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The Ethnic Democracy Thesis and the Citizenship Question in Estonia and Latvia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Graham Smith
Graham Smith*
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge, England
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Extract

Although a number of commentaries exist on the citizenship question in Estonia and Latvia, there is as yet no study that develops a conceptual framework which considers the particularity of these citizen-state formations and the implications that follow for ethnic relations. Based on a series of decrees culminating in their respective citizenship laws of 1992 and 1994, both Estonia and Latvia opted to exclude a third of their permanent residents, made up mostly of the Russian-speaking population, from being granted an automatic right to membership of the citizenpolity. This differed from the other post-Soviet states who granted citizenship to all those permanently residing within their bounded territory at the moment the declaration of statehood. This article, therefore, aims to redress this blank spot in conceptual theorizing by considering Estonia and Latvia as polities that come close to resembling ethnic democracies.

Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , June 1996 , pp. 199 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 Association for the Study of Nationalities of Eastern Europe and ex-USSR, Inc. 

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References

Notes

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: Park, A., 1994, “Ethnicity and Independence: The Case of Estonia in Comparative Perspective,” Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 46, No. 1, 1994, pp. 69–87; Vetik, R., “Ethnic Conflict and Accommodation in Post-Communist Estonia,” Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 30, No. 3, 1993, pp. 271-280; P. Kolsto, The New Russian Diaspora (London: Hurst, 1994); Karklins, R., Ethnopolitics and Transition to Democracy. The Collapse of the USSR and Latvia (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994); P. Kask, National Radicalization in Estonia: Legislation on Citizenship and Related Issues, Nationalities Papers, Vol. 22, No. 2, 1994, pp. 379-392; M. Kirch and A. Kirch, “Search for Security in Estonia: New Identity Architecture,” Security Dialogue, Vol. 26, No. 4, 1995, pp. 439-449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2. 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.Google Scholar

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30. example, For, 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.Google Scholar

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39. 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:Google Scholar

Total Population (1,000s) Core Nation Population (%) Russian Population (%)
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 Smith, G., Nationality and Citizenship in the Baltic States. Report to the Institute of Peace Studies (Washington, DC, September 1994).Google Scholar

40. Rose, R. and Maley, W., op. cit., 1994, pp. 44–15.Google Scholar

41. For the results of these calculations, see Smith, op. cit., 1993.Google Scholar

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52. Diena, 31 January 1995.Google Scholar

53. Gurr, T., Minorities at Risk. A Global View of Ethnopolitical Conflicts (Washington, DC: US Institute of Peace Press, 1993).Google Scholar

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64. See the editorial in Neatkariga, 16 January 1996.CrossRefGoogle Scholar