Multi-ethnic societies and willingness to defend one’s own country: Russian-speakers in the Baltic states

Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH. All rights reserved.This article contributes to research which covers individual’s willingness to defend their own country. To achieve this end, a case study is undertaken which looks at the Baltic states, with a special focus on the Russian-speaking inhabitants of the region. The mapping out of historical and present day quantitative data corroborates the finding that there is a gap in terms of willingness to defend one’s own country between Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian-speakers on the one hand and Russian-speakers on the other. At the same time, data from two nationally-representative surveys across the Baltics leads one to the conclusion that there are no fundamental differences in reasoning along ethnic and linguistic lines, i.e. why individuals express willingness (not) to defend their own country. Consistent differences can be observed only in some smaller categories which generally mirror trends in contrasting historical memories and the perceptions of domestic and international issues.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Small Powers, Geopolitical Crisis and Hypersecuritisation : Latvia and the Effects of Russia’s Second War in Ukraine

Funding Information: The author is grateful to the Academy of International Affairs NRW during whose fellowship this article was completed. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 CEJISS. Article is distributed under Open Access licence: Attribution - NonCommercial 4.0 Unported (cc by-nc 4.0)This article presents a case where securitisation of one state in another increased dramatically and exponentially. The scale and intensity of securitisation were unprecedented, as were the range of securitisation actors, and the tone of language of speech acts and nonverbal securitisation acts. This case in question is the securitisation of Russia in Latvia over Russia’s war in Ukraine starting in 2022. Although Russia was securitised by its smaller neighbour before the war, the sudden explosion of securitisation in 2022 differs from any securitisation in recent decades there. Securitisation of Russia is evaluated within the margins of the hypersecuritisation subconcept that purports securitisation beyond the ‘normal’ level, characterised by exaggeration of threats and excessive countermeasures. This article offers a reformulation of the subconcept, omitting the negative connotation built into the initial definition, as well as addresses the transition from securitisation to hypersecuritisation.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Conclusions and Recommendations: Between Unwillingness and Willingness to Defend Own Country in the Baltic States and Beyond

Conclusions and recommendations of the publication “Willingness to Defend Own Country in the Baltic States: Implications for National Security and NATO’s Collective Defence” (2021), where the scientific editor of the publication summarizes the findings and offers recommendations.This publication is co-sponsored by the North Atlantic Treaty Organizatio

Securitization and desecuritization of Russia in the national security and defence concepts of Latvia (1995-2020)

Publisher Copyright: © Foundation of International Studies, 2021.This article revisits and applies the securitization theory in assessing securitization and desecuritization of Russia in the national security and state defence concepts of Latvia. The analysis covers the editions of concepts from 1995 up to the date. With the benefit of the quantitative and qualitative content analyses, all mentions of Russia in those fourteen documents are classified as either securitizing, desecuritizing or nonsecuritizing. Further, they are analysed in the wider picture of national security. It is concluded that most of Latvia’s national security and state defence documents have reflected the perception of the existent security situation, and they have been limited in their pre-emptive and future-proof nature, at least regarding Russia. In most of the editions of the documents prior to the 2014 Ukraine crisis, Russia has been essentially undersecuritized as compared to the then existing potential of risks and threats. Meanwhile, the final editions from 2015 and on hint that Russia might be oversecuritized – not least compared to the earlier documents, but also at the expense of securitizing other objective threats.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Three-Decade Evolution of the Willingness to Defend One’s Own Country: the Case of the Baltic States

Scopus datubāzē norādītas lappuses: 195-200. Žurnāla mājaslapā: 195-220.This article provides the most comprehensive analysis of the willingness to defend one’s own country in the similar, yet different, Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. It reviews the previous research focussing on regularities explaining the willingness to defend the country. This article proceeds with mapping the results of the previous sociological research from the three countries and discusses the results of a nationally representative poll conducted for the purposes of this research. The previous and current data suggests that Estonians are more likely to defend their country, while Latvians and Lithuanians are less keen to do so. In a wider regional and global context, the willingness to defend one’s own country is high in Estonia but low in Lithuania. Several hypotheses on regularities are tested in the Baltic case. It is affirmed that on the inter-societal level, growth in life opportunities tends to have a negative effect on the willingness to defend one’s own country, though it cannot explain the correlation of fluctuations in both indicators. On the intra-societal level, it is affirmed that men are more likely to defend their own country. While the empirical data in relation to two of the Baltic States confirm some other hypotheses, such as those related to trust in the armed forces, the impact of external threats, and historical experiences, there is no conclusive support in all three regarding other factors like trust in the government, religiousness, conscription, age, nor education on the individual level. That underlines the role of various factors, interaction thereof and their different effect on people’s willingness to defend their countries.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Deterrence Dilemma in Latvia and Estonia: Finding the Balance between External Military Solidarity and Territorial Defence

While potential threats from Russia and NATO collective defence commitments are similar for Latvia and Estonia, both countries have adopted different approaches in the balancing exercise between territorial defence and military solidarity. Notwithstanding their differences, both are by their nature fully non-aggressive – without room for pre-emptive initiatives, extra territoriality or asymmetrical tools. Given that in a case of a hypothetical large-scale conventional attack both countries would almost entirely have to rest on the allies, external military solidarity is essential. Until the Ukraine crisis, both offered more military solidarity towards their NATO allies than the latter offered to them. As the result of the Ukrainian crisis, allies became more military-solidary with the Baltic nations, especially having established the Enhanced Forward Presence, while Estonian and especially Latvian contributions to international missions and operations dropped. Therefore, it is suggested that both countries increase their efforts to the allied international endeavours.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Conceptualizing Willingness to Defend and to Fight for Own Country

As a part of the overarching publication “Willingness to Defend Own Country in the Baltic States: Implications for National Security and NATO’s Collective Defence” (2021), author of this chapter reviews the conceptual aspects of willingness to defend and to fight for own country. It is an updated version of a fragment from previous scientific publication by the author.This publication is co-sponsored by the North Atlantic Treaty Organizatio

Baltic Public Opinion on China in 2022 – Neutral but Tilting towards Negative

This publication results from the project “China's Role and Perception in the Baltic States: Implications for National Security and NATO” (NATO Public Diplomacy Division's Co-Sponsorship Grant)The chapter presents results of tri-nationally representative sociological study from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, where public opinion on China is explored simultaneously in all three countries and within a single methodological framework.This publication is sponsored by NATO’s Public Diplomacy Divisio

Willingness to Defend the Baltic States in Quantitative Terms

As a part of the overarching publication “Willingness to Defend Own Country in the Baltic States: Implications for National Security and NATO’s Collective Defence” (2021), author of this chapter reviews quantitative data on willingness to defend and to fight for own country in the Baltic states. It is an updated version of a fragment from previous scientific publication by the author.This publication is co-sponsored by the North Atlantic Treaty Organizatio

Introduction

This publication results from the project “China's Role and Perception in the Baltic States: Implications for National Security and NATO” (NATO Public Diplomacy Division's Co-Sponsorship Grant)Introductory words and contextualization of the publication “China in the Baltic States – from a Cause of Hope to Anxiety”.This publication is sponsored by NATO’s Public Diplomacy Divisio