Integration policies in Estonia Raivo Vetik Tallinn University
Content 1. Historical and demographic background 2. Estonian integration programmes 3. Future challenges
1. Historical and demographic background 1934 census – ethnic Estonians composed 88 percent, Russians 8 percent, and other nationalities 4 percent of the population of Estonia In 1945 ethnic Estonians formed 97.3% of the population During the ensuing Soviet period, the number of non- Estonians increased twenty-sixfold, from 23,000 in 1945 to 602,000 in At the same time the number of ethnic Estonians decreased from about one million in 1940 to 965,000 in 1989 In 1940s Estonia lost about 20 percent of its preoccupation population
Regaining independence in 1991 Legal continuity as the formal basis of the Estonian statehood - the citizenship law of 1992 defined only those who possessed Estonian citizenship before June 16, 1940 and their descendants as citizens
Differences compared to the integration issues in Estonia and West European countries: the need to reform a number of social structures (for example, educational system), in the process of which, the old ones must be pulled down antagonism between different foreign policy orientations, primarily concerning the attitude to Russia
Theories of transition - Juan Linz & Alfred Stepan (1996), ‘When Democracy and the Nationa- State Are Conflicting Logics: Estonia and Latvia’, in Juan Linz & Alfred Stepan (eds.), Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post- Communist Europe, John Hopkins University Press 1996, pp.401.
Ethnic democracy model - Sammy Smooha Civilizational conflict model - Huntington - Lauristin & Vihalemm Return to the Western World, Tartu 1997 Nation-building theories - Karl Deutsch - Walker Connor
Three interrelated dimensions: 1. democratization of political system 2. marketization of economic system 3. relationship between ethnic groups
1. Democratization a. Parlamentary system and presidential system. b. Majoritarian and proportional electoral system
2. Economic transition a. active state and minimal state b. shock strategy and gradualist economic transformation
3. Nationality policy a. Who should be members of demos in new states? b. Strategies for handling minorities problem - assimilation, domination or multiculturalism
2. Estonian integration programmes Two conceptually different phases of development in thinking about the future of inter-ethnic setting in Estonia ‘The basis of Estonian state policy in integrating non-Estonians into Estonian society’, February 1998 ‘Integration in Estonian society ’, March 2000
Integration as a two-way process John Rex Differentiation between public and private spheres: (a) society that is unitary in public sphere but tolerant regarding differences in private sphere; (b) society that is unitary in public sphere and promotes unity also in private sphere; (c) society that promotes difference and differential rights both in public and private sphere; (d) society that promotes difference and differential rights in public sphere but unity in private sphere.
A pair of analytic categories ‘unity- difference’ became the basis of defining integration: Two processes shape the essence of integration of Estonian society: on one hand, social homogenization of the society based on knowledge of Estonian language and acquiring Estonian citizenship, and on the other, opportunity to preserving ethnic differences through recognizing minority cultural rights
Spheres of integration 1. Linguistic-communicative integration, meaning reproduction of a common space of information and an Estonian language environment in Estonian society under the conditions of diversity and tolerance; 2. Legal-political integration, meaning molding a population that is loyal to the Estonian state and diminishing the number of people without Estonian citizenship; 3. Socio-economic integration, meaning achieving an equal opportunity in competition and social mobility of members of Estonian society irrespective of their ethnic or cultural background.
The Estonian model of multiculturalism
New Integration Programme for Stonger focus on socio-economic and political integration issues Ethnic Estonians as one of the target groups Need for a new management structure for integration policies
3. Future challenges Different understanding of nation state among majority and minority: Attitudes of ethnic Estonians towards participation of non-Estonians in public sphere Attitudes of non-Estonians towards events of 1940 in Estonia
Relationship to Russia Russia’s interference into Estonian affairs in the April crisis - in order to provide security the government has to think about the triadic nexus Estonia, Russia and Estonian Russians. But the government treats the defenders of the Bronze Soldier (and in a sense all Estonian Russians) as Russia’s henchmen.
A recent survey brought out that Estonian Russians are divided into more or less three even groups – well (28%), moderately (34%) and weakly (38%) integrated. The key question of the Estonian statehood is which side the medium group will decide to join. The overwhelming majority of the first group are Estonian citizens (91%), in the medium group about half (57%) and in the last group only 18% are the Estonian citizens.
The ethnopolitcal models of Popular Front and Citizens’ Committees in 1990s New paradigm - shift from ethnic to political understanding of nationhood in Estonia - solidarity of Estonian people is based not so much on ethnocultural belonging, but rather on democratic values and shared political institutions