Civil society versus nationalizing state? Advocacy of minority rights in the post-socialist Baltic states

Abstract

Strong civil society provides individuals with arenas to bring their interests to the attention of policymakers. In so doing, civil society organizations (CSOs) can support state policies, but can also criticize policies. This paper argues that most minority rights advocacy CSOs in the Baltic states have little say in the crafting of policy and are compartmentalized into the existing agendas, with only a few groups able to evaluate policies independently. It concludes that the Baltic civil society is weak because the CSOs working on minority issues ask policymakers either too much, or too little. The findings suggest that policymakers quell criticism of their work from the side of the CSOs by ignoring their activities. Alternatively, by funding the CSO that shores up the state agenda, policymakers delegate their responsibilities to civic actors, keep critical voices from public debates and claim that their policies have the full support of a vibrant civil society. This paper investigates the options available for civil society actors to relate to policymakers in a nationalizing state by drawing on the data collected in 77 semi-structured interviews with the CSOs working with Russian and Polish minorities in the Baltic states between 2006 and 2009.

Keywords:

• civil society
• nationalizing states
• Baltic states
• minority communities
• NGOs

Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge financial support of the University of Aberdeen for this project. At all its stages, David J. Galbreath was a great source of encouragement, support, and criticism. I am also grateful to Richard Mole, Christian Haerpfer, Mikko Lagerspetz, Ada-Charlotte Regelmann and the anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier versions of this paper.

Notes

Statistical Office of Estonia, Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia, Statistics Lithuania, 2000 Round of Population and Housing Censuses in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Statistical Office of Estonia, http://www.stat.ee/population-census-2000 Web. 7 July 2010.

Significant Roma communities exist in Latvia and Lithuania, making both countries the focus of international criticism for failing to prevent this group's social exclusion. Lithuanian government pioneered the development of the program Integration of Roma into Lithuanian Society, 2000–2004, followed by the Roma Integration into Lithuanian Society, 2008–2010 (Lithuanian Government 2000; 2009). A similar program was also devised in Latvia in 2006 (Latvian Government 2006), but nothing in Estonia (ECRI 2005a; 2005b; 2005c). Lithuanian and Latvian policy documents were criticized for being implemented without proper consultations with the Roma community and without having explicitly addressed the discrimination of Roma, the way political entrepreneurs dealt with the problems of Roma community are indicative of an overall approach to integration of minorities in Latvia and Lithuania (Agarin 185–186; Beresneviciute and Leoncikas; Vermeersch and Ram). See also, ECRI 2005a; 2005b; 2005c.

Interview with Nikolai Solovei, President of the Union of Slavonic Educational and Charitable Societies in Estonia, Tallinn, May 2006. Interview with Michal Mackiewicz, President of the Union of Poles in Lithuania, Vilnius, January 2008.

Interview with Officer of National Minority Coordination Unit, Secretariat of the Special Assignments Minister for Social Integration, Riga, December 2007.

Interview with Rasa Paliukienė, Head of the Department for National Minorities, Department of National Minorities and Lithuanians Living Abroad under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, Vilnius, January 2008.

Interview with Tanel Mätlik, Director of Estonia's Integration Foundation, Tallinn, May 2006.

Interview with members of Macierz Szkolna, Society of Lithuania's Polish schoolteachers, Vilnius, January 2008.

Interview with Valeria Jakobson, Researcher of Russian language media in Estonia, Tallinn, May 2006.

Interview with members of Russian CSOs at the House of National Minority Cultures, Rēzekne, September 2006.

Interview with Klara Hallik, Member of the Roundtable on National Minorities, Tallinn, May 2006.

Interview with Vladimir Velman, Member of Estonian Parliament, earlier a member of the Roundtable on National Minorities, Tallinn, May 2006.

See Poleshchuk Chance to survive 62; DELFI.ee, http://rus.delfi.ee/archive/article.php?id=31288787 26 May 2010. Web. 7 July 2010.

Interview with Mihhail Stalnuhhin, Member of the Roundtable on National Minorities, Narva, May 2006.

Interview with Tanel Mätlik, Director of Estonia's Integration Foundation, Tallinn, May 2006.

Interview with Igor Ivanov, Founding member and activist of the Young People's CSO “Siin,” Tallinn, May 2006.

Interview with Gulnara Roll, Peipsi Center for Transboundary Cooperation, Tartu, March 2009.

These tactics were particularly applied to CSOs working largely with minority publics after the April 2007 riots in Tallinn and alleged of having any connection with the protesters. Interview with Vadim Poleshchuk, Legal advisor of LICHR, Tallinn, April 2009. Interview with Igor Ivanov, Founding member and activist of the Young People's CSO “Siin,” Tallinn, April 2008. See also, Poleshchuk, 2009.

Interview with Genadiy Lobov, Chairman of the Daugavpils Russian National Culture Association. Daugavpils, September 2006. See also, Latvian daily Diena, 14 September 2004.

Interview with Aleksei Dimitrov (Latvian Human Rights Committee, Riga, September 2006) and Boris Tsilevich (Member of Latvian Parliament, Riga, December 2007).

Interview with an Officer of National Minority Coordination Unit, Secretariat of the Special Assignments Minister for Social Integration, Riga, December 2007.

Interview with Aleksei Dimitrov, Latvian Human Rights Committee, Riga, September 2006.

Interview with Aleksei Dimitrov, Latvian Human Rights Committee, Riga, September 2006.

Interviews in the offices of NIPC, Alytus and Vilnius, January 2008.

Interview with Monika Frejute-Rakauskiene, Center for Ethnic Studies, Institute for Social Research, Vilnius, January 2008.

Interview with Rasa Paliukienė, Head of the Department for National Minorities, Department of National Minorities and Lithuanians Living Abroad under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, Vilnius, January 2008.

Interview with Tatiana Mihneva (President of the Coordinating Council of Russian Community of Lithuania, Vilnius, January 2008) and Michal Mickiewicz (President of the Union of Poles in Lithuania, Vilnius, January 2008).

Interview with members of Macierz Polska Vilnius, January 2008.

Interview with Gennadiy Filippov, Russian Community “Rusich,” Narva, May 2006.

Interview with Ilze Brands Kehris, Director of LCC, Riga, September 2006.

http://www.humanrights.org.lv/html/us.html. Web. 2 July 2008.

Interview with Sigita Zankovska-Odiņa, Policy analyst of LCC, Riga, December 2007.

Interview with Vadim Poleshchuk, Legal advisor of LICHR, Tallinn, May 2006.

Interview with Aleksei Semionov, Director of LICHR, Tallinn, April 2008.

Interview with Vadim Poleshchuk, Legal advisor of LICHR, Tallinn, May 2006.

Interview with Vadim Poleshchuk, Legal advisor of LICHR, Tallinn, April 2009.

Interview with Gediminas Andriukaitis, Legal advisor of LŽTC, Vilnius, January 2008.

Interview with Gediminas Andriukaitis, Legal advisor of LŽTC, Vilnius, January 2008.

Interview with legal team of ŽTSI, Vilnius, January 2008.

Interview with Jolanta Samuolytė, Research Director of ŽTSI, Vilnius, January 2008.

Interview with Jolanta Samuolytė, Research Director of ŽTSI, Vilnius, January 2008.

Interviews in ŽTSI and LŽTC, Vilnius, January 2008.

Interview with a member of the Vilnius City Council from political party “Russian Union,” January 2008.

Interview with Vadim Poleshchuk, Legal advisor of LICHR, Tallinn, September 2007.

Interview with Gediminas Andriukaitis, Legal advisor of LŽTC, Vilnius, January 2008.

Interview with Vadim Poleshchuk, Legal advisor of LICHR, Tallinn, April 2009.

See, for example, Zepa.