Transition to Upper Secondary School: an Estonian Experience

This is a study of the transition to upper secondary education, an area largely ignored by international educational research. In particular, the study focuses on the transition from compulsory basic education to an academic general upper secondary education in Estonia. This study involves a national survey of school principals as well as case studies. The mixed methods analyses show that a number of barriers can be identified that may have an adverse impact on students’ adjustment to a new learning environment, potentially affecting their educational outcomes and future life-chances. The study places the findings in the context of broader societal processes that have taken place during the last decade in the Baltic countries in general, including Estonia.     

Diverging views on integration in Estonia: Determinants of Estonian language skills among ethnic minorities

Abstract

The restoration of independence in 1991 brought the topic of ethnic integration into the forefront of societal discussions in Estonia. Two diverging views emerged about the factors that shape the process. Demographic view stresses the long term (generations-related) perspective and factors that do not depend on people themselves. Sociological view emphasizes the importance of individual choices and values in the new political and economic context. The aim of this article is to study the arguments of both views. We analyze the determinants of Estonian language skills among ethnic minorities of Estonia. Our analysis shows that the demographic factors create a favorable context for the improvement of Estonian language skills of ethnic minorities, but the sociological factors (especially education) together with the geographical ones (location in Estonia) have a critical role, especially from the perspective of future integration policies..     

Soviet musicology and the ‘nationalities question’: the case of latvia

Nation branding, as a phenomenon, is attracting increasing scholarly attention. However, much of the existing literature has been written by those involved in the public relations industry themselves. There have been some studies which have been written from a critical viewpoint; however, the tensions of branding a nation have often been neglected. This paper aims to explore the inherent tensions between nation branding and nation building. To what extent is nation branding a tool or a practice? What images of the nation do branders seek to promote, and who is this image for? Is nation branding merely a more palatable version of nationalism? In particular this paper focuses on the debates surrounding the launch of Brand Estonia in 2001/2. Brand Estonia, with the slogan Welcome to Estonia: Positively Transforming, was launched to coincide with Estonia staging the Eurovision Song Contest in 2002. It is a unique and interesting case study given the level of controversy that the initiative generated amongst the Estonian public. Estonia was the first Former Soviet Republic to launch a nation branding project and, perhaps more controversially, it was managed by a British-based company, Interbrand. However, little scholarly attention has been paid to public-level discourses concerning Brand Estonia. The empirical findings discussed in this article highlight some of the more salient narratives on national identity that Brand Estonia engendered and therefore aims to fill this gap.     

Shifting the perspective on identity discourse in Estonia

Abstract

I argue that the post-socialist identity discourse in Estonia should be studied as a result of the dialectic relationship between the international context in which Estonia exists and the perceptions of history and culture that elites deploy in the public discourse of Estonia's identity. Four major narratives that compose much of the identity discourse emerge from this dialectic: Estonia as a reconstituted state and society; Estonia as European; Estonia as Finno-Ugric; and Estonia as Nordic. These narratives can be overlooked if research relies simply on “East” and “West” analytic categories or assumes that history and culture alone yield identity. Estonia provides an excellent opportunity to examine this dialectic because of the international community's role in the country's transformation into a European Union applicant state.     

Distinct mental structures in transitional culture: An empirical analysis of values and identities in Estonia and Sweden

Abstract

This article examines the structures of value consciousness and self-identification in two EU countries: Estonia, a representative transitional society, and Sweden, a representative stable welfare society. The study is an attempt to operationalize Sztompka's concept of “cultural templates” on the meso-level of analysis, by revealing latent mental structures. Our main conclusion is that the transitional culture in Estonia can be characterized by three specific mental patterns: nostalgic resignation, striving for success, and an escapist Western orientation, represented by different social groups. The process of individualization, characteristic of Western welfare societies, has taken place in transitional Estonia with delays and significant modifications.     

Religious change in Estonia and the Baltic states during the Soviet period in comparative perspective

Abstract

The article presents a comparative-historical treatment of the change in the religious life of Estonia from 1940 to 1991, when Estonia was part of the Soviet Union. The article is based largely on documents of the archive of the Estonian commissioner of the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults of the Soviet Union, documents which were not available to researchers before the collapse of the USSR. Religious change in Estonia has been compared to what happened in the neighbouring Baltic countries. The archival data shows an extraordinary decline of institutionalised religion in Estonia during the Soviet period (especially in the Lutheran and Orthodox Churches). Compared to the other republics of the Soviet Union (especially Catholic Lithuania), this fall was particularly drastic in “Lutheran” Estonia and Latvia. Also, some comparisons are made between Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the rest of Europe, in order to test the author's hypothesis that by the end of the Soviet occupation, Estonian society was among the most highly secularised ones in Europe (or possibly the most secularised).     

Landmarks of Old Livonia – Church Towers,Their Symbols and Meaning

Church towers are among the most prominent features of landscape and contain both significant architectural and symbolic value. Religion and its various beliefs and ideologies bring symbolism and meaning into the everyday lives of people. This geographical study deals with the iconography of church towers, looking closer into their regional distribution pattern and analyzing their connotation within the former territory of Old Livonia (now encompassed by present-day Estonia and present-day Latvia, except for Latgale) and within the European religious context. The analysis of the distribution pattern of church tower symbols in Estonia shows significant regional variance. In the former Province of Estonia, governed by Tallinn, the cross is a dominant symbol on church towers, whereas the use of the cockerel is more widespread in the former Province of Livonia, the historic capital of which was Riga. A third historical region of Livonia, Kurland (governed by Jelgava), shares similarities in church tower symbolism with the Province of Estonia. We believe that the variance in distribution could be due to the influence of urban centers (Tallinn and Riga) in shaping the use of symbols throughout their administrative borders.     

Culture and Symbols as Tools of Resistance

In 1918, when Estonia was proclaimed an independent republic, nearly one-sixth of all Estonians were living beyond its eastern border. The possibility of returning to Estonia was offered to these tens of thousands of people with the conclusion of the Peace Treaty of Tartu between Estonia and Soviet Russia in February 1920. The Republic of Estonia, which had just emerged from a war and was only beginning to rebuild its public sector, had to arrange this vast re-emigration. This article illustrates the problems that arose for Estonian state authorities in connection with offering citizenship to Estonians living in Soviet Russia and arranging their re-emigration in 1920–1923.     

Under the conflicting pressures of the ideals of the era and the burdens of history: Ethnic relations in Estonia, 1918–1925

Abstract

One of the many challenges that Estonia faced when it gained independence was the minority question. The history of certain minorities, above all that of the Baltic Germans, has already been studied fairly intensively. Nevertheless, the scope of all previous studies has been rather narrow (the position of a single minority). This article traces the history of all ethnic minorities in Estonia and views them from a broader perspective. Answers are sought to the following questions: What were the ethnic relations like in Estonia in 1918–1925? Why were they so? Did they change in the course of time? The article is based on the systematic study of Estonian press and archival sources. It constitutes an expanded version of the conclusion of the author's Finnish-language monograph Ajan ihanteiden ja historian rasitteiden ristipaineissa: Viron etniset suhteet vuosina 1918–1925.     

Australia and the Baltic States, 1919–1945

Praised by international organizations, Estonia and Slovenia have long been considered among the most successful post-communist states. Estonia quickly transformed itself into one of the most liberal economies in the world, whereas Slovenia opted for a social justice-oriented market economy. Still, the roots of their success coincide in that consensus played a crucial role. We argue that the public sphere was never as repressed in Estonia and Slovenia during the communist period as it was elsewhere. Distinct national identities continued to be formed and re-formed by intellectuals during the decades of communist rule, who assumed roles as political leaders when the transition started. Consensus based on these national identities legitimized reform policies for the entire decade of the 1990s.     

Baltic Studies in North America: A Survey of Academic Dissertations 1911–2006

ABSTRACT

The article argues for an extended delineation of increasing Western cultural hegemony in the reconstituted Baltic states. An initial idiom of postcolonial studies is revisited in order to complement their dominant scope in the Baltics, focused primarily on a retrospective cultural study of Baltic/Soviet relationships. The argument elaborates on the urgency of the expanding research agenda regarding the Baltic/European research framework. By pointing out the frequent occurrence of the superiority or inferiority value scale in cross-cultural references sampled from press releases of the Art Museum of Estonia, the article concludes that mainstream cultural self-reflection in Estonia is nowadays subjected to the supremacy of the imagined West European viewpoint.     

Cultural Prototypes of the Successful Entrepreneur: Comparison of Estonia and the United States

This study compares and contrasts perceptions of entrepreneurship success factors in Estonia and the USA. The 115-item E-World survey is used to highlight differences of implicit beliefs about behaviors and characteristics of successful entrepreneurs between the USA, a country with a long history of entrepreneurial development, and Estonia, a small economy where entrepreneurship has played an important role in the transition from a command to a market economy. Cultural differences and the institutional context emerge as key models in interpreting the social obligations of entrepreneurs, thus linking future orientation and communication, and entrepreneurs’ perceptions of entrepreneurial risks and challenges.     

Young Estonia and The Early Twentieth-Century Cultural Utopias

This article examines aesthetic and social ideals in the early texts (1904–1908) of one of the first integral Estonian cultural movements – Noor-Eesti (Young Estonia). The aspirations of Young Estonia can be mapped by means of two principles of culture-making: a utopian one that seeks to change society as a whole, and a monadic one that focuses on the individual. The ideal of the Young Estonia movement is characterized by harmony and entirety – a kind of unity of social classes and cultural spheres, as well as the text and its parts; hence the connections between the arts and society (i.e., the belief that through the development of the cultural sphere, the whole of society develops as well).     

Estonian views of collective action and democracy

After a debate lasting several years, Estonia enacted a law of non-territorial cultural autonomy for national minorities in 1993, echoing experiences from the country’s previous period of independence. In international discussion, the law was initially cited as a promising way of dealing with minority issues in Central and Eastern Europe. With time, however, its applicability in contemporary Estonia has been questioned; in practice, the law has failed to be implemented. This paper inspects possible reasons for its disuse, and argues that the law could still play a role in Estonia’s minority policies, especially with regard to education. The paper is based on an analysis of legislation, parliamentary records and media.     

Iveta Silova. From Sites of Occupation to Symbols of Multiculturalism. Reconceptualizing Minority Education in Post-Soviet Latvia. Greenwich,CT: Information Age Publishing, 2006, ISBN 1593114613.

This article explores the personal spatialities of the majority of inhabitants in Estonia and Sweden. The author analyzed survey data and used variables about the perception of cultural distances, interest in receiving news from other countries via mass media, and contacts with people from these countries. The analysis suggests a hypothesis that in Estonia, personal spatiality is shaped primarily by institutional factors (e.g. the media, the economy). In Sweden, the formation of personal spatiality is based on versatile sources and is more autonomous with regard to the media than in a transition country such as Estonia. The analysis also demonstrates that the symbolic division of the world into East and West shapes the imagined Nordic and Baltic space and people's thinking patterns about ‘others’.     

The use of 3D visualization for sustainable tourism planning

This paper describes the results of using 3D visualization (3DV) in sustainable tourism planning (STP) during the Comcot project in Estonia. Organizers were interviewed on the characteristics of 3DV for STP and on how participants were involved in discourse using 3DV. The study describes experiences from the Setu, Maidla, and Võrtsjärv lake regions of Estonia. The content analysis of the interviews suggested that the precise selection of visualization objects, detalization levels, and user interface characteristics may significantly influence the quality of STP sessions and help to optimize time, financial, and human resources allocated for a project. The coherent design of the 3DV tool and the neutral moderator positively affect the level of participant involvement in STP and support a trusted platform for community decision making.     

Family Formation in the Baltic Countries: A Transformation in the Legacy of state socialism

This article examines the transformation of nuptiality patterns in the Baltic countries since the late 1960s, in the context of long-term trends. The aim of the study is to compare the entry into first conjugal union in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and analyze the position of the Baltic countries in a broader European perspective. The analyses employ microdata from national surveys conducted in the framework of the European Family and Fertility Surveys program. Our main results on the timing and mode of union formation show that in Estonia and Latvia the shift from direct marriage to cohabitation started well before the fall of the state socialist regime, and followed a trajectory close to Scandinavian countries. In Lithuania, on the other hand, the change in the pattern of union formation has been much slower. The article discusses the factors underlying the observed similarities and dissimilarities in union formation.     

Domesticating the future?: Citizen’s income discussion in Estonia

ABSTRACT

Citizen’s income is an idea that is currently gaining ground in many parts of the world. The prospect of disappearing jobs and social exclusion that the globalized world faces has given the idea of guaranteed income a new urgency. This article is a pilot sociological study of the citizen’s income discussion in post-socialist Estonia. The article is based on qualitative research: interviews with experts from different fields and an analysis of print media. Four systematic approaches to citizen’s income are differentiated in the paper. We analyze the views on the idea in order to explore their significance for the Estonian economic status quo and welfare state.     

Cooperating Estonians and “exiting” Lithuanians: trust in times of crisis

This article argues that substantial differences in political legitimacy can help explain why Estonia dealt with the recent economic crisis more successfully than Lithuania. In 2009, when the crisis hit hardest, Lithuania saw its budget deficit expand substantially, while Estonia managed to keep the deficit under 3% of GDP and consequently was invited to join the Eurozone, to which it acceded in 2011. The experience of these countries presents an interesting puzzle, as the divergent fiscal performance cannot be attributed to purely economic factors. Both countries have a similar economic structure, and both were similarly affected by the crisis. Furthermore, both pursued similar expenditure and tax policies during the crisis. Based on quantitative and qualitative evidence, it is argued that higher tax compliance and subsequently higher tax revenues can explain the difference. In turn, this compliance gap can be attributed to different levels of trust in political institutions in Estonia and Lithuania.     

A.H. Tammsaare’s Truth and Justice as a Postcolonial Bildungsroman

A.H. Tammsaare’s pentalogy Truth and Justice is considered a central text in Estonian culture, perceived virtually as a second national epic. The article analyzes it from the perspective of comparative genre studies. It is discussed as an idiosyncratic example of Bildungsroman, a genre narrativizing modernizing change focusing on the lives of everyday individuals, thus symbolically domesticating and humanizing the global developments of modernization. The emplotment of Tammsaare’s novel is comparatively discussed against the background of the Western European Bildungsroman on the one hand and of non-European postcolonial Bildungsroman on the other. The analysis enables to gain new insight into the reception and cultural working-through of the belated rapid modernization in Estonia. It also helps to explain the canonical position of Tammsaare’s novel in Estonian literature: The novel is a poetic tour de force that forges a both intra- and internationally acceptable model of modern Estonia.