Between National and European Integration Political Culture in The

Political Culture in the Baltic States Between National and European Integration Kjetil Duvold Sten Berglund Joakim Ekman Political Culture in the Baltic States Kjetil Duvold • Sten Berglund Joakim Ekman Political Culture in the Baltic States Between National and European Integration Kjetil Duvold Sten Berglund Dalarna University Örebro University Falun, Sweden Örebro, Sweden Joakim Ekman Södertörn University Stockholm, Sweden ISBN 978-3-030-21843-0 ISBN 978-3-030-21844-7 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21844-7 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ‘We have two examples of what should never happen in Estonia: Russia—and Sweden’, a young politician told a journalist from the online magazine Politico in 2015.1 The politician represented Blue Awakenings, the youth branch of controversial far-right party EKRE (Conservative People’s Party of Estonia), which entered government in Estonia in April 2019. It is an apt illustration of how difficult it might be for a radical right-winger in Estonia to choose among old and new fears: Soviet communism of the past and loss of national sovereignty versus contemporary multilateralism and multiculturalism. The Baltic states have often faced choices that they felt were being imposed on them. This is a book about three small countries, located in a north-eastern corner of Europe; the Nordic countries are situated to the north and to the west, Russia to the east. Currently forming a micro-region in Europe, their geopolitical position has often turned out to be disadvantageous in terms of national aspirations. They have been dominated by Swedes, by German settlers, by Poles, by Russians and by Soviet officials. Much of the region was part of the Tsarist Empire for almost two centuries (the remain- ing parts ‘merely’ for 120 years) and—after just two decades of independence squeezed in between two world wars—the three countries became Soviet republics after the Second World War. They regained independence in the beginning of the 1990s and made great efforts to loosen the ties with their former colonial master at the expense of alliances with Western countries and frameworks of cooperation. Today, they are more ‘Central and Eastern Europe’ than ‘post-Soviet’. But, although they have arguably v vi PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS overcome their Soviet legacy—the only former Soviet republics to do so— the shadow of Russian rule still hangs over them in several respects. Their populations contain large groups of Russian-speaking minorities—a legacy of Soviet integration—and Russia still holds sway over many of them. But apart from a few hotspots, such as the Bronze Soldier incident in Tallinn in 2007, interethnic relations have been rather calm. There are several excellent textbooks on the Baltic states available on the market. We have consulted some of them, in addition to numerous articles and reports. Anatol Lieven’s The Baltic Revolution: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Path to Independence (1993) is a unique chronicle on the often chaotic and dramatic post-Soviet period, and remains one of the sharpest and most readable texts on the Baltic states. Of more recent vin- tage, Daunis Auers’ Comparative Politics and Government of the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the 21st Century (2015) is perhaps the most authoritative text on institutions, parties and governments of the Baltic states. The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by Thomas Lane, Artis Pabriks, Aldis Purs and David J Smith is also a handy companion. Other books have focused on particular aspects of the three countries, such as foreign political orientations (for instance, The Baltic States from the Soviet Union to the European Union: Identity, Discourse and Power in the Post-Communist Transition of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by Richard Mole, Identity and Foreign Policy: Baltic-Russian Relations and European Integration by Eiki Berg and Piret Ehin and Continuity and Change in the Baltic Sea Region: Comparing Foreign Policies by David Galbreath, Ainius Lasas, Jeremy W. Lamoreaux), ethnic relations, national integration and identities (for instance, A Cat’s Lick: Democratisation and Minority Communities in the Post-Soviet Baltic by Timofey Agarin, Russian Speakers in Post-Soviet Latvia: Discursive Identity Strategies by Ammon Cheskin, Taming Nationalism? Political Community Building in the Post- Soviet Baltic States by Dovile Budryte, and The Quality of Divided Democracies Minority Inclusion: Exclusion, and Representation in the New Europe by Licia Cianetti), energy and environment (for instance, Contemporary Environmentalism in the Baltic States: From Phosphate Springs to Nordstream by David Galbreath and The Politics of Energy and Memory between the Baltic States and Russia by Agnia Grigas), parties and cleavages (for instance, chapters by Lagerspetz and Vogt, Auers and Duvold and Jurkynas in The Handbook of Political Change in Eastern Europe, edited by Sten Berglund, Joakim Ekman, Kevin Deegan-Krause, PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii and Terje Knutsen), political elites (see, for instance, Baltic Democracy At The Crossroads: An Elite Perspective by Sten Berglund and Kjetil Duvold) and history, memory and national identity (above all A History of the Baltic States by Andres Kasekamp, but also Memory and Pluralism in the Baltic States by Eva-Clarita Pettai, Transitional and Retrospective Justice in the Baltic States by Eva-Clarita Pettai and Vello Pettai, Making and Breaking of Soviet Lithuania: Memory and Modernity in the Wake of War by Violeta Davoliuˉte˙ and Baltic Facades: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania Since 1945 by Aldis Purs). Political culture and support for democracy have been topics of several articles and dissertations (for instance, Making Sense of Baltic Democracy: Public Support and Political Representation in Nationalising States by Kjetil Duvold and Regime Support in European Democracies by Kadri Lühstie), but the present book is perhaps the first systematic and compre- hensive book to capture political attitudes, values and beliefs in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Hence, this study of political culture of the Baltic states may not actually need further justification! But our aim is neverthe- less to present a work of comparative nature with appeals to a larger audi- ence. It raises several general questions about, for instance, democratic values, political support, nation building and minority inclusion, and the impacts of European integration and geopolitical conflicts on political culture. The book was conceived within the research project European Values under Attack? Democracy, Disaffection and Minority Rights in the Baltic states, a project that included the three authors under the leadership of Joakim Ekman and was sponsored by the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies. The idea was to follow up on a series of opinion surveys conducted in the three countries throughout the 1990s and in 2001 and 2004: The New Baltic Barometer (NBB) and the New Europe Barometer (NEB), run by Richard Rose and associates at the Centre for the Study of Public Policy, University of Strathclyde. NBB VI (2004) was carried out in cooperation with a Swedish research project sponsored by the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation. The project was based in Örebro and brought the three authors of the current book together. In the Baltic Barometer from 2014, they replicated the NBB/NEB a decade after the previous study, and expanded on it by including items related to tolerance, respect for minority rights and European integration. viii PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The last NBB survey was conducted at the dawn of Baltic EU accession. In the ten years that followed, the three countries were among the fastest growing economies in Europe; not only were they transforming their economies, but even their societies were rapidly under change. They made good use of the EU’s Structural and Investment Funds by upgrading their infrastructure and developing their economies. EU membership also opened up entirely new gateways to jobs and study places abroad—opportunities that have been taken up by several hundred thousand Baltic citi- zens and residents. It has been a survival strategy for many, offering possibilities to improve standards of living or career opportunities. It has brought some benefits for the countries at large: people send back money to their families at home—much needed during the financial crisis—while others have improved their skills that can be put to good use when they return. The problem is that many do not return, which has become a source of major concern. During that decade, the countries were also badly hit by the global financial crisis.

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