Making Identity Count: Estonia 2000

Abstract

This report analyses the discursive construction of Estonian national identity in the year 2000, drawing from both elite and mass perspectives. While shared ideals – such as cultural heritage, state sovereignty, responsible governance, and social cohesion – formed common ground, crucial divergences emerged. Elite discourse emphasised patriotism, national culture, and modernisation, whereas popular narratives were more ambivalent, particularly towards nationalism and the political elite. National identity was framed through historical continuity, cultural institutions, language preservation, and symbolic markers such as the national currency (the kroon). Integration debates centred on concerns regarding the Russophone minority and the impact of EU accession on sovereignty and agriculture. Northern Europe, especially Finland and Sweden, was viewed as a normative reference. The legacy of the Soviet Union, imperial Russia, and Baltic Germans remained central to historical self-understanding. The Estonian language, education, and moral values were seen as essential to continued national survival. Overall, identity discourse revealed a dual dynamic: on the one hand, a forward-looking aspiration to become a typical meritocratic, neoliberal market-state; on the other, lingering anxieties tied to the hardships of economic transition, Estonian emigration to the West, persistent poverty, and growing societal insecurity.