Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Unlike most of the Central Asian and Eastern European countries that came to be incorporated into the USSR, the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia had never felt the need to depend on Russia for much. Even during the Communist era the lev

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper examines the role of European economic integration and European norms on the rights of minority groups in Estonian and Latvian ethnic politics in the 1990s. By the end of the 1990s, Estonia and Latvia amended the citizenship and language policies of the early 1990s, while maintaining the principle of the ethnically based state. The main incentive for policy reform came from the prospect of European Union (EU) membership. The international norms on minority rights, developed mostly after the end of the Cold War, have complemented the incentive of EU membership.
Estonia was quicker to respond to the incentive of European Union (EU) membership than Latvia. The domestic consensus on market reforms and membership in the West have enabled the Estonian elites to form coalitions necessary to adopt the minority policy changes required for EU membership. In Latvia, a consensus on EU membership is also present. Nevertheless, the prominent role of extremist nationalist in Latvian politics has often weakened government coalitions and slowed down the process of both economic and minority policy reform. The European norms on minority rights have played a greater role in Latvian deliberations on policy reform. Latvian centrists have referred to European norms to justify their compliance with EU membership criteria. In Estonia, the strong domestic consensus on EU membership and lack of debate on the citizenship and language policies has meant that European norms have not played a significant role. Estonian elites complied with EU recommendations when it was clear that compliance was required for membership.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper analyzes Western media and the Latvian movement for independence from the Soviet Union. It draws upon interviews with participants, memoirs, archival documents, and news media content. It argues that debates about the “CNN Effect” are useful for refocusing research efforts on the relationships between mass media, government policy, and foreign affairs, but that to appreciate these relationships the scope of media analysis and types of effects must be broadened. Western media coverage, including but not limited to television, may have had a greater impact on the Latvian independence movement it covered than US or Western foreign policy. The paper addresses the limitations of the CNN Effect thesis, examines the character of Western media coverage of Latvia, looks at media and Western foreign policy, and finally examines Latvian concern for Western media and efforts to address foreign audiences through mass media.