BALTIC JOURNAL OF LAW & POLITICS VOLUME 4, NUMBER 1 (2011) ISSN 2029-0454 http://www.versita.com/bjlp Cit.: Baltic Journal of Law & Politics 4:1 (2011): 106-133 DOI: 10.2478/v10076-011-0005-4 ETHNIC MINORITY POLICIES AND POLITICAL PARTIES’ APPEAL TO ETHNIC VOTERS: A CASE STUDY OF ESTONIA’S RUSSIANS Leonas Tolvaišis Doctoral Candidate Vytautas Magnus University Faculty of Political Sciences and Diplomacy (Lithuania) Contact information Address: Gedimino str. 44, LT-44240 Kaunas, Lithuania Phone: (+370 37) 206 704 E-mail address:
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[email protected] Received: May 19, 2011; reviews: 2; accepted: July 19, 2011. ABSTRACT Focusing on a case study of Estonia’s major political parties’ relations with the ethnic Russian electorate, the article examines the role of ethnic minority policies in the electoral appeal of nation-wide parties towards the ethnic minority electorate, attempting to assess whether pursuing efficient minority-related policies is a necessary precondition for a nation- wide party achieving electoral success among ethnic voters, and whether the migration of an ethnic minority electorate from ethnic parties to mainstream parties can be considered a sign of successful accommodation. Applying the theoretical concept of “informational shortcuts”, the article assesses persuasion strategies employed by Estonian political parties in their appeal towards the minority electorate, exemplifying the ways in which mainstream political parties can consolidate their monopoly over ethnic voters without prioritizing special minority-related policies. KEYWORDS Ethnopolitics, ethnic voting, ethnic minority politics, ethnic minority political participation, electoral politics, Estonian Russians Unauthenticated Download Date | 8/15/17 1:20 PM BALTIC JOURNAL OF LAW & POLITICS ISSN 2029-0454 VOLUME 4, NUMBER 1 2011 INTRODUCTION The disintegration of socialist multiethnic federations in Europe along ethnic lines imposed ethnicity as one of the fundamental political cleavages within many of the newly-emerged states.