Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania: Country Studies

Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania: Country Studies

Author: Walter Iwaskiw

Publisher: CreateSpace

Published: 2013-06-13

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 9781490435572

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This volume is one in a continuing series of books prepared by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress. This volume is about Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.


The Baltic States, Years of Dependence, 1940-1990

The Baltic States, Years of Dependence, 1940-1990

Author: Romuald J. Misiunas

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 9780520082274

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In this updated edition of their renowned The Baltic States, Romuald Misiunas and Rein Taagepera bring the story of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia up to the 1990s. The authors describe and analyze how the Baltic nations survived fifty years of social disruption, language discrimination, and Russian colonialism. The nations' histories are fully integrated and compared, and some notable differences between them are pointed out. With two new chapters, a revised preface, and an appendix on the end of Soviet domination, this expanded study covers a tumultuous period of political, economic, cultural, and ecological reform.


Intellectuals and Apparatchiks

Intellectuals and Apparatchiks

Author: Kevin O'Connor

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2008-08

Total Pages: 335

ISBN-13: 0739131222

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This book traces the origins and activities of an alliance of conservative Communist Party authorities and Russian nationalists during the late Soviet era. Specifically, it examines how and to what extent hitherto orthodox Communists sought political allies in the Russian nationalist movement in order to garner support for halting the reform program and saving the Soviet state from collapse.


Housing Estates in the Baltic Countries

Housing Estates in the Baltic Countries

Author: Daniel Baldwin Hess

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2019-08-27

Total Pages: 383

ISBN-13: 3030233928

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This open access book focuses on the formation and later socio-spatial trajectories of large housing estates in the Baltic countries—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. It also explores claims that a distinctly “westward-looking orientation” in their design produced housing estates that were superior in design to those produced elsewhere in the Soviet Union (between 1944 and 1991, Estonia was a member republic of the USSR). The first two parts of the book provide contextual material to help readers understand the vision behind housing estates in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. These sections present the background of housing estates in the Baltic Republics as well as challenges and debates concerning their formation, evolution, and present condition and importance. Subsequent parts of the book consist of: demographic analyses of the socioeconomic characteristics and ethnicity of housing estate residents (past and present) in the three Baltic capital cities, case studies of people and places related to housing estates in the Baltic countries, and chapters exploring relevant special topics and themes. This book will be of interest to students, scholars, and advocates interested in understanding the past, present, and future importance of housing estates in the Baltic countries.


The Baltic States and the End of the Cold War

The Baltic States and the End of the Cold War

Author: Kaarel Piirimäe

Publisher: Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9783631716557

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Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania at the end of the Cold War - Politics of history in Russia - Gorbachev, Perestroika and Glasnost - Atheism, and informal social networks - Soviet cultural diplomacy - Danish diplomacy and the Baltic question - Normalization regime in Czechoslovakia - Baltic diasporas - Use of force and the coup d'état in the USSR in 1991 - Security narratives in the 1990s


The Baltic States and the End of the Soviet Empire

The Baltic States and the End of the Soviet Empire

Author: Kristian Gerner

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-05-01

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 1351059130

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First published in 1993. How is it possible for the three tiny Baltic republics to gain their freedom from the Soviet Union, without a single shot being fired or a single stone thrown at the oppressor? The topic of this book is the implosion of the Soviet empire. It tells the parallel stories of how the three Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania struggled successfully to gain their freedom, and how the policies pursued by Mikhail Gorbachev served to mobilize and politicize Baltic demands. Particular emphasis is placed on unintended consequences that resulted from repeated interventions by Moscow. The authors develop a loose theoretic framework for the examination of this critical struggle. The study starts by developing the analytical tools and then proceeds to outline, as background, the most salient features of Gorbachev's reform programme and of the history of the Baltic States. The core of the analysis is then presented in three chapters, devoted to three consecutive stages in the game. The first shows how strategies on both sides were initially formulated in consensus. In the second it is shown how consensus transformed into pure conflict, and in the third all actors are seeking to escape general collapse. The main conclusion points at the absence of ‘politics’ in the Soviet System as a main cause of its self-destruction.


Strategic Frames

Strategic Frames

Author: Jennie L. Schulze

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press

Published: 2018-03-07

Total Pages: 381

ISBN-13: 0822983095

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Joseph Rothschild Book Prize Honorable Mention Strategic Frames analyzes minority policies in Estonia and Latvia following their independence from the Soviet Union. It weighs the powerful influence of both Europe and Russia on their policy choices, and how this intersected with the costs and benefits of policy changes for the politicians in each state. Prior to EU accession, policymakers were slow to adopt minority-friendly policies for ethnic Russians despite mandates from the European Union. These initiatives faced majority opposition, and politicians sought to maintain the status quo and their positions. As Jennie L. Schulze reveals, despite the credit given to the democratizing influence of European institutions, they have rarely produced significant policy changes alone, and then only when domestic constraints were low. Whenever domestic opposition was high, Russian frames were crucial for the passage of reforms. In these cases, Russia’s activism on behalf of Russian speakers reinforced European frames, providing powerful justifications for reform. Schulze’s attention to both the strategic framing and counter framing of external actors explains the controversies, delays, and suboptimal outcomes surrounding the passage of “conditional” amendments in both cases, as well as the local political climate postaccession. Strategic Frames offers a significant reference on recent developments in two former Soviet states and the rapidly evolving spheres of political influence in the postindependence era that will serve students, scholars, and policymakers alike.