Vello Pettai
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199244096
- eISBN:
- 9780191600371
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019924409X.003.0010
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
Argues that the Baltic states, mainly Estonia and Latvia, represent examples of the complicated sequence of endogenously derived transition and exogenously influenced consolidation. These democratic ...
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Argues that the Baltic states, mainly Estonia and Latvia, represent examples of the complicated sequence of endogenously derived transition and exogenously influenced consolidation. These democratic transitions set certain parameters for their subsequent democratic consolidation. In particular, Estonia and Latvia opted for a nationalist, ‘legal restorationist’ view of independence. This interpretation of transition represented a somewhat problematic combination of two paths towards redemocratization—‘society‐led regime termination’ and ‘internal restoration after external reconquest’. The first section of this chapter examines this apparent contradiction. The second part examines the Estonian and Latvian cases, focusing on the major international actors involved in these transitions and the mechanisms of their engagement up to early 2000. In conclusion, it is argued that international influences (mainly from the European Union) have increased as the two countries have integrated more closely with the West. Overall, this case study of Estonia and Latvia argues that the specific path a country chooses towards democratic transition is likely to create certain path‐dependent problems that it (and the rest of the democratic community) will ultimately have to face during democratic consolidation.Less
Argues that the Baltic states, mainly Estonia and Latvia, represent examples of the complicated sequence of endogenously derived transition and exogenously influenced consolidation. These democratic transitions set certain parameters for their subsequent democratic consolidation. In particular, Estonia and Latvia opted for a nationalist, ‘legal restorationist’ view of independence. This interpretation of transition represented a somewhat problematic combination of two paths towards redemocratization—‘society‐led regime termination’ and ‘internal restoration after external reconquest’. The first section of this chapter examines this apparent contradiction. The second part examines the Estonian and Latvian cases, focusing on the major international actors involved in these transitions and the mechanisms of their engagement up to early 2000. In conclusion, it is argued that international influences (mainly from the European Union) have increased as the two countries have integrated more closely with the West. Overall, this case study of Estonia and Latvia argues that the specific path a country chooses towards democratic transition is likely to create certain path‐dependent problems that it (and the rest of the democratic community) will ultimately have to face during democratic consolidation.
Agnia Grigas
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300214505
- eISBN:
- 9780300220766
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300214505.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Russian Politics
The unique case of the Baltic States as EU and NATO members is discussed in this chapter. The implications of Russia’s compatriot policies in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are assessed, particularly ...
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The unique case of the Baltic States as EU and NATO members is discussed in this chapter. The implications of Russia’s compatriot policies in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are assessed, particularly how these policies are evolving beyond soft power tools toward passportization and information warfare. The chapter evaluates the successes and failures of Russia’s policies and the likelihood of future conflict by drawing on past and current developments and comparisons with the conflicts in eastern Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and beyond.Less
The unique case of the Baltic States as EU and NATO members is discussed in this chapter. The implications of Russia’s compatriot policies in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are assessed, particularly how these policies are evolving beyond soft power tools toward passportization and information warfare. The chapter evaluates the successes and failures of Russia’s policies and the likelihood of future conflict by drawing on past and current developments and comparisons with the conflicts in eastern Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and beyond.
Giovanni Andrea Cornia and Renato Paniccià
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198297413
- eISBN:
- 9780191685347
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198297413.003.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
The study focuses on the behavior of mortality rates of fourteen countries in Eastern and Central Europe during the transition period. Mortality rates differ from country to country: the Czech ...
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The study focuses on the behavior of mortality rates of fourteen countries in Eastern and Central Europe during the transition period. Mortality rates differ from country to country: the Czech Republic has the most improved life expectancy rate while Russia and the Baltic States having the highest mortality rates and hence lower life expectancy. Different factors are considered by the study which affects the mortality rates of these countries. However, the study also considers the increased mortality rates in these countries as either a continuation of the unhealthy lifestyle under the USSR or an effect of other events like the World War II or the famine in the early 1920's that affected the USSR. Numerous factors are also cited by the study. The study finally proposes solutions to this unexplainable rise in the mortality rates of these countries.Less
The study focuses on the behavior of mortality rates of fourteen countries in Eastern and Central Europe during the transition period. Mortality rates differ from country to country: the Czech Republic has the most improved life expectancy rate while Russia and the Baltic States having the highest mortality rates and hence lower life expectancy. Different factors are considered by the study which affects the mortality rates of these countries. However, the study also considers the increased mortality rates in these countries as either a continuation of the unhealthy lifestyle under the USSR or an effect of other events like the World War II or the famine in the early 1920's that affected the USSR. Numerous factors are also cited by the study. The study finally proposes solutions to this unexplainable rise in the mortality rates of these countries.
Jonathan I. Israel
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198206088
- eISBN:
- 9780191676970
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206088.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas, European Modern History
This chapter begins with a discussion of the advent of Cartesianism. It then covers Cartesianism in Central Europe, New Philosophy's conquest of Scandinavia and the Baltic, philosophy and royal ...
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This chapter begins with a discussion of the advent of Cartesianism. It then covers Cartesianism in Central Europe, New Philosophy's conquest of Scandinavia and the Baltic, philosophy and royal absolutism in France, and the dilemmas created by the New Philosophy in the Italian states.Less
This chapter begins with a discussion of the advent of Cartesianism. It then covers Cartesianism in Central Europe, New Philosophy's conquest of Scandinavia and the Baltic, philosophy and royal absolutism in France, and the dilemmas created by the New Philosophy in the Italian states.
Ammon Cheskin
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780748697434
- eISBN:
- 9781474418539
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748697434.003.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Language Families
This introduction examines the ‘identity crisis’ facing Russians and Russian speakers in post-Soviet Latvia following the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union. It provides a scholarly literature ...
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This introduction examines the ‘identity crisis’ facing Russians and Russian speakers in post-Soviet Latvia following the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union. It provides a scholarly literature review of previously-conducted research into Russian-speaking identities in Latvia, and in the Baltic states more broadly. This helps to set out some of the key, conceptual frameworks that are employed in the research such as Brubaker’s triadic nexus model, collective memory, and social integration. The chapter contextualises these frameworks within the post-Soviet developments of the Latvian state.Less
This introduction examines the ‘identity crisis’ facing Russians and Russian speakers in post-Soviet Latvia following the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union. It provides a scholarly literature review of previously-conducted research into Russian-speaking identities in Latvia, and in the Baltic states more broadly. This helps to set out some of the key, conceptual frameworks that are employed in the research such as Brubaker’s triadic nexus model, collective memory, and social integration. The chapter contextualises these frameworks within the post-Soviet developments of the Latvian state.
Katherine Graney
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190055080
- eISBN:
- 9780190055127
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190055080.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Russian Politics, European Union
This chapter examines the process of EU expansion into the former Soviet Union since 1989, identifying the different criteria that have been used to judge candidates for EU membership. The Central ...
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This chapter examines the process of EU expansion into the former Soviet Union since 1989, identifying the different criteria that have been used to judge candidates for EU membership. The Central European and Baltic states successfully made arguments about their “intrinsic Europeanness” and “belonging” to Europe and the EU, while the Balkan states have had a harder time proving their suitability for Europe. Unlike the Baltic states, the other ex-Soviet republics, like Ukraine and Georgia, have had a harder time convincing the EU of their fitness for membership, that is, their “intrinsic Europeanness,” and have had to settle for being made “Eastern Partners” of the EU and signers of Association Agreements with the EU. Russia has sought a form of partnership with the EU, while rejecting any idea of conditionality. Finally, the EU shows little concern for the ex-Soviet states of Central Asia, not seeing them as fundamentally European in any way.Less
This chapter examines the process of EU expansion into the former Soviet Union since 1989, identifying the different criteria that have been used to judge candidates for EU membership. The Central European and Baltic states successfully made arguments about their “intrinsic Europeanness” and “belonging” to Europe and the EU, while the Balkan states have had a harder time proving their suitability for Europe. Unlike the Baltic states, the other ex-Soviet republics, like Ukraine and Georgia, have had a harder time convincing the EU of their fitness for membership, that is, their “intrinsic Europeanness,” and have had to settle for being made “Eastern Partners” of the EU and signers of Association Agreements with the EU. Russia has sought a form of partnership with the EU, while rejecting any idea of conditionality. Finally, the EU shows little concern for the ex-Soviet states of Central Asia, not seeing them as fundamentally European in any way.
Jonathan D. Smele
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- June 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190233044
- eISBN:
- 9780190618551
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190233044.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter examines the escalation of violence across the former Russian Empire as the First World War drew to a close, analysing the origins and early operations of the anti-Bolshevik Volunteer ...
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This chapter examines the escalation of violence across the former Russian Empire as the First World War drew to a close, analysing the origins and early operations of the anti-Bolshevik Volunteer Army (and that force's relations with the Don and Kuban Cossacks), the victory of Rightist forces in the Finnish Civil War, the emergence of the Baltic States, and the impact of Austro-German (and Ottoman) intervention in Ukraine and Transcaucasia. The chapter then shifts its focus to the opposition to Soviet rule that was raised by non-Bolshevik socialists in eastern Russia and elsewhere (the Democratic Counter-Revolution) in alliance with a peculiar outlier of the Allied intervention in Russia — the Czechoslovak Legion. It concludes with an account of the origins of the Red Army, noting the impact upon that process of events on the Volga Front in 1918 and the innovative solutions that the Red command introduced — especially the deployment of voenspetsy (former tsarist officers) and the ire this practise raised among Leftist elements of the Bolshevik party (and, during the so-called “Tsaritsyn Affair”, J.V. Stalin), as well as Trotsky's efforts to overcome problems of the recruitment and desertion of Red troops and officers.Less
This chapter examines the escalation of violence across the former Russian Empire as the First World War drew to a close, analysing the origins and early operations of the anti-Bolshevik Volunteer Army (and that force's relations with the Don and Kuban Cossacks), the victory of Rightist forces in the Finnish Civil War, the emergence of the Baltic States, and the impact of Austro-German (and Ottoman) intervention in Ukraine and Transcaucasia. The chapter then shifts its focus to the opposition to Soviet rule that was raised by non-Bolshevik socialists in eastern Russia and elsewhere (the Democratic Counter-Revolution) in alliance with a peculiar outlier of the Allied intervention in Russia — the Czechoslovak Legion. It concludes with an account of the origins of the Red Army, noting the impact upon that process of events on the Volga Front in 1918 and the innovative solutions that the Red command introduced — especially the deployment of voenspetsy (former tsarist officers) and the ire this practise raised among Leftist elements of the Bolshevik party (and, during the so-called “Tsaritsyn Affair”, J.V. Stalin), as well as Trotsky's efforts to overcome problems of the recruitment and desertion of Red troops and officers.
Agnia Grigas
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300214505
- eISBN:
- 9780300220766
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300214505.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Russian Politics
Over the coming years the question on every Russia scholar’s, policymaker’s, and military strategist’s mind will be whether a resurgent Russia will seek additional territorial expansion in Eastern ...
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Over the coming years the question on every Russia scholar’s, policymaker’s, and military strategist’s mind will be whether a resurgent Russia will seek additional territorial expansion in Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet states. Since Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014 and waged a shadow war in eastern Ukraine on the pretext of protecting Russian compatriots, a reassessment of the Kremlin’s strategic and territorial objectives is due. What other countries and borders are at risk? What military and soft power tools will Russia utilize? Where is Russia likely to succeed in achieving its aims? Where will the Kremlin likely fail? Beyond Crimea: The New Russian Empire will address these questions head on. For more than two decades and particularly since the early 2000s Russia has led a consistent policy seeking to regain influence and at times territory in the post-Soviet space through leveraging Russian compatriots that reside in foreign territories bordering Russia. This book demonstrates how this policy has been implemented in Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova. It will also demonstrate how Russia has been pursuing similar policies in the Baltic States, Central Asia, Belarus, Armenia, and the post-Soviet space more broadly. The book enriches the ongoing public debate on Russia’s foreign policy by providing policy and case studies analysis as well as a deeper look into the nature and the roots of Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy. Through extensive interviews, the reader is also offered a unique vantage point of the often voiceless and politicized Russian compatriots, scattered across the post-Soviet space.Less
Over the coming years the question on every Russia scholar’s, policymaker’s, and military strategist’s mind will be whether a resurgent Russia will seek additional territorial expansion in Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet states. Since Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014 and waged a shadow war in eastern Ukraine on the pretext of protecting Russian compatriots, a reassessment of the Kremlin’s strategic and territorial objectives is due. What other countries and borders are at risk? What military and soft power tools will Russia utilize? Where is Russia likely to succeed in achieving its aims? Where will the Kremlin likely fail? Beyond Crimea: The New Russian Empire will address these questions head on. For more than two decades and particularly since the early 2000s Russia has led a consistent policy seeking to regain influence and at times territory in the post-Soviet space through leveraging Russian compatriots that reside in foreign territories bordering Russia. This book demonstrates how this policy has been implemented in Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova. It will also demonstrate how Russia has been pursuing similar policies in the Baltic States, Central Asia, Belarus, Armenia, and the post-Soviet space more broadly. The book enriches the ongoing public debate on Russia’s foreign policy by providing policy and case studies analysis as well as a deeper look into the nature and the roots of Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy. Through extensive interviews, the reader is also offered a unique vantage point of the often voiceless and politicized Russian compatriots, scattered across the post-Soviet space.
Klaus Richter
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781784994419
- eISBN:
- 9781526128232
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781784994419.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter focuses on refugees in the region that later became the Baltic States and that in the Russian Empire formed the Baltic provinces and parts of Russia’s northwest. It addresses how the ...
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This chapter focuses on refugees in the region that later became the Baltic States and that in the Russian Empire formed the Baltic provinces and parts of Russia’s northwest. It addresses how the refugee crisis was perceived by diverse groups including Russian officials, Baltic Germans, Jews, local peasants, and the emerging national elites, and considers the impact of ethnic belonging on the treatment of refugees and the changes in ethnic policies over the course of the war and the first years of independent statehood. It examines how refugees were resettled against the background of state-building and continuing warfare. Lastly it points out that repatriation was not merely a reaction to expulsions, but a policy with its own strategic purpose, with aims that went far beyond a return to the status quo ante 1914.Less
This chapter focuses on refugees in the region that later became the Baltic States and that in the Russian Empire formed the Baltic provinces and parts of Russia’s northwest. It addresses how the refugee crisis was perceived by diverse groups including Russian officials, Baltic Germans, Jews, local peasants, and the emerging national elites, and considers the impact of ethnic belonging on the treatment of refugees and the changes in ethnic policies over the course of the war and the first years of independent statehood. It examines how refugees were resettled against the background of state-building and continuing warfare. Lastly it points out that repatriation was not merely a reaction to expulsions, but a policy with its own strategic purpose, with aims that went far beyond a return to the status quo ante 1914.
Maria Mälksoo
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199327782
- eISBN:
- 9780199388080
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199327782.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, Conflict Politics and Policy
This chapter puts cultural constructions informed by Orientalism in the context of the contemporary “memory war” over the meaning and legacy of World War II in Eastern Europe. Drawing on the concept ...
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This chapter puts cultural constructions informed by Orientalism in the context of the contemporary “memory war” over the meaning and legacy of World War II in Eastern Europe. Drawing on the concept of nesting Orientalisms, the chapter demonstrates how Russia and its former satellites in Eastern Europe (e.g., the Baltic states, Poland, Ukraine) try to depict each other as “less European” in the face of “the West” in order to gain the latter’s recognition of one’s own comparatively “more European” nature. Western readings of these East European memory wars of World War II add another interesting layer of Orientalism to the study, as due to the constitutive role of “the East” for “the West”, these conflicts over memory are culturally and socially productive for Western European identities as well.Less
This chapter puts cultural constructions informed by Orientalism in the context of the contemporary “memory war” over the meaning and legacy of World War II in Eastern Europe. Drawing on the concept of nesting Orientalisms, the chapter demonstrates how Russia and its former satellites in Eastern Europe (e.g., the Baltic states, Poland, Ukraine) try to depict each other as “less European” in the face of “the West” in order to gain the latter’s recognition of one’s own comparatively “more European” nature. Western readings of these East European memory wars of World War II add another interesting layer of Orientalism to the study, as due to the constitutive role of “the East” for “the West”, these conflicts over memory are culturally and socially productive for Western European identities as well.
Ammon Cheskin
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780748697434
- eISBN:
- 9781474418539
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748697434.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Language Families
The political shocks of the 2014 Ukrainian crisis have been felt in many former Soviet countries, not least Latvia, where over 35% of the population are native Russian speakers. At a time when ...
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The political shocks of the 2014 Ukrainian crisis have been felt in many former Soviet countries, not least Latvia, where over 35% of the population are native Russian speakers. At a time when analysts and commentators are unsure about Russia’s future plans to intervene on behalf of their ‘compatriots’, this study provides a detailed political and cultural analysis of Russian-speaking identity in Latvia.By using Russian-speakers in Latvia as a specific case study, this volume also offers a fresh methodological approach to the study of discourses and discursive strategies. It outlines a coherent methodology to study the evolution of discourses over time, rather than a single de-contextualized and static time period.Drawing on media analysis, elite interviews, focus groups and survey data, Russian Speakers in Post-Soviet Latvia situates the identity strategies of Russian speakers within the political, cultural, and economic transformations of the post-Soviet era. By assessing political, cultural, and economic links with their home state (Latvia) and their potential kin-state (Russia), it offers important insights into the complex identity positions of Latvia’s Russian speakers, and how these positions have evolved in Latvia since the late Soviet period.In a time when many will question the loyalty of Russian speakers to their various ‘host states’ this book provides a timely, scholarly account of ethnicity and ethnic politics in Latvia. It also offers a methodological framework that allows for the mapping of trends in discursive strategies, exploring how they evolve through time.Less
The political shocks of the 2014 Ukrainian crisis have been felt in many former Soviet countries, not least Latvia, where over 35% of the population are native Russian speakers. At a time when analysts and commentators are unsure about Russia’s future plans to intervene on behalf of their ‘compatriots’, this study provides a detailed political and cultural analysis of Russian-speaking identity in Latvia.By using Russian-speakers in Latvia as a specific case study, this volume also offers a fresh methodological approach to the study of discourses and discursive strategies. It outlines a coherent methodology to study the evolution of discourses over time, rather than a single de-contextualized and static time period.Drawing on media analysis, elite interviews, focus groups and survey data, Russian Speakers in Post-Soviet Latvia situates the identity strategies of Russian speakers within the political, cultural, and economic transformations of the post-Soviet era. By assessing political, cultural, and economic links with their home state (Latvia) and their potential kin-state (Russia), it offers important insights into the complex identity positions of Latvia’s Russian speakers, and how these positions have evolved in Latvia since the late Soviet period.In a time when many will question the loyalty of Russian speakers to their various ‘host states’ this book provides a timely, scholarly account of ethnicity and ethnic politics in Latvia. It also offers a methodological framework that allows for the mapping of trends in discursive strategies, exploring how they evolve through time.
Juris Krumins and Uldis Usackis
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198297413
- eISBN:
- 9780191685347
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198297413.003.0012
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
During the 19th and 20th centuries, Latvia — as well as its neighbouring countries of Estonia and Lithuania forming the Baltic States — enjoyed a remarkable healthcare system resulting in a life ...
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During the 19th and 20th centuries, Latvia — as well as its neighbouring countries of Estonia and Lithuania forming the Baltic States — enjoyed a remarkable healthcare system resulting in a life expectancy of ten years longer than that of Russia’s. It’s life expectancy even exceeded the life expectancies of Italy, Germany and Austria. When Latvia was politically independent, its life expectancy further increased by two years. However, events like World War II, repression against civil population, collapse of the USSR, the persistent mismanagement of the USSR and the subsequent transition from command economy to market economy strongly influenced the population of Latvia. The chapter particularly studies the factors affecting the mortality rate of Latvia during the transition period which shall base its findings from statistical data.Less
During the 19th and 20th centuries, Latvia — as well as its neighbouring countries of Estonia and Lithuania forming the Baltic States — enjoyed a remarkable healthcare system resulting in a life expectancy of ten years longer than that of Russia’s. It’s life expectancy even exceeded the life expectancies of Italy, Germany and Austria. When Latvia was politically independent, its life expectancy further increased by two years. However, events like World War II, repression against civil population, collapse of the USSR, the persistent mismanagement of the USSR and the subsequent transition from command economy to market economy strongly influenced the population of Latvia. The chapter particularly studies the factors affecting the mortality rate of Latvia during the transition period which shall base its findings from statistical data.
Matilda Dahl
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- April 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198815761
- eISBN:
- 9780191853289
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198815761.003.0013
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Organization Studies
Describing the transition to a market economy in the 1990s and recovery from the financial crisis after 2008 in the Baltic states, particularly in Latvia, we explore the various roles that ...
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Describing the transition to a market economy in the 1990s and recovery from the financial crisis after 2008 in the Baltic states, particularly in Latvia, we explore the various roles that international organizations (IOs) can assume in order to influence market organization. IOs see states as independent decision makers in control of markets through organization. Paradoxically, however, the practice of IOs and the advice they offer undermine the independent decisions of states, because states are expected to reform in accordance with the IOs’ ideas—ideas that further build on decontextualized notions that may not fit the situation of individual states. Recovering from crises, the Baltic states succeeded in regaining control over markets by not conforming to IO ideas.Less
Describing the transition to a market economy in the 1990s and recovery from the financial crisis after 2008 in the Baltic states, particularly in Latvia, we explore the various roles that international organizations (IOs) can assume in order to influence market organization. IOs see states as independent decision makers in control of markets through organization. Paradoxically, however, the practice of IOs and the advice they offer undermine the independent decisions of states, because states are expected to reform in accordance with the IOs’ ideas—ideas that further build on decontextualized notions that may not fit the situation of individual states. Recovering from crises, the Baltic states succeeded in regaining control over markets by not conforming to IO ideas.
Tomas Balkelis
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- April 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780199668021
- eISBN:
- 9780191801044
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199668021.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This book explores how war made the Lithuanian state and shaped society from the onset of the Great War in 1914 to the last waves of violence in 1923. As the very notion of an independent Lithuania ...
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This book explores how war made the Lithuanian state and shaped society from the onset of the Great War in 1914 to the last waves of violence in 1923. As the very notion of an independent Lithuania was constructed during the war, violence became an essential part of the formation of Lithuanian state, nation, and identity. War was much more than simply the historical context in which the tectonic change from empire to nation state took place. It transformed people, policies, institutions, and modes of thought in ways that would continue to shape the nation for decades after the conflict subsided. By telling the story of the post-World War I conflict in Lithuania, the book focuses on the juncture between soldiers and civilians rather than the strategies and acts of politicians, generals, or diplomats. Its two main themes are the impact of military, social, and cultural mobilizations on the local population, and different types of violence that were so characteristic of the region throughout the period. The actors in this story are people displaced by war and mobilized for war: refugees, veterans, volunteers, peasant conscripts, prisoners of war, paramilitary fighters, and others who took to guns, not diplomacy, to assert their power. The book tells the story of how their lives were changed by war and how they shaped the society that emerged after war.Less
This book explores how war made the Lithuanian state and shaped society from the onset of the Great War in 1914 to the last waves of violence in 1923. As the very notion of an independent Lithuania was constructed during the war, violence became an essential part of the formation of Lithuanian state, nation, and identity. War was much more than simply the historical context in which the tectonic change from empire to nation state took place. It transformed people, policies, institutions, and modes of thought in ways that would continue to shape the nation for decades after the conflict subsided. By telling the story of the post-World War I conflict in Lithuania, the book focuses on the juncture between soldiers and civilians rather than the strategies and acts of politicians, generals, or diplomats. Its two main themes are the impact of military, social, and cultural mobilizations on the local population, and different types of violence that were so characteristic of the region throughout the period. The actors in this story are people displaced by war and mobilized for war: refugees, veterans, volunteers, peasant conscripts, prisoners of war, paramilitary fighters, and others who took to guns, not diplomacy, to assert their power. The book tells the story of how their lives were changed by war and how they shaped the society that emerged after war.
