Empty spaces and the value of symbols: Estonia's 'war of monuments' from another angle

Taking as its point of departure the recent heightened discussion surrounding publicly sited monuments in Estonia, this article investigates the issue from the perspective of the country's eastern border city of Narva, focusing especially upon the restoration in 2000 of a 'Swedish Lion' monument to mark the 300th anniversary of Sweden's victory over Russia at the first Battle of Narva. This commemoration is characterised here as a successful local negotiation of a potentially divisive past, as are subsequent commemorations of the Russian conquest of Narva in 1704. A recent proposal to erect a statue of Peter the Great in the city, however, briefly threatened to open a new front in Estonia's ongoing 'war of monuments'. Through a discussion of these episodes, the article seeks to link the Narva case to broader conceptual issues of identity politics, nationalism and post-communist transition

National cultural autonomy in Central and Eastern Europe: Challenges and possibilities

The chapter examines the law and practice of national cultural autonomy (NCA) from the perspective of participation of national minorities in four countries in Central and Eastern Europe: Estonia, the Russian Federation, Hungary and Serbia. It considers both the levels of autonomy of NCA institutions, and their co-decision-making competences with government structures. On the basis of qualitative data from the authors’ fieldwork, the chapter shows that, while NCA has had only a marginal role in furthering democratic pluralism in the region, its practice provides insights on the internal nuances and complexity of NCA institutions. Significant variations emerge with reference to type of national minority, political priorities and historical legacies, highlighting the importance of minority-centred and flexible approaches to NCA. Finally, the chapter considers how lessons from Central and Eastern Europe may be relevant in developing a framework for the accommodation of Turkey’s Kurdish community which incorporates NCA elements