Mahlapuu, Kerstin (2019) Returned to 'Normality'? Estonian National

Mahlapuu, Kerstin (2019) Returned to ‘normality’? Estonian national identity constructions after EU and NATO accession. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/75156/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] RETURNED TO ‘NORMALITY’? ESTONIAN NATIONAL IDENTITY CONSTRUCTIONS AFTER EU AND NATO ACCESSION Kerstin Mahlapuu MSc, MRes Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of PhD in Central and East European Studies SCHOOL OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCES COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW 2019 ABSTRACT Estonian identity politics in the 1990s were firmly rooted in the narrative of ‘returning to Europe’ and breaking with the Soviet past – to become a ‘normal’ country again. This narrative underwent a significant change on successful entry to key international organisations such as the EU and NATO. This research is a qualitative in-depth investigation into the complex and multi-layered Estonian national identity constructions evident within Estonian society after it had had nearly a decade to ‘settle into’ this European ‘normality’. Estonia formally validated its ‘return in Europe’ in 2004, but how is ‘Europeanness’ conceptualised by the people on the ground? The thesis demonstrates that the economic crisis which hit Europe in 2008, and had an impact on the defining of ‘Europeanness’, encouraged a new binary of North vs South division in how Europe was perceived. Following interviews with 33 persons from different parts of Estonia, an emergent theme from the empirical findings was, that for many, Estonia was seen as embodying the ‘true’ neoliberal values associated with the understanding of ‘Europe’. The same neoliberal paradigm was at play in helping to shape understandings of Russia, which also frame domestic interethnic relations to a degree. The latter has been the central focus of previous studies to which the current research offers a novel perspective. Themes of security have not lost their relevance in relations with Russia but the pragmatic understanding of reconciling the economic necessity and the more national emotional element has become pertinent nearly a decade after officially ‘returning to Europe’. Another key finding of this research shows a shift from the inter-war period to the early 1990s as a benchmark for Estonian identity- construction, which implies that at the time of conducting this study there was no longer a need to return to ‘Europe’. In addition to the limited research done on Estonian national identity since joining the EU and NATO, there has been minimal attention paid to a grassroots perspective on the issue. By taking a bottom-up perspective through in-depth interviewing and using an innovative visual methodology, this research makes a significant and timely contribution into understanding the ‘normality’ that had settled in Estonia after EU and NATO accession. 2 Table of Contents ABSTRACT .................................................................................... 2 LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................ 9 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................... 10 AUTHOR’S DECLARATION ................................................................. 12 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................. 13 1.1 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY ........................................................ 13 1.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS .......................................................... 16 1.3 TRANSITION TO A ‘NORMAL’ EUROPEAN DEMOCRACY ...................... 18 1.4 FRAMING THE ESTONIAN ‘POLITICAL COMMUNITY’ ......................... 20 1.5 ‘NORMALISING’ RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA .................................... 23 1.6 THE ONLY ‘TRUE’ CHOICE – NEOLIBERALISM ................................. 24 1.7 A RECAP OF THE POLITICAL CONTEXT IN ESTONIA .......................... 28 1.8 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS .................................................... 35 1.9 POSSIBLE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THIS RESEARCH .............................. 39 CHAPTER 2. THEORETICAL PREMISES .................................. 40 2.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................... 40 2.2 ‘NORMALITY’ IN THE SOCIAL WORLD ......................................... 40 3 2.3 GROUP IDENTITY AS PART OF ‘NORMALITY’ ................................. 43 2.4 NATIONAL IDENTITY ............................................................. 46 2.5 THE OTHER IN NATIONAL IDENTITY ........................................... 49 2.6 HOW TO RESEARCH NATIONAL IDENTITY? .................................... 52 2.7 RE-CONSTRUCTING ‘NORMALITY’ IN ESTONIA ............................... 55 2.8 CONCLUSION ...................................................................... 59 CHAPTER 3. LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................... 61 3.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................... 61 3.2 RUSSIA AS THE OTHER - NARRATIVES OF HISTORY .......................... 64 3.3 CONTEXTUALISING RUSSIA AS THE OTHER ................................... 71 3.4 EUROPE OR NOT QUITE EUROPE? .............................................. 72 3.5 NEW LABELS AND LOOKING AHEAD ............................................ 79 3.6 THE NEOLIBERAL PARADIGM .................................................... 83 3.7 CONCLUSION ...................................................................... 87 CHAPTER 4. METHODOLOGY ............................................. 89 4.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................... 89 4.2 STRATEGIC APPROACH .......................................................... 90 4.3 METHODS .......................................................................... 92 4.4 RESEARCH THROUGH INTERVIEWS ............................................. 94 4 4.5 SAMPLING ......................................................................... 95 4.6 VISUAL METHODOLOGY ......................................................... 98 4.7 PHOTO ELICITATION ............................................................. 99 4.8 IMAGES USED FOR THIS RESEARCH ........................................... 101 4.9 STRUCTURING THE INTERVIEW ............................................... 109 4.10 REFLECTIONS ON THE SETTING AND PROCESS OF THE INTERVIEWS... 110 4.11 REFLECTIONS ON MY POSITION AS A RESEARCHER ....................... 113 4.12 TRANSLATING AND TRANSCRIBING THE INTERVIEWS .................... 114 4.13 ANALYSING INTERVIEW DATA ............................................... 116 4.14 TOP-DOWN MEDIA DISCOURSE .............................................. 117 4.15 CONCLUSION .................................................................. 118 CHAPTER 5. ESTONIA IN EUROPE ....................................... 120 5.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 120 5.2 ‘EUROPE’ IN ESTONIA .......................................................... 121 5.2.1 THE OFFICIAL EUROPEAN VALUE DISCOURSE .......................... 122 5.2.2 SO WHAT IS EUROPE IN ESTONIAN IDENTITY-CONSTRUCTION? ...... 124 5.2.3 ‘TRUE’ EUROPEAN ECONOMIC VALUES .................................. 127 5.2.4 NORTH-SOUTH AXIS IN ‘EUROPE’ ........................................ 128 5.3 WHERE EUROPE ENDS?: SPATIAL BOUNDARIES AND OTHERING ........... 136 5 5.4 ESTONIA IN THE EU ............................................................. 139 5.4.1 THE IDEATIONAL ‘SECOND ESTONIAN REPUBLIC’? ..................... 142 5.5 CONCLUSION ..................................................................... 148 CHAPTER 6. RUSSIA AS THE OTHER .................................... 150 6.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 150 6.2 SECURITISING RUSSIA ........................................................... 151 6.2.1 NORMALISING RELATIONS ................................................. 151 6.2.2 CONFLICTING HISTORY NARRATIVES .................................... 153 6.2.3 POST-ACCESSION ‘NORMALITY’ .......................................... 156 6.2.4 SPHERE OF INFLUENCE .................................................... 160 6.2.5 RUSSIA – THE CULTURAL ‘OTHER’ ....................................... 166 6.3 A NEO(LIBERAL) NORMALITY IN RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA ................. 169 6.3.1 ‘YOU SHOULD GET ALONG WITH YOUR NEIGHBOURS’ - RATIONALISING RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA ........................................ 171 6.4 CONCLUSION ..................................................................... 176 CHAPTER 7. LIVING THE ESTONIAN ‘NORMALITY’ .................. 178 7.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 178 7.2 SOCIETAL INTEGRATION ....................................................... 180 “IF YOU LIVE IN ESTONIA, YOU SHOULD LEARN THE LANGUAGE!” . 182 6 7.3 ECONOMIC ASPECTS ............................................................ 191 ENTERING THE EURO ZONE ..............................................

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