Search for Security in Estonia: New Identity Architecture

1 The data have been collected by the authors at ARIKO MG (Tallinn) and the Research Institute of Russian Minorities in the Near Abroad (Moscow). In Nov-Dec. 1994 a study was carried out among a representative Russian and Estonian sample of the population (interviews with 942 Russians and 911 Estonians). Whereas there was a majority of Russians (about 60-70%)who did not support Estonian independence in 1988-1991, by late 1994 only 2% of the Russians sampled stated that they intended to leave the republic; 93% had decided to live in Estonia, and 5% had not yet decided.

2 On this, see Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt, `Die Konstruktion nationaler Identitäten in vergleichender Perspektive', pp. 21-38 in Bernhard Giesen, ed., Nationale und kulturelle Identität (Frankfurt/ Main: Suhrkamp, 1991), Anthony D. Smith, National Identity (Penguin Books, 1991) and Ole Wæver & Morten Kelstrup, `Europe and its nations: political and cultural identities' pp. 61-92., in Ole Wæver et al., eds, Identity, Migration and the New Security Agenda in Europe (London: Pinter 1993).

3 See György Csepely in Structures and Contents of Hungarian National Identity, (Frankfurt/ Main: Peter Lang, 1989), p. 120.

4 See Luule Sakkeus, `Post-War Migration Trends in the Baltic States (Tallinn: Estonian Interuniversity Population Research Centre, 1992), p. 12.

5 Reference Book of Population Statistics, 3/94 (Tallinn: Statistical Office of Estonia, 1994), p. 20.

6 Estonian Human Development Report 1995 (Tallinn: UNDP/Kolding Trykcenter A/S, 1995), p. 30.

7 See Aksel Kirch, Marika Kirch & Tarmo Tuisk, The Non-Estonian Population Today and Tomorrow. A Sociological Overview (Tallinn: Estonian Academy of Sciences, 1992).

8 See Michael Geistlinger & Aksel Kirch, Estonia - A New Framework for the Estonian Majority and the Russian Minority (Vienna: Braumueller, 1995), pp. 59-91.

9 See Bradley D. Woodworth, `Idea of Independence Divides the Russian Community', The Estonian Independent, no. 49 (7 March 1991), p. 4.

10 See Richard Rose & William Maley, `Conflict or Compromise in the Baltic States?', RFE/RL Research Report, vol. 3, no. 28 (15 July 1994), p. 32.

11 See also Lia Lepane, `Russians and the Social Conditions in Estonia', Psychological Issues in the Political Transformation of Central and Eastern Europe. Research Reports. no. 3, 1991 (Helsinki: University of Helsinki, 1991), pp. 99-100 and Kalev Katus & Luule Sakkeus, Foreign-born Population in Estonia (Tallinn: Estonian Inter-university Population Research Centre, 1991). Knowledge of the local (Estonian) language is found to be a significant factor in creating a new (diaspora) identity for Estonian Russians.

12 `Final Figures for Referendum', The Estonian Independent, no. 49 (7 March 1991), pp. 3-4; Rein Taagepera, Estonia. Return to Independence (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1993), p. 194.

13 Data from Estonian Department of Citizenship and Migration.

14 According to A. Jakushev, press attaché of the Russian Embassy in Estonia, the number of registered Russian citizens was 80,000 as of September 1995.

15 See Richard Rose & William Maley, eds, Nationalities in the Baltic States. Studies in Public Policy no. 222 (Glasgow: Centre for the Study of Public Policy. University of Strathclyde, 1994), p. 52.

16 See Statistical Yearbook 1995 (Tallinn: Statistical Office of Estonia, 1995), p. 77.

17 See Marika Kirch & David D. Laitin, eds, Changing Identities in Estonia. Sociological Facts and Commentaries, (Tallinn: Akadeemia 1994), pp. 36-37.

18 See research report of the survey Retired Officers of the Russian Military Forces in Estonia: Problems and Values, This was a joint survey carried out by the Institute of International and Social Studies (Estonia) and the Olof Palme International Centre (Sweden) in March-April 1994, where 261 persons in 5 cities were interviewed

19 In the 1994/95 school year, there were 117 Russian-language and 26 mixed Estonian-Russian schools, about one fifth of all schools in Estonia.

20 Speech by President Lennart Meri on 12 September 1995 at the Swedish Institute of Foreign Policy, in The Baltic Independent, no. 281 (15-21 September 1995), p. 1.

21 See Toomas Karjaharm `Russia's Dilemma Forever: Chaos or Civilisation', Eesti Sonumid, 25 May 1995 (in Estonian).