Political science - Estonia

Analysis of the pre-1989 situation; The development of political science since 1989; Core theoretical and methodological orientations; Thematic orientation and funding; Public space and academic debates; Views on further development and major challenges

The Strategies of Inter-Ethnic Adaptation of Estonian Russians

Based on the inter-cultural relations model of John Berry, four different groups among Russian-speakers in Estonia were differentiated in the analysis of ‘Integration monitoring 2005’. The analysis reveals that both similarities and differences exist between the characteristics of these four groups and the groups in the typology of Berry (integration, assimilation, marginalisation, separation). The differences that emerged are related to the assimilation and integration strategies, which proved to be rather restrained for Russian-speakers in the current social and political context in Estonia. The analysis gives us ground to claim that the strong ethnic connotation of the current nation-state model in Estonia hinders finding a positive place in this country even for those Russian-speakers, who, in fact, would like to integrate

Etniliste vähemuste esindatus ametnikkonnas: Eesti juhtum

This paper analyses representation of ethnic minorities in the bureaucracy of Estonia, based on previous research in the field. First section provides an overview of the state of affairs regarding ethnic representation in Estonian bureaucracy; second section locates the Estonian case into the context of the theory of representative bureaucracy as well as a number of other countries comparable to Estonia; third section discusses a perspective of a possible research program, which is focused on participation and representation of ethnic minorities in Estonian bureaucracy. As a point of departure of such a program, we locate the issue of participation and representation of ethnic minorities into the broader context of post-communist transformation: we presume that the main challenges Estonia is facing in its third decade after regaining independence have to do with the quality of democracy and the relationship between the society and the state as well as the issues of social justice. Participation and representation of ethnic minorities in Estonian public life, including bureaucracy, can be regarded as one of the most burning issues in this line. This is the reason why we propose launching a focused research program and outline main directions of the program

The Strategies of Inter-Ethnic Adaptation of Estonian Russians

"Based on the inter-cultural relations model of John Berry, four different groups among Russian-speakers in Estonia were differentiated in the analysis of ‘Integration monitoring 2005’. The analysis reveals that both similarities and differences exist between the characteristics of these four groups and the groups in the typology of Berry (integration, assimilation, marginalisation, separation). The differences that emerged are related to the assimilation and integration strategies, which proved to be rather restrained for Russian-speakers in the current social and political context in Estonia. The analysis gives us ground to claim that the strong ethnic connotation of the current nation-state model in Estonia hinders finding a positive place in this country even for those Russian-speakers, who, in fact, would like to integrate." (author's abstract