Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The aim of the paper is to antagonize the Russian marketplaces of Tallin, Estonia against the maintstream and tourist oriented sections of urban Tallinn. Using visual indicators based on the personal account of the researcher, spaces are defined by spatial indicators of consumption settings.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: How do the political agendas of social
movements emerge and get fixed in public consciousness? How do issues
move from a small group of individuals who espouse them to connecting
with the 'hidden transcripts' and deeply felt values of the broader
society? How does this happen in a country with a history of
repression? The proposed paper focuses on a critical case, Estonia, in
which concerns about ethnic and cultural identity were used to fuel
demands for independence from the former Soviet Union.
In earlier work, we used event and survey data collected from 1988 to
1993 to show that Estonian identity provided a powerful cultural frame
- a set of symbols, issues, and arguments - that motivated Estonians to
support an independence movement. But we did not identity the sources
of this cultural frame and how the logic linking it to independence was
developed. This paper is primarily concerned with the earlier period
from 1985 to 1988 when the political opportunities provided by
Gorbachev's glasnost' were utilized by writers, historians, and other
non-political actors, to define cultural issues that succeeded in
tapping values held by the mass public. Through an examination of
primary source materials from 1985 through 1991 we show how cultural,
moral, and historical issues were redefined to create the basis for the
cultural frames that mobilized hundreds of thousands of individuals to
protest for independence. We use a unique data base of articles drawn
from all of the Estonian and Russian language cultural journals
(published in Estonia) to capture elite discourse and to document how
these issues became part of the public dialogue. This analysis provides
a crucial link between the study of cultural work dealing
with ethnic and national identity and the study of social movements and
political protest.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: One third of Estonians and
Latvians voted against their countries’ membership in the European
Union (EU) in the referenda held in the fall of 2003, more than in any
other East European candidate country. What explains the strong
opposition to the EU in the two Baltic nations that used to pride
themselves on being the “Soviet West” and have pursued close
integration with Western Europe since the restoration of independence?
Analysts have attributed Baltic euroskepticism to nationalism,
authoritarian and conservative values, and the fear that the EU will
corrupt their liberal economic systems. I will argue, however, that the
vote against the EU was an expression of social protest against liberal
economic reforms and elitist political systems. I will show that
negative and ambivalent attitudes about the EU in Estonia and Latvia
were the strongest among the losers of transition (the elderly, the
rural folk, the poor, the uneducated, the non-entrepreneurial) and
among people who mistrust political institutions. I will argue that
these groups are skeptical of the EU because they fear that EU
accession will impose further economic costs on them and because they
see the EU as a project of self-interested liberal-conservative elites.
I will also argue that the high level of political and economic
discontent in Estonia and Latvia has an objective basis. The Baltics
have experienced much greater declines in output, employment and income
(particularly in agriculture) and much larger increases in inequality
than Central Europe. Estonia and Latvia (but not Lithuania) also stand
out among the candidate countries in that they have very weak elements
of direct democracy (referenda, initiatives) and have been governed by
parties of the right ever since the collapse of Communism.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Using methods such as formal models, opinion surveys, and events coded from newspapers, we argue that an independence movement was not inevitable in Estonia between 1986-1991 and that initially public opinion favored reform, not independence.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The paper examines the framing of the Russian minorities issue by the Estonian and Latvian officials during the European Union 2004 enlargement process. It looks at the impacts the framing had on the negotiations regarding the Copenhagen criteria, more particularly in regard to the protection of minorities, during that period as well as the unintended constraining effects it created for the European Union (EU) to deal with the issue after accession. The paper argues that the ability of the two candidate countries to strategically frame the Russian issue as an immigration issue rather than an issue of protection of minorities during the negotiations gave them leverage in shaping EU conditionality to their interests. More precisely, this paper is looking at the influence candidate countries can have on the EU during the negotiations despite their weak position. The strategies employed by the two countries to achieve this will be reviewed in the paper through a process-tracing method. Furthermore, interviews have been conducted with public officials in EU institutions, in Estonia and in Latvia. The Annual Progress Reports made by the European Commission during the years prior to accession will be used to determine what the EU’s interests were in regard to the Russian population, as well as the policy outcomes taking place in both candidate countries.