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Identity and Foreign Policy
Author: Mr Piret Ehin
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2013-03-28
Total Pages: 220
ISBN-13: 1409498905
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Baltic-Russian relations have been complicated and tense since the collapse of the USSR and the restoration of Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian independence. Although Baltic accession to the European Union (EU) has created a new international context for interstate relations in the region, enlargement did not bring about the much hoped for improvement in Baltic-Russian relations. This case-study-rich volume examines links between identity, memory politics and foreign policy. It analyzes and explains developments in Baltic-Russian relations after both NATO and EU enlargement, focusing on the incompatibility of Baltic and Russian post-Soviet national identity constructions and the manifestations of this underlying antagonism in bilateral relations and on the broader European and international arena. Built on the constructivist perspective in international relations, this volume provides a coherent and illuminating account of the dynamics of Baltic-Russian relations after NATO and EU enlargement. Combining policy-relevant analysis with theoretical insights, it will meet the needs of academics and students of foreign policy, EU external relations and international relations more generally.
Strategic Frames
Author: Jennie L. Schulze
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Published: 2018-03-16
Total Pages: 288
ISBN-13: 0822983095
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Strategic Frames analyzes minority policies in Estonia and Latvia following their independence from the Soviet Union. It weighs the powerful influence of both Europe and Russia on their policy choices, and how this intersected with the costs and benefits of policy changes for the politicians in each state. Prior to EU accession, policymakers were slow to adopt minority-friendly policies for ethnic Russians despite mandates from the European Union. These initiatives faced majority opposition, and politicians sought to maintain the status quo and their positions. As Jennie L. Schulze reveals, despite the credit given to the democratizing influence of European institutions, they have rarely produced significant policy changes alone, and then only when domestic constraints were low. Whenever domestic opposition was high, Russian frames were crucial for the passage of reforms. In these cases, Russia’s activism on behalf of Russian speakers reinforced European frames, providing powerful justifications for reform. Schulze’s attention to both the strategic framing and counter framing of external actors explains the controversies, delays, and suboptimal outcomes surrounding the passage of “conditional” amendments in both cases, as well as the local political climate postaccession. Strategic Frames offers a significant reference on recent developments in two former Soviet states and the rapidly evolving spheres of political influence in the postindependence era that will serve students, scholars, and policymakers alike.
Russian-speakers in post-Soviet Latvia
Author: Ammon Cheskin
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Published: 2016-01-18
Total Pages: 248
ISBN-13: 0748697446
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Introduction -- Discourse, memory, and identity -- Latvian state and nation-building -- Russian-language media and identity formation -- Examining Russian-speaking identity from below -- The "democratisation of history" and generational change -- The primacy of politics? Political discourse and identity formation -- The Russian Federation and Russian-speaking identity in Latvia -- A bright future?
Defining Latvia
Author: Michael Loader
Publisher: Central European University Press
Published: 2022-03-08
Total Pages: 270
ISBN-13: 9633864461
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →In just over a century, Latvia has transitioned from imperial periphery to nation-state, then Soviet republic, and finally following the collapse of the Soviet Union to an independent republic. Defining Latvia brings together the latest research on the multiple social, political, and cultural contexts of Latvia throughout this turbulent period. Its ten chapters are written by leading political scientists, historians, and area studies specialists from across Europe and North America. The volume moves beyond an exclusively political context to incorporate a variety of social and cultural perspectives, ranging from the experiences of Latvian mapmakers in the Russian Empire, to the participation of Latvians in the Wehrmacht and Red Army during World War II, Latvian national communism, and the development of extremist politics following Latvia’s accession to the European Union. Other chapters address developing trends in the fields of history and political science, including the history of antisemitism, memory, language politics, photography, and political extremism. Based on the book’s temporal span from the nineteenth century to the present, the authors and editors of Defining Latvia understand the construction of Latvian identity as a continuous and interconnected process across significant political and ideological ruptures.
The Withdrawal of Soviet Troops from East Central Europe
Author: Christoph Meißner
Publisher: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
Published: 2021-10-11
Total Pages: 322
ISBN-13: 3647311278
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The withdrawal of Soviet troops is a so far largely unresearched process of international political and military reorganization after 1989/90, which was accompanied by political, economic, social and geopolitical factors that had different effects in different nations. The anthology contains national studies that examine the withdrawal from a scientific perspective. But it also analyses the international conditions that led to the geopolitical reorganization and reduction of weapons. In addition to the country studies, the reforms and the collapse of the Soviet empire are examined from a military-political perspective in order to make the conditions for returning home understandable. Finally, the legacy of the retreat is also considered in the light of current policies and the current threats to the countries of East Central Europe from the increasing aggression in this geopolitical space.
Disputed Memory
Author: Tea Sindbæk Andersen
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Published: 2016-06-20
Total Pages: 387
ISBN-13: 3110453347
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The world wars, genocides and extremist ideologies of the 20th century are remembered very differently across Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, resulting sometimes in fierce memory disputes. This book investigates the complexity and contention of the layers of memory of the troubled 20th century in the region. Written by an international group of scholars from a diversity of disciplines, the chapters approach memory disputes in methodologically innovative ways, studying representations and negotiations of disputed pasts in different media, including monuments, museum exhibitions, individual and political discourse and electronic social media. Analyzing memory disputes in various local, national and transnational contexts, the chapters demonstrate the political power and social impact of painful and disputed memories. The book brings new insights into current memory disputes in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. It contributes to the understanding of processes of memory transmission and negotiation across borders and cultures in Europe, emphasizing the interconnectedness of memory with emotions, mediation and politics.
Europe Thirty Years After 1989
Author: Tomas Kavaliauskas
Publisher: BRILL
Published: 2020-12-07
Total Pages: 286
ISBN-13: 9004443584
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Europe Thirty Years After 1989 explores what happened in the former socialist countries during the last thirty years and the reasons behind these events. The authors examine how values, memory, and identity have been transforming these countries since the year 1989.
Border Conditions
Author: Kevin M. F. Platt
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 2024-02-15
Total Pages: 369
ISBN-13: 1501773712
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Border Conditions combines history and memory studies with literary and cultural studies to examine lives at the limits of contemporary Europe: Russian speakers living in Latvia. Since the fall of the USSR in 1991, Latvia's Russian speakers have balanced between Russia and Europe as well as a socialist past, a capitalist and liberal present, and an illiberal regime rising in the Russian Federation. Kevin M. F. Platt describes how members of this population have defined themselves through art, literature, cultural institutions, film, and music—and how others have sought to define them. At the end of the Cold War, many anticipated that societies globally could agree on the meaning of past history and a just politics in the present. The view from the borders of Europe demonstrates the contradictions pertaining to terms like empire, state socialism, liberalism, and nation that have made it impossible to achieve a consensus. In refocusing the examination of state socialism's aftermath around questions of empire and postcolonialism, Border Conditions helps us understand the distinctions between Russian and Western worldviews driving military confrontation to this day.
Neo-militant Democracies in Post-communist Member States of the European Union
Author: Joanna Rak
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2022-03-24
Total Pages: 208
ISBN-13: 1000539067
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This book examines contemporary militant democracies in post-communist states in the European Union. Examining, through case studies, their broader relevance to political, legal, and social structures, this book looks in revealing detail at the struggles between these democratic and anti-democratic actors that share similar historical experiences of contentious politics, communism, and political transformation. It importantly unravels the tension between them, determining which are already authoritarian, and which are teetering on the brink of an anti-democratic breakthrough. Analysing regimes’ continuance trajectories to capture how and what shaped the neo-militant aspects of democracies (neomilitancy) over time, the book accounts for why particular post-communist European neo-militant democracies emerge while others decline or transform into quasi-militant democracies despite transformation, how they differ from each other, what brings about the differences and similarities between them, and how and why they change over time. With right-wing populist parties coming to power on the back of fears associated with economic, social, and cultural globalisation and the misuse of state authorities to strengthen protective measures against threats to democratic institutions, the book represents a timely and important contribution. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of Post-Soviet/Communist/East European Studies, Democratic Backsliding, European and Comparative Politics, Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict, Democracy and Dictatorship, Public Comparative Constitutional Law, Human Rights Law and Political Theory.
