No / This is an extended study of the achievement of cultural auonomty in Estonia (1925) and of attempts by national minoriites in Europe to promote minority rights internationally, not least by lobbying the League of Nations. / British Academy

This thesis conceptualizes post-Second World War Soviet émigré theory, i.e., how the Soviets made sense of their expatriates and related to them (something previously only studied in passing). To this end, the study draws on instructional, academic, and administrative Soviet sources. It also examines the application of this theory on the unconventional Estonian emigration in Sweden in reports from Soviet bureaucracies in 1953–1962. By comparing preconceptions to reality and exposing occasional mismatches, the study hopes to give insight into the properties and historical origins of this distinct and influential part of Soviet ideology.

This thesis examines how the Swedish newspapers Aftonbladet and Expressen portrays heroes in the aftermath of the sinking of the M/S Estonia in September of 1994. Our research questions are 1) How is heroism portrayed in the news reports about the Estonia disaster in the newspapers Expressen and Aftonbladet? 2) Are there similarities and distinctions between female and male heroes?   We have approached our material from a qualitative perspective analyzing 12 articles using critical discourse analysis.   Upon completion of our research we found that both men and women can be heroes, but regardless of gender heroes are all portrayed with traditionally male attributes, such as being aggressive, rational and courageous. To find and understand the hero in news context, the victim plays a periphery but important role. Our result also shows that the victim is needed in order for the hero to perform his or her actions. The victim can be both male or female, but are all described with female attributes as being weak, dependent and fragile.   The results of our study may be of use to understand how the journalistic practice actively uses stories about heroes to 1. personify a disaster, 2. summarize a fragmented chain of events and 3. project a distinction between the contemporary aspect of male and female.

This thesis investigates how the inhabitants formed the coastal landscape of northwest Estonia through both internal change and external impact by estate owners, provincial government and imperial decrees. Two villages on the largely Swedish populated Noarootsi peninsula, Einbi (Enby) and Kudani (Gutanäs), are examined in detail. The aim was to answer questions about how the local livelihoods and farming systems of coastal inhabitants changed from the late 1600s to 1940. The background of a gradual weakening of the manorial estate system from 1800 onwards and a rapid development of freehold family farming from the 1860s is important to the analysis. To examine the complex variety of factors and interactions that shape the landscape, an interdisciplinary approach to change has been used. This approach included a conceptual model for the local production unit, such as the individual farm. Information from historical maps, diverse population registers and agricultural censuses were used. The soil cover was examined with samples taken during fieldwork in the studied villages. The study shows how the development of two villages in fairly similar geographic settings differed largely due to socio-political restrictions. During feudal times, the primary changes were related to the fact that local nobility could maintain their land ownership rights and regulations for manorial deliveries and corvée duties. Changes to natural conditions, such as soil quality and land uplift, had no substantial effect on land productivity. From the 19th century, the most important factor was the legalized opportunity to purchase farms as freeholds from estates, as well as through land reforms in an independent Estonia. The traditional niche of coastal Swedish peasants, who depended on a variety of productive activities, remained in practice. As all manor land was nationalized, many new smallholdings and crofts were created based on external activities by inhabitants, such as farm day labor. Farm productivity was now increased primarily by improvement to land quality (use of artificial fertilizers and meadow drainage), and by the introduction of new implements and crops on farms consolidated from open fields.

<p>The aim of this study is to investigate differences that exist in Estonia and Russia with regard to civil society, democracy and corruption and try to find out what can be possible causes to the vast differences in these two countries. Many political scientists claim that civil society plays a key role in democratic transitions. This paper takes its point of departure in 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed and Estonia and Russia became independent. Since then Estonia has had a flourishing economy which attract many foreign investments, with Sweden as the greatest investor. The country has also managed well to adjust quickly from totalitarianism to democracy. This paper also addresses issues with corruption as it is a major problem in Russia and affects every day life in society. My results show that since Vladimir Putin came to power, Russia has got a higher degree of corruption and the evolution of democracy has gone backwards. I also found that there is a lack of social capital in the Russian society. In Estonia however, the results show that the country now has a well-functioning democracy. The legal environment for NGOs has steadily improved since Estonia became member of the EU. However, there still remain some deficit with regards to being a participating democracy at the grass-root level within the civil society. The theories used in this paper are Heidenheimer´s theory on corruption and Robert Putnam´s institutional theory on horizontal organization and social capital. The methods used are comparative case study and most similar systems design.</p>

The broad aim of this thesis is twofold: firstly, I contextualise the Maausk movement and its practitioners’ understandings in relation to history and the surrounding society; secondly, I analyse the affective and embodied experiences of being a Maausk practitioner from a phenomenological perspective. The thesis focuses on the formation and practice of Maausk, which is perceived to be deeply tied to the society and history where it exists. Relatedly, this study examines how Maausk identity formation and practices have been influenced by the Soviet legacy, romantic nationalism and Estonia’s current economic and political situation. In order to analyse the Maausk experiences and narratives, this study draws from various phenomenologically oriented theories of affect, embodiment and emotion, as well as cultural theories of place, identity, tradition and authenticity. I have used economic anthropology and globalisation theories as well as historical studies of Estonia’s Soviet past to contextualise the Maausk movement. Further, to place Maausk in the European religious landscape, this study refers to native faith and Neo-pagan studies. Through sensory ethnography, this study draws on the affective and emotional aspects of the research material to analyse how the complexity of emotional experiences of being a Maausk practitioner produces Maausk meanings and values. The study also examines the role and function of the body and emotions during the process of embodying the Maausk practices, both techniques and meanings of the practices.

The aim of the diploma thesis is to analyze and to compare the foreign policies of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia in the period from 1991 until 2004 and to reach a conclusion, whether the frequent and very common generalization of the foreign policies of those states is correct. The first part of the paper explores the main approaches to the analysis of foreign policy and state's national interest. In this part of the paper, the appoach to analysis of the state's national interest, offered by the Copenhagen school of theory is chosen, and this approach is then used in the second chapter of the diploma. The second part of the paper, examines the threats of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in political, societal, military and economic sectors. Finally, the conclusion describes the results of the analysis of each sector and provides the assessment and comparison of the main problems of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and of the ways in which the states were trying to solve them in the chosen time period. It is shown, that despite the fact, that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were often facing similar challenges, they did also have an abundant number of different and specific problems of their own, were not able to work in concert, and often showed resistance to be deemed as "Baltic". This leads to the conclusion that treating their foreign policies as a joint "Baltic foreign policy" is incorrect and can be misleading.

<p>By their very nature, attempts by civil society organizations to promote democracy abroad involve cooperation and contact across the borders of nation states. The dissemination of the ideas and practices of the promoters is often essential; in the case of Swedish democracy promotion, popular education or folkbildning has been important.</p><p>This thesis investigates the dissemination of ideas and practices by civil society organizations in Sweden and Estonia in the field of popular education. More specifically, a number of projects run by member organizations of the Swedish study association ABF (Workers’ Educational Association) and member organizations of the Estonian AHL (Open Education Association) are studied. These projects are also part of democracy-promoting activities whose funding comes mainly from Swedish donor agencies. The thesis aims to understand not only what has been spread but also how ideas and practices have been translated to fit the Estonian context. The primary theoretical concept used is therefore translation, even though one aim of the thesis is to systematize the field of study concerning processes of dissemination and to enrich the concept of translation with the aid of previous work on diffusion and socialization.</p><p>The main contribution of the thesis consists of the in-depth study of cooperation between Swedish and Estonian popular education organizations. It also contributes to the theoretical development of the concept of translation by identifying different phases in this kind of process and important elements of these phases. Popular education is an important part of Swedish democracy promotion and this study also contributes to this rather undertheorized subject, and also to the discussions of transnational civil society cooperation, by demonstrating an analytical framework that can be of use in future research into these issues.</p>

<p>Context: The challenges in going from a system of planned economy to a free market system are without a doubt enormous both for countries and individual companies. One company that has been in this situation is Krenholm. Krenholm is an Estonian textile company. When Estonia gained its independence in 1991, Krenholm faced a completely different environment with no customers and market economy. After four very difficult years, Krenholm was bought by a Swedish company, Borås Wäfveri AB in 1995. At this point Krenholm was a state owned company in absolute chaos. A leap forward from that point in time brings us to the year of 2000. In this year Krenholm shows a profit of 21 Million SEK. </p><p>Purpose: The purpose with this study is to investigate how a company can successfully change from operating in a planned economy to operate with profit in a market economy. </p><p>Scope: The major time focus in this thesis is 1995 - 2002 and on a micro level of changes at Krenholm. The years from 1944 to 1995 provide a macro level background of the Soviet Union period and the transition of Estonia towards market economy. These periods are only analyzed in short. When analyzing Krenholm in the areas of managerial resources, strategy and structure, we will focus on top level management and exclude the more operational management conducted by managers on lower levels. In the same way we will solely research strategy on a high level and exclude the more detailed strategic planning on the operational level. Organizational culture will no be considered. </p><p>Method: To be able to fulfill our purpose we committed a case study of Krenholm, Narva. In our view Krenholm is a very suitable object of study, as an industrial company that has succeeded in adapting itself from being a company in a planned economy to being a profitable company in a market economy. We started of by acquiring an excellent preunderstanding. The most important step in doing so was an initial trip a trip to Krenholm. When ourfocus and frame of references were ready we went back to Krenholm and collected our primary data through interviews with key personnel. In total, 11 interviews were conducted at Krenholm; these included all the directing managers at Krenholm. We also conducted one mail interview with Narva Business Center and had an interesting meeting in Narva with a consultant at Krenholm from Borås Wäfveri. When we returned to Sweden from Estonia our empirical findings were analyzed with the help of our frame of references and we reached our conclusions. </p><p>Conclusions: We conclude that the characteristics of the industry that Krenholm was developed in many respects helped the company to succeed in its successful adaptation to the market economy environment. The single most important factor in Krenholms successful adaptation was however the privatization of the company. We also conclude that in the transition it is vital to develop the managerial resource base immediately in order to be able to survive and also later to develop competitive strategies for the future. On a micro level we found that it seems to be of vital importance who guides a company in the times off difficult and revolutionary change</p>

Mit den immensen Aufgaben und Problematiken der Transformation konfrontiert, wechselten die Mehrparteien-Regierungen in Estland vergleichsweise häufig. Im Jahr 2002 war die insgesamt achte Regierung seit 1992 im Amt. Eine detaillierte Untersuchung der Regierungsstabilität am Beispiel von Estlands bis dato sieben Regierungen erscheint daher angebracht, da das Land trotz der häufigen Regierungswechsel im osteuropäischen Vergleich als erfolgreichstes Transformationsland angesehen wird.<br> Kann Regierungsstabilität auch dann vorliegen, wenn die Regierungen selbst sehr häufig wechseln? Dies ist die eigentliche Fragestellung der vorliegenden Diplomarbeit. Es wird davon ausgegangen, dass sich Regierungsstabilität aus mehreren Variablen zusammensetzt, die sich gegenseitig beeinflussen. Angaben über die durchschnittliche Verweildauer einer Regierung im Amt besitzen wenig Aussagekraft, vielmehr müssen die eigentlichen Hintergründe für einen Wechsel beleuchtet werden. / Confronted with the immense tasks and problems of the democratic transition, the multiparty governments of Estonia change comparatively often. Following the elections of March 2003, a new government is being formed: the ninth since 1992. A detailed examination of government stability and the example of Estonia is accordingly warranted, given that the country is seen as the most successful Eastern European transition country in spite of its frequent changes of government.<br> This article asks whether government stability can exist in a case that exhibits frequent changes of government. It is presumed that government stability is composed of various variables influencing one another. Data about the average tenure of a government is not very conclusive. Rather, the deeper political causes for changes of governments need to be examined.