February 1993 in the following cities: Total Core Nation Russian Population Population Population (1,000s) (%) (%) Riga (Latvia) 910.5 36.5 47.3 Daugavpils (south-east Latvia) 124.9 13.0 58.3 Narva (north-east Estonia) 77.5 4.0 85.9 Klaipeda (Lithuania) 202.9 63.0 28.2 The choice of the four localities was based on a number of criteria: first, cities with sizable but differing types of Russian communities, including large immigrant populations; second, cities drawn from all three polities so as to compare responses with differing state policies towards citizenship; and, finally, localities where territorial secession is an option (Daugavpils and Narva). A random sample of 517 Russians were interviewed, balanced according to age and gender. For fuller details of the survey, see G. Smith, Nationality and Citizenship in the Baltic States. Report to the Institute of Peace Studies (Washington, DC, September 1994).
53. R. Rose and W. Maley, Nationality and Citizenship in the Baltic States. Report to the Institute of Peace Studies op. cit., 1994, pp. 44-45.
54. For the results of these calculations, see Smith, Nationality and Citizenship in the Baltic States. Report to the Institute of Peace Studies op. cit., 1993.
55. Rose and Maley, Nationality and Citizenship in the Baltic States. Report to the Institute of Peace Studies op. cit., 1994, p. 45.
56. See, for example, G. Smith, A. Aasland and R. Mole, Nationality and Citizenship in the Baltic States. Report to the Institute of Peace Studies op. cit., 1994, pp. 181-205.
57. Russian Representative Assemblies have now been set up in all three Baltic States, the most recent being in Lithuania in November 1995. In January 1996, in Riga, representatives of all three Assemblies met to coordinate their activities and work out a common strategy for the settler communities in the Baltic region, focusing in particular on issues related to citizenship, Diena, 28 January 1996.
58. There is a considerable literature on resource mobilization theory. See, for example: D. Rucht, ed., Research on Social Movements (Boulder: Campus Verlag/Westview Press, 1992);
59. S. Lyman, ed., Social Movements. Critiques, Concepts, Case Studies (London: Macmillan Press, 1995);
60. W. Booth, P. James and H. Meadwell, eds, Politics and Rationality (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993).
61. S. Tarrow, "Comparing Social Movement Participation in Western Europe and the United States: Problems, Uses and Proposals for Synthesis" in D. Rucht, ed., Politics and Rationality op. cit., 1988, pp. 392-420.
62. P. Kolsto, The New Russian Diaspora (London: Hurst, 1995);
63. A. Aasland, "The New Russian Diaspora" in G. Smith, ed., The Nationalities Question in the Post-Soviet States (London: Longman, 2nd edition, 1995), pp. 477-497.
64. A. Oberschall, Social Conflict and Social Movements (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1973).
65. J. Rothschild, Ethnopolitics. A Conceptual Framework (New York: Columbia University Press, 1981).
66. See, for example, Diena, 20 February 1995.
67. A. Park, Diena, op. cit., 1994, p. 73.
68. Diena, 31 January 1995.
69. T. Gurr, Minorities at Risk. A Global View of Ethnopolitical Conflicts (Washington, DC: US Institute of Peace Press, 1993).
70. Pravda, 5 November 1994, p. 3.
71. R. Eamets, "Labour Markets and Unemployment in Estonia," Communist Economies and Economic Transformation, Vol. 6, No. 1, 1994, pp. 55-74.
72. P. Roeder, "Post-Soviet Institutions and Ethnopolitics," Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Political Science Association, New York, September 1994.
73. Sovetskaya Estoniya, 10 March 1989.
74. Krasnaya zveda, 10 October 1993, p. 3.
75. N. Melvin, "Forging the New Russian Nation. Russian Foreign Policy and the Russian-Speaking Communities of the Former USSR," Discussion Paper 50, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1994, 63 pp.
76. European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Comparative Indicators of Performance Amongst the Post-Soviet States (London, 1994).
77. See, for example, Molodii Estonii, November 1993-December 1994.
78. P. Hanson (1993), "Estonia's Narva Problem," Research Paper, RFE/RL Research Institute, 22 April, 10 pp.
79. Diena, 24 January 1996.
80. See the editorial in Neatkariga, 16 January 1996.