The Securitization of memory and the practice of public history in the Baltic States.

Abstract

Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine in 2014 generated considerable anxiety in the Baltic States about the vulnerability of society to information warfare exploiting the contending historical narratives of the region. The authorities became acutely concerned of the possibility of a ‘hybrid attack’, appealing to the hearts and minds of Russian minorities in border regions to support an incursion or destabilizing action. This chapter seeks to demonstrate that while historical memory of the Second World War became a referent of security discourse and policy, the securitization of the past has not yet led to illiberal regulation or efforts to control historical discourse. A comparative and regional analysis of policy developments in the Baltic States suggests that policymakers have thus far managed to steer a course between a ‘laissez-faire’ liberalism and mnemonic memocracy