From bronze soldier crises to Crimea annexation: a resilience typology in Estonia
Date
2021
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Publisher
Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
Resilience is seen elsewhere as a static definition. Usually under a positivist approach process of bouncing-back, adaptation, or transformation after a pressure. Seldomly it is seen as a constructive concept that relies on context and perspective. In that direction, this thesis proposes to reflect on the Resilience typology framework of Philippe Bourbeau, known as Maintenance, Marginal, and Renewal. The study object was resilience in Estonia, so it aimed at classifying resilience as maintenance, marginal or renewal in face of internal and external pressures. This research pre-assumed that in 2007 there was vague preoccupation about societal resilience in Estonia, while as in 2014 resilience was already present, and thus reinforced. This happened in face of internal and external disturbances – the Bronze soldier night riots, and the Annexation of Crimea are events understood as pressures. This study tried to unfold the type of resilience that the two periods in analysis led to. The predictable factors to influence resilience were firstly assumed as integration of society, Russian influence, and Europeanization, but were found differently in the results. This is a qualitative research, which made use of content analysis – coding method. The above stated method was the tool to analyze the National Security Concept (NSC) documents of Estonia – from 2010 and 2017 – and semi-structured interviews. The findings were that from 2007 resilience was as renewal while as from 2014 it was given as maintenance. The factors that influenced the resilience type in Estonia were Russian influence, internal cooperation, integration of society, critical services, EU and NATO. In that sense, resilience type in Estonia reflected on a non-static concept, relying on context and perspective – it was of a renewal type in one period, and in the other as maintenance. The results of this research showed that Estonia dealt with resilience, in the period of analysis, as a transformative concept and aimed at progressing it in face of internal and external disturbances.