Transcript Contribution of social scientists to formulation of national integration

Integration policies in Estonia
2000-2007
Raivo Vetik
Tallinn University
Content
1. Historical and demographic
background
2. Estonian integration
programmes
3. Future challenges
1. Historical and demographic
background
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1934 census – ethnic Estonians composed 88
percent, Russians 8 percent, and other nationalities 4
percent of the population of Estonia
In 1945 ethnic Estonians formed 97.3% of the
population
During the ensuing Soviet period, the number of nonEstonians increased twenty-sixfold, from 23,000
in 1945 to 602,000 in 1989. At the same time the
number of ethnic Estonians decreased from about
one million in 1940 to 965,000 in 1989
In 1940s Estonia lost about 20 percent of its
preoccupation population
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Regaining independence in 1991
Legal continuity as the formal basis of
the Estonian statehood - the
citizenship law of 1992 defined only
those who possessed Estonian
citizenship before June 16, 1940 and
their descendants as citizens
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Differences compared to the integration
issues in Estonia and West European
countries:
the need to reform a number of social
structures (for example, educational system),
in the process of which, the old ones must be
pulled down
antagonism between different foreign policy
orientations, primarily concerning the attitude
to Russia
Theories of transition
 - Juan Linz & Alfred Stepan (1996),
‘When Democracy and the NationaState Are Conflicting Logics: Estonia and
Latvia’, in Juan Linz & Alfred Stepan
(eds.), Problems of Democratic
Transition and Consolidation: Southern
Europe, South America, and PostCommunist Europe, John Hopkins
University Press 1996, pp.401.
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Ethnic democracy model
- Sammy Smooha
Civilizational conflict model
- Huntington
- Lauristin & Vihalemm Return to the Western
World, Tartu 1997
Nation-building theories
- Karl Deutsch
- Walker Connor
Three interrelated dimensions:
 1. democratization of political
system
 2. marketization of economic
system
 3. relationship between ethnic
groups
1. Democratization
 a. Parlamentary system and
presidential system.
 b. Majoritarian and proportional
electoral system
2. Economic transition
 a. active state and minimal state
 b. shock strategy and gradualist
economic transformation
3. Nationality policy
 a. Who should be members of
demos in new states?
 b. Strategies for handling
minorities problem - assimilation,
domination or multiculturalism
2. Estonian integration
programmes
Two conceptually different phases of
development in thinking about the future of
inter-ethnic setting in Estonia
 ‘The basis of Estonian state policy in
integrating non-Estonians into Estonian
society’, February 1998
 ‘Integration in Estonian society 2000-2007’,
March 2000
Integration as a two-way process
 John Rex
Differentiation between public and private spheres:
(a) society that is unitary in public sphere but tolerant
regarding differences in private sphere;
(b) society that is unitary in public sphere and promotes
unity also in private sphere;
(c) society that promotes difference and differential
rights both in public and private sphere;
(d) society that promotes difference and differential
rights in public sphere but unity in private sphere.
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A pair of analytic categories ‘unitydifference’ became the basis of defining
integration:
Two processes shape the essence of
integration of Estonian society: on one hand,
social homogenization of the society based on
knowledge of Estonian language and
acquiring Estonian citizenship, and on the
other, opportunity to preserving ethnic
differences through recognizing minority
cultural rights
Spheres of integration
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1. Linguistic-communicative integration, meaning
reproduction of a common space of information and
an Estonian language environment in Estonian
society under the conditions of diversity and
tolerance;
2. Legal-political integration, meaning molding a
population that is loyal to the Estonian state and
diminishing the number of people without Estonian
citizenship;
3. Socio-economic integration, meaning achieving
an equal opportunity in competition and social
mobility of members of Estonian society irrespective
of their ethnic or cultural background.
The Estonian model of
multiculturalism
State
Strong common
ground
1. Social
Titular ethnic
group
institutions
2. Democratic
values
3. Language
4. Educational system
5. Mutual tolerance
Individual
Other
ethnic
groups
New Integration Programme for
2008-2013
 Stonger focus on socio-economic and
political integration issues
 Ethnic Estonians as one of the target
groups
 Need for a new management structure
for integration policies
3. Future challenges
Different understanding of nation
state among majority and minority:
 Attitudes of ethnic Estonians towards
participation of non-Estonians in public
sphere
 Attitudes of non-Estonians towards
events of 1940 in Estonia
Relationship to Russia
 Russia’s interference into Estonian affairs in
the April crisis - in order to provide security
the government has to think about the triadic
nexus Estonia, Russia and Estonian Russians.
 But the government treats the defenders of
the Bronze Soldier (and in a sense all
Estonian Russians) as Russia’s henchmen.
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A recent survey brought out that Estonian
Russians are divided into more or less
three even groups – well (28%), moderately
(34%) and weakly (38%) integrated.
The key question of the Estonian statehood is
which side the medium group will decide to
join.
The overwhelming majority of the first group
are Estonian citizens (91%), in the medium
group about half (57%) and in the last group
only 18% are the Estonian citizens.
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The ethnopolitcal models of Popular Front
and Citizens’ Committees in 1990s
New paradigm - shift from ethnic to
political understanding of nationhood in
Estonia - solidarity of Estonian people is
based not so much on ethnocultural
belonging, but rather on democratic values
and shared political institutions