Twenty years post-independence: the relevance of ethnic democracy and control theories in understanding contemporary Latvia
Date
2013
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
This thesis applies the model of ethnic democracy and control theory to Latvia with
a view to better understanding the divergence in ethnic perceptions in contemporary
Latvia. I will argue that the early processes of ethnic state-building sought to
promote the culture, history and political right of the ethnic Latvian people to the
Latvian territory at the expense of other ethnicities in independence era society via
mechanisms of control, and in turn this has contributed to the shaping of how the
respective ethnicities view their nation state today. Contextualising recent survey
data which questions these perceptions, I will outline how these theories can explain
how this divergence in different members of each ethnicity has emerged and offer
insight as to how and why the ethnic differences are slowly crumbling in the
minority ethnic youth, and in which areas lies promise for building a more united
nation.