The impact of homeland independence on the Latvian community in Great Britain

Abstract

The article examines the effects of homeland independence on the Latvian DP community in Great Britain. Although the most tangible effects of independence have been the new opportunities to re-establish physical links with the homeland — to visit, and for a tiny minority to return to live, there have also been significant consequences for the organised community and on conceptions of home and belonging. This paper suggests that for an overwhelming majority of Latvians in Britain, homeland independence has strengthened the bond to Britain and brought about shifts in identities. Rather than stimulating a large-scale return to the homeland, independence has somewhat ironically, led to the completion of the integration process in Great Britain.     

Documenting Diaspora,Diasporising Memory: Memory and Mediation among Chilean and Uruguayan Hijxs del exilio

Addressing the absence of second-generation exiles from Southern Cone post-dictatorship memory scholarship, this paper compares two documentaries: Hora Chilena, about the British-Chilean community and Tus padres volverán, depicting Uruguayan exiles across Europe – both made by and/or about the no retornadxs (those who did not return to their countries of origin after dictatorship). The paper deploys documentary to offer a nuanced depiction of the hijxs del exilio (children of exile), finding them to be distinct to both the protagonist generation and their second-generation peers in the Southern Cone. By incorporating neglected voices and reframing post-dictatorship memory in Europe, the paper challenges memory narratives about second-generation exile.     

The role of international regimes in the formation and maintenance of Baltic environmental cooperation

Abstract

Since 1991, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have created a successful cooperative regime in the field of environmental protection. It is built up on international regime-like arrangements, based on bi- or trilateral agreements as well as on commonly accepted behavioural norms and rules. The article argues that such regular cooperation between the three Baltic countries has not sprung from merely their own interests, i.e. from the need to solve the existing problems with transboundary externalities and shared natural resources or to achieve major political goals more efficiently in collaboration than individually. The formation and maintenance of the trilateral cooperation can, to a large extent, be attributed to the influence of normative institutions called international regimes as well as individual members of the international community.     

Health promoting schools: A quiet revolution in young people's health and education in Latvia

Abstract

The World Health Organization has operationalized health promotion in schools through a Health Promoting Schools (HPS) ideology that proposes that the entire school setting must support student well-being and health through the curriculum, the school environment, and links with family and community. In this paper we trace the development of HPS ideology in Latvia and evaluate its successes. We note that HPS has developed the required administrative infrastructure, a health education curriculum, and has successfully implemented health projects, particularly around lifestyle health issues. It has been less successful in establishing links with parents and the community.     

Remembering Paul Schiemann (1876–1944)

Abstract

This paper explores how population displacement operated in Lithuania in the immediate post-WWI period. In 1918 the disintegration of the old imperial polity led to the emergence of a Lithuanian state. Beyond the field of battle, the struggle to maintain the independence of Lithuania was characterised by an intense process of state and nation-building. All this hectic activity was accompanied by population displacement on a scale first witnessed in 1915–16.

Unlike the military campaigns, these state-building efforts did not come to an end in 1920. My argument is that population displacement presented the Lithuanian authorities with an opportunity to claim and to establish Lithuanian refugees as potential members of a new nation-state, thereby defining its spatial, demographic and cultural boundaries. The newly formed Lithuania offered a potential political homeland for tens of thousands of war refugees of various ethnic groups who had lived in the former north-western provinces before 1914, but who were displaced by war. According to rough estimates, the total number of Lithuanian refugees who settled in the Russian interior stood at 550,000 at the beginning of 1918. My paper explores their fate in the post-war period as well as official policies of the new Lithuanian state adopted towards the refugees.

The logic of the homogenising national state required that the refugees had to be persuaded or forced to abandon their divergent and multiple identities born in exile and rooted down in the single space of the national homeland. Nevertheless, the spatial pattern of ‘the homeland’ was still in flux, due to the border wars between Lithuania, Soviet Russia and Poland in 1918–20. As a result, some refugees were excluded from the ranks of Lithuanian citizenry. Their difficult situation was further aggravated by famine in Russia in 1921, which called for cooperation between Soviet Russia, Lithuania, Poland and Latvia. Thus, on the one hand, the refugees served as a focus for the propaganda of the belligerent states, while on the other hand their uncontrollable movement compelled governments to co-operate.

The paper is based on two collections of primary documents: the files of the Lithuanian Ministries of the Interior and Foreign Affairs.     

Over the Iron Curtain: the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia Meets the West

Abstract

This article examines the international relationships of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia after 1945, and puts them into the context of the Cold War. Although church contacts were meant to support the foreign policy of the Soviet Union, they also offered Church leaders an opportunity to re-establish historical relationships with Lutheran Churches in the West. Contacts between Churches in the East and West were considered to be highly controversial by all the institutions concerned. Nevertheless, Lutherans from the both sides of the Iron Curtain engaged themselves in a form of cooperation which promoted the development of the Soviet Lutheran churches.     

An Historical and Political View of the Reserve and Guard Forces of the Baltic States at the Beginning of the Twenty-first Century

Abstract

The changes that have occurred in Europe since the end of the Cold War might be the most significant since the middle of the medieval period. With Poland and other nations of Central Europe, including the three Baltic states, joining the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) the political and cultural shape of Europe is rapidly changing. For the first time since the death of Charlemagne over 1,000 years ago, all of Central and Western Europe has a genuine chance of uniting. Even though this integrated Europe will be under the flag of the EU, the key that is making this possible is the military and economic power of the United States. The organization that brings the protective umbrella of the US is NATO. For nations to be taken seriously as members of NATO, they must have credible military forces. For all countries this includes the reserve and guard forces, but for small countries with conservative budgets the reserve and Home/National Guard become the most important forces. Since the Baltic states are three small countries building their militaries from zero since the end of the Cold War, the importance of the reserve and guard cannot be overemphasized. This article examines the reserve and Guard forces of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania from the end of the Cold War to the beginning of the twenty-first century.     

Baltic foreign policy making establishments of the 1990s: Influential institutional and individual actors

Abstract

This article examines, evaluates, and compares the role of political institutions in the foreign policy making process of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in the 1990s. The central claim advanced is that the extent of influence exercised by political institutions in transitional states was largely conditioned by, and depended on, the individuals who headed these institutions. It is argued that the stronger the personality at the top of a political institution, the greater and more influential role it played in the foreign policy making process of the country.     

The development of chemical science in Estonia from 1945 to the present

Summary

This study shows that the Baltic peoples acted with much patience in achieving independence and free and democratic states. Their road to independence and international recognition was paved by perestroika and glasnost. Without these developments in the Soviet Union, the attempts to break away would have been crushed as happened in Hungary in 1956 and in Czechoslovakia in 1968. Later on Gorbachev became a major obstacle to the Baltic cause. The Balts had to pursue their goals in spite of resistance from the Soviet leadership.

After independence and international recognition, Estonia and Latvia began to play an active role within the framework of the CSCE. Although the current situation in the very northeastern part of Europe seems to be quiet, one has to reckon with new cleavages and confrontations between the Baltic States and particularly Russia, due to several unresolved problems such as minority policy and Russian military power. The rise of ultranationalist forces in Russia, such as Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democrats, may add to the tense atmosphere in the Baltic region. Further tension could complicate the position of the CSCE regarding the countries concerned. Since the CSCE failed to restore peace and stability in the former Yugoslavia, it might fail in such an explosive area as the Baltic as well. Nevertheless, the CSCE facilitates a forum for peaceful settlement of disputes and therefore provides the chance to use diplomatic measures to prevent the outbreak of a military conflict.     

Can postcolonial theory help explain Latvian politics of integration? Reflections on contemporary Latvia as a postcolonial society

ABSTRACT

Democracy and civic society in Latvia are strongly affected by a multifaceted gap between the ethnic majority and minorities within contemporary Latvian society. The political elite are crucial actors in the politics of integration in Latvia. Postcolonial theories can help evaluate and explain the insufficiency of current integration policies in Latvia in respect to the participation of ethnic minorities in Latvia. Current integration challenges will be examined here based on two related issues of Latvian integration policies: (1) the process of naturalization and (2) the conflicting concepts of the twentieth-century Latvian history, especially the occupation in 1940. Both issues should be “revisited” using postcolonial explanatory potential in order to identify the causes of the long-lasting failure of integration policies in Latvia.     

The latvian purges of 1959: A revision study

Abstract

Using research from the Latvian State Archive, personal interviews with former Latvian national communist Eduards Berklavs, and memoirs of Party leaders, this article discusses the events surrounding the Latvian purges of 1959. Newly discovered information challenges previous assumptions that Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev ordered the ouster of the Berklavs faction. Instead, as will be demonstrated, the national communists were purged by the Stalinist old guard and Russian military in Latvia, despite Khrushchev's objection. The purpose of this article is to reexamine relations between the republic and centre, Kremlin politics and its effect on Latvia.     

Representative institutions among contemporary American Indian tribal societies

SUMMARY

In this article Rebecca Starr examines how a broad political consensus was maintained in the politics of South Carolina during the difficult transitional period that followed the gaining of independence. The colony's legislature had been firmly controlled by an oligarchy of planter and merchant families from the coastal plain, and centred in Charleston. Even before the revolution there had been tensions emerging between the oligarchy and the inhabitants of the developing up-country settlements, who had reason to feel that they were being neglected and excluded from representation. The article explains how the oligarchy succeeded in sustaining consensus, while preserving its own ultimate hegemony over the politics of the new state. This was done mainly by a skilful use of committee and petitioning procedures to neutralize and conciliate the potentially divisive political challenges from the up-country. These tactics enabled the oligarchy to maintain its grip on power until the economic development of the decades after independence generated a renewed planter oligarchy which transcended the old geographical divisions and provided a solid foundation for a new consensus in South Carolina politics that held good until the Civil War.     

Post-War Japan and Asianism

In recent years there has been lively debate over the concept of an Asian community. Historically, however, an Asianism that espouses the notion of “Asia for the Asians” has been around for a long time. This article examines post-war Japan's return to Asia from the perspective of Asianism. The Asianism of post-war Japan was manifested in Japan's eagerness to advance into the vacuum created by the withdrawal of the Western European nations from Southeast Asia. However, this came up against Asia's own brand of Asianism, which emphasized independence first and foremost. It was the loss of its underpinnings by this latter brand of Asianism, as from 1970 onward, colonial rule and the political leaders who shouldered independence disappeared from the face of Southeast Asia, that lent impetus to Japan's advance into the region.     

Fiji’s Foreign Relations: Retrospect and Prospect

Abstract

Of all the island states of the Southwest Pacific, Fiji’s foreign relations have been the most fraught since the advent of independence in the region, due largely to a succession of coups d'état. These have invariably precipitated adverse responses from major partners and aid donors, notably Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the European Union. The last coup in 2006 also unsettled relations in Fiji’s more immediate region, especially among some of its smaller Polynesian neighbours, contributing to Fiji’s unprecedented suspension from the Pacific Islands Forum. This article reviews Fiji’s foreign relations from the time of independence in 1970 through the period of successive coups to the 2014 elections. It also examines Bainimarama’s strategies in extending foreign relations in the broader international sphere as well as issues surrounding the ‘normalisation’ of relations with its traditional partners.     

Bases That Leave: Consequences of US Base Closures and Realignments in South Korea

ABSTRACT

Contrary to ample attention on American military base closures at home, the consequences of base closures abroad remain under-examined even as the American military continues to adjust its global force posture. South Korea, the third biggest host of US military bases overseas, is an under-investigated case despite offering useful insights applicable to other US base hosts. This article examines short-term local-level consequences of US base departures in South Korea, with a focus on environmental and redevelopment challenges that shape the political and economic fate of former base sites. Detailed analyses and interviews on the oft-overlooked fate of multiple post-military sites draw a rather unsettling picture: Most sites remain empty, temporarily deserted and heavily contaminated spaces plagued by redevelopment difficulties. When overseas American bases are closed, they leave problems behind and those problems persist long after base sites return to host communities.     

Uprooted cosmopolitans? The post-war exile of Spanish anarchists in Venezuela, 1945-1965

This article considers the activity of anarchist refugees in exile after the Spanish civil war in the light of their professed cosmopolitan and internationalist outlook. It first examines the trajectory of anarchist internationalism in Spain and its perceived shortcomings in the period up to and including the civil war. It then provides a brief survey of the post-war re-organisation of Spanish anarchists in exile, before proceeding to the case study of Venezuela. Anarchist activity in this country is analysed through the lenses of internationalism and cosmopolitanism in the ambivalent context of exile.     

Withdrawal symptoms: Social and cultural aspects of the October 6 coup

Abstract

Extract

In themselves, military coups are nothing new in modern (or ancient) Thai history. There have been at least eight successful, and many more unsuccessful, coups since the one that overthrew the absolute monarchy in 1932. It is therefore not altogether surprising that some Western journalists and academics have depicted the events of October 6 1976 as “typical” of Thai politics, and even as a certain “return to normalcy” after three years of unsuitable flirtation with democracy. In fact, however, October 6 marks a clear turning point in Thai history for at least two quite different reasons. First, most of the important leaders of the legal left-wing opposition of 1973–1976, rather than languishing in jail or in exile like their historical predecessors, have joined the increasingly bold and successful maquis. Second, the coup was not a sudden intra-elite coup de main, but rather was the culmination of a two-year-long right-wing campaign of public intimidation, assault and assassination best symbolized by the orchestrated mob violence of October 6 itself.     

Latvia's Architectural Heritage and its Protection 1880–1940

Abstract

The subject of this article is the protection of architectural monuments in present-day Latvia from the second half of the nineteenth century up to the year 1940. The intention here is to look at these activities as part of the process that shaped the national identity of the Baltic Germans, the Latvians, and of Latvia's Russians, each of whom were influential in economic, cultural and political issues in Latvia to varying degrees during the period. In accordance with the well-known historical background of the times, my account is divided into two parts, investigating how the modification of mentalities affected the preservation of historical buildings in the Baltic provinces from 1880 to 1914, and in the Republic of Latvia during the interwar period.     

Astuteness in Commitment: Rwanda and UN Peacekeeping 1994–2014

Abstract

This article traces Rwanda’s history under German and Belgian colonialism, through independence and genocide to international respectability and membership of the Commonwealth. It examines Rwanda’s impressive contributions to United Nations and African Union peacekeeping forces. There is no single explanation for the magnitude of Rwanda’s contribution. It owes something to Rwanda’s commitment to ‘African solutions for African problems’. Deployment is relatively cheap and allows Rwanda to use its participation for political leverage in international affairs, to attract donors and to benefit financially. Peacekeeping is a factor in the astute foreign policy of Paul Kagame’s government that enhances its authority and stability at home and its prestige abroad.     

Citizenship status and social exclusion in Estonia and Latvia

Abstract

Findings from the Norbalt living conditions surveys in Estonia and Latvia are used to examine whether persons without Estonian and Latvian citizenship are at greater risk of social exclusion than citizens in these two countries. the level of integration into the labor market, participation in civil society and political life, degree of social isolation, and the level of economic resources among the two groups are analyzed. In Estonia non-citizens are more at risk of social exclusion compared to Estonian citizens, while in Latvia one finds no statistically significant difference between the groups. In both countries educational level is much more important than citizenship status in explaining social exclusion.