The Estonian Economy Under Soviet Rule: A Historiographic Overview

In order to evaluate our current knowledge of some aspects of the Estonian economy under Soviet rule, this historiographic article reviews a number of available treatments, divided into three subgroups (works by authors in Soviet Estonia, publications by Estonians in exile and recent studies). The article demonstrates that different and contradictory interpretations of the economic development of the ESSR can be found. The author concludes that more detailed estimates of the living standard and economic growth during the Soviet years, which would be the basis of economic history writing, have yet to be established.     

A political culture in exile: The Estonian inter-war generation in Canada and Sweden

Abstract

This article focuses on cultural responses to institutional change. Through a value survey about civic values and perceptions of the state, predictions from rationalism and culturalism are tested on a generation of Estonians. Members of this inter-war generation were socialized during the first Estonian republic in the 1920s and 1930s, but then spent their adult lives in exile in Sweden and Canada. The survey, which was performed in 1998 when the respondents born between 1915–25 were well into their seventies and eighties, shows substantially stronger approval of democratic opportunities and public institutions among Canadian-Estonians in comparison to the Swedish-Estonians. Theoretically, the conclusion drawn is that a modification of the cultural theory resting on the importance of cultural correspondence between the originally socialized culture in the inter-war period and that of the host country is needed in order to make sense of this cultural response pattern.     

Three models of integration and the Estonian/Russian reality

Abstract

This paper provides a framework for evaluation of Estonia's integration program that the government approved in 2000. It differentiates three “integration” processes that the literature has identified: (1) integration in which Russians and Estonians meld into a common new culture, though predominantly Estonian; (2) assimilation of Russians into Estonian culture; and (3) integration into a common external framework as part of an expanded EU. Relying upon a review of the Estonian and Russian-language press since 2000 and a new survey of 9th year students and their parents conducted in 2002, the paper offers a fourth model of integration in which two integration processes — Russians integrating into Estonian society and both Russians and Estonians integrating into an English-speaking Europe — are taking place simultaneously. Furthermore, the data show that the Estonian government program is reinforcing rather than altering these integration processes.     

Demand- and supply-based policy transfer in Estonian public administration

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the role of foreign influence in the development of Estonian central government since the beginning of the 1990s. A distinction is made between two types of policy transfer, which have been characteristic of Estonia and can be applied to transitional countries more generally. The first is demand-based policy learning based on the initiative and acknowledged need of recipient countries. The second is supply-based policy transfer, which is to a large extent based on foreign aid and the initiative of donor countries. Supply-based policy transfer was predominant at the start of transition, but in the late 1990s Estonian government institutions became more proactive in selecting different country models and engaging in lesson-drawing based on demand. Consequently, the focus on policy transfer has lost its significance and policy learning has become more important.     

Estonian Folklore as A Source of Baltic-German Poetry

Estonian folk tales form a common element in Estonian and Baltic-German (lyro)epic poetry. Baltic-German interest in Estonian folkloric heritage originated in the eighteenth century, when J. G. Herder first encouraged the collection of Estonian and Latvian folk songs. Systematic collection began in the 1830s, and peaked in the Estonian language area with the Estonian epic Kalevipoeg (1857–1861). Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald implemented this epic, but it was also influenced by many collectors and adaptors and was published in both German and Estonian. The myths of Friedrich Robert Faehlmann, presented in the Learned Estonian Society between 1840 and 1852, have had the biggest influence on the German-speaking audience. Literary adaptations of folk tales quickly found their way into journals, newspapers, poetry collections, and anthologies, often in the popular form of a ballad. This paper seeks to explore the role of Estonian folklore in Baltic-German lyroepic poetry.     

Public Discourse of (De)legitimation: The Case of South Estonian Language

This paper focuses on two different argumentative strategies for dealing with a regional variety of Estonian, one of which may discourage the use of South Estonian in favor of Estonian, while another legitimates the lesser-used regional variety. These argumentative strategies are studied by critical discourse analysis (CDA) of six articles in Estonian language newspapers and magazines published in 2004–2005. The use of South Estonian is discouraged by presenting real or imagined threats that it will undermine Estonian. This discourse also parallels the Estonian-Russian majority-minority discourse of recent years by employing zero-sum arguments of the Estonian language losing to Russian as a consequence of the recognition of South Estonian. Language ideologies, which also construct some varieties worthier than others, re-enforce an essentialist representation of separate languages. This representation will work toward suppressing linguistic variation.     

Acquisition of the Impersonal Voice by an Estonian Child

ABSTRACT

Multi-mediality has created the notion that online journalists need to be multi-skilled. This argument often ignores skill performance in the media production cycle. We used the parameters of media, technical, and issue multi-skilling as a framework to analyze multi-skilling practices in Estonian online newsrooms. We conducted in-depth interviews with Estonian online reporters and editors in 2012 and 2015, and compared whether there had been changes in skill perception and skill performance. The results reflect a discrepancy between expected perception and the performance of journalistic skills in online newsrooms. The shortened news production cycle and information processing for online news content requires relatively homogeneous skill performance, which differs from skill perception. Time pressures and the decision-making behind the allocation of resources place increasing pressure on the performance of skills in online journalism. The results indicate that practices in Estonian online journalism in many ways resemble the Baltic countries and some countries central and eastern Europe, but there seems to be differences with northern and western European online journalism practices. We identify a set of skills and competences that define journalistic practice in online journalism.