This article discusses public opinion of EU integration in Estonia in a comparative perspective. It introduces the concept of 'reactive identity' and finds that, instead of the internal politics and socio-economic factors put forward in previous research, identity is the key factor in explaining euroscepticism in the countries of central and eastern Europe (CEE). Copyright 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
This article discusses inter-ethnic relations in Estonia in historical and current perspectives. The Soviet occupation, deportations and other crimes, as well as massive immigration during the Soviet period, are seen as comprising the main reasons for inter-ethnic tensions in Estonia. Within the present conflict structure, the article focuses on the language conflict, the Left-Right conflict, the centre-periphery conflict and differing strategies for developing a market economy. To locate this conflict structure in a wider context, there is a discussion of the factors deriving from the systemic changes in which Estonia is involved on the political, economic and psychological levels. The second half of the article deals with models for accommodating the inter-ethnic conflict. Six institutional models are differentiated; then the proposals of the main actors in Estonian politics are described. On this basis the nature of the three main political discourses on the nationality issue is outlined. The conclusion is that two of them are highly reminiscent of the reasoning of the discourse of Soviet ideology. The discourse representing the strategy of the Popular Front is judged to be the best approach for handling inter-ethnic conflict in Estonia.
In this study, we investigated how perceived ethnic discrimination is related to attitudes towards the national majority group and willingness to confront injustice to promote the social standing of a minority group. We examined this relationship via two mediating factors; national (dis)identification from and out-group (dis)trust of the national majority group. The Rejection-Disidentification Model (RDIM) was refined, first, to account for willingness to confront injustice as a consequence of perceived rejection, and second, intergroup (dis)trust was examined as an additional mediating mechanism that can explain attitudinal and behavioural reactions to perceived rejection simultaneously with national disidentification. The model was tested in a comparative survey data of Russian-speaking minority in Estonia (N = 482), Finland (N = 254), and Norway (N = 219). In all three countries, the more Russian-speakers identified as Russians and the more they perceived ethnic discrimination, the more negative were their attitudes toward the national majority groups and the more willing they were to engage in action to confront group-based injustice. Whereas disidentification from and distrust of national majority group accounted for the discrimination-attitude link to a large extent, both factors had demobilizing effects on willingness to confront injustice, making Russian-speaking immigrants more passive but hostile. The findings are discussed in relation to the risks involved in politicization of immigrants struggling with perceived inequalities.
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