Estonia is often seen as a model student among the post-communist countries. Many renowned think tanks and organizations measuring the quality of democracy (e.g., Freedom House, Varieties of Democracy, Bertelsmann Foundation) often give Estonia the highest scores in the region. However, the seemingly spotless façade hides growing tensions and emergent contradictions. The current paper will focus on the two most worrisome trends that have become evident in recent years, if not even earlier: (1) the limited success in integrating the large Russian-speaking minority and (2) the rise of the populist radical right. The failure to integrate the ethnic minorities would increase frustration and political alienation among Russian speakers, making it more difficult to build a healthy, cohesive democratic community. However, the rise of the populist radical right, namely the remarkable electoral success of EKRE (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), has proven to be a bigger challenge because it demonstrates that many Estonians are deeply dissatisfied with how democracy works in their country. The article discusses whether it would be possible for dissatisfied Estonians and Russians to join forces to challenge the current liberal democratic model in Estonia. The analysis shows that even if the initial attempts have failed, one could not entirely rule out that prospect.
{"title":"Liberal Democracy in Estonia: Cracks Behind the Seemingly Spotless Façade","authors":"Tõnis Saarts, Nikolai Kunitsõn, Raivo Vetik","doi":"10.37710/plural.v11i1_7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37710/plural.v11i1_7","url":null,"abstract":"Estonia is often seen as a model student among the post-communist countries. Many renowned think tanks and organizations measuring the quality of democracy (e.g., Freedom House, Varieties of Democracy, Bertelsmann Foundation) often give Estonia the highest scores in the region. However, the seemingly spotless façade hides growing tensions and emergent contradictions. The current paper will focus on the two most worrisome trends that have become evident in recent years, if not even earlier: (1) the limited success in integrating the large Russian-speaking minority and (2) the rise of the populist radical right. The failure to integrate the ethnic minorities would increase frustration and political alienation among Russian speakers, making it more difficult to build a healthy, cohesive democratic community. However, the rise of the populist radical right, namely the remarkable electoral success of EKRE (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), has proven to be a bigger challenge because it demonstrates that many Estonians are deeply dissatisfied with how democracy works in their country. The article discusses whether it would be possible for dissatisfied Estonians and Russians to join forces to challenge the current liberal democratic model in Estonia. The analysis shows that even if the initial attempts have failed, one could not entirely rule out that prospect.","PeriodicalId":36611,"journal":{"name":"Plural. History. Culture. Society","volume":"41 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136271634","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The study synthesizes the most important events and transformations that marked Moldovan society in 1989 and its future developments. The study’s primary aim is to highlight the most important events from 1989 that led the Moldovan society towards obtaining the sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Moldova. At the same time, the study also shows the current knowledge of the 1989 developments to draw new research perspectives. Thus, in chronological order, the most critical social, cultural, and political events that have had long-term effects on Moldovan society are reviewed. The article analyzes the national emancipation movement’s emergence, activity, and counter-movements to maintain the Soviet regime. The 1989 events in the Moldavian SSR resulted from Gorbachev’s reforms (glasnost, perestroika) and the “revolutions” in the socialist states that succeeded in bringing down the communist regimes. Starting with cultural demands and rights (the language and alphabet), people had reached economic and political demands (economic autonomy, sovereignty, independence). The emergence of alternative political forces to the Communist Party, their official registration, the legalization of their meetings, and public manifestations led to the consolidation of the critical mass opposed to the Communist regime. Changing the language legislation, returning to the Latin alphabet, and condemning the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact are just some of the successes of 1989 that impacted the following years, resulting, eventually, in the Declaration of Sovereignty of 1990 and the Declaration of Independence of 1991.
{"title":"1989 – Annus Mirabilis for The Moldavian SSR","authors":"Sergiu Musteata","doi":"10.37710/plural.v11i1_5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37710/plural.v11i1_5","url":null,"abstract":"The study synthesizes the most important events and transformations that marked Moldovan society in 1989 and its future developments. The study’s primary aim is to highlight the most important events from 1989 that led the Moldovan society towards obtaining the sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Moldova. At the same time, the study also shows the current knowledge of the 1989 developments to draw new research perspectives. Thus, in chronological order, the most critical social, cultural, and political events that have had long-term effects on Moldovan society are reviewed. The article analyzes the national emancipation movement’s emergence, activity, and counter-movements to maintain the Soviet regime. The 1989 events in the Moldavian SSR resulted from Gorbachev’s reforms (glasnost, perestroika) and the “revolutions” in the socialist states that succeeded in bringing down the communist regimes. Starting with cultural demands and rights (the language and alphabet), people had reached economic and political demands (economic autonomy, sovereignty, independence). The emergence of alternative political forces to the Communist Party, their official registration, the legalization of their meetings, and public manifestations led to the consolidation of the critical mass opposed to the Communist regime. Changing the language legislation, returning to the Latin alphabet, and condemning the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact are just some of the successes of 1989 that impacted the following years, resulting, eventually, in the Declaration of Sovereignty of 1990 and the Declaration of Independence of 1991.","PeriodicalId":36611,"journal":{"name":"Plural. History. Culture. Society","volume":"137 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136271635","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The materials of Soviet newspapers are an important source for studying the policy of the regime regarding the service of women in the armed forces of the USSR. Based on the frequency of publication of these materials, the date of their publication, and the content, it is possible to make assumptions about the need for female personnel in the armed forces during a particular period of war, as well as to highlight and evaluate the government’s propaganda concerning female soldiers in general. However, the thematic articles contained almost no specifics about the service of women in the armed forces of the USSR as a mass phenomenon – they did not provide data on the establishment of women’s military units, general statistics on the presence of women in the Army, conscription data, etc. The totalitarian regime kept this information secret, unlike other members of the anti-Hitler coalition
{"title":"What Soviet Periodicals Can Tell Us About the Propaganda on the Women’s Service in the USSR’s Armed Forces (1941-1945)","authors":"Nataliia Zalieto","doi":"10.37710/plural.v11i1_3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37710/plural.v11i1_3","url":null,"abstract":"The materials of Soviet newspapers are an important source for studying the policy of the regime regarding the service of women in the armed forces of the USSR. Based on the frequency of publication of these materials, the date of their publication, and the content, it is possible to make assumptions about the need for female personnel in the armed forces during a particular period of war, as well as to highlight and evaluate the government’s propaganda concerning female soldiers in general. However, the thematic articles contained almost no specifics about the service of women in the armed forces of the USSR as a mass phenomenon – they did not provide data on the establishment of women’s military units, general statistics on the presence of women in the Army, conscription data, etc. The totalitarian regime kept this information secret, unlike other members of the anti-Hitler coalition","PeriodicalId":36611,"journal":{"name":"Plural. History. Culture. Society","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136272374","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The article examines the Lupeni strike action of 1929. While Communist-era historiography exalted the strike as a political action led by party members, the strike was atypical for local labor organization. Placing the strike in the wider context of 1920-1931, the article traces the interaction between local organized labor, the coal companies of the Jiu Valley, and state agents, both locally and in Bucharest. In the post-1918 period, the unions pressed for miners to receive reasonable compensation; given the state’s demand for coal and the companies’ need for labor, this initially fostered compromise. The Romanian state was willing to tolerate local labor unions led by Social Democrats, while using repression — including the army — to suppress strikes and ensure an uninterrupted coal supply. Shifts in the market and coal production, however, reduced the need for miners — resulting in the fragmentation of local unions. In 1929 the combination of a relatively liberal regime, coal companies seeking rationalization of their work force, and a radicalized fringe group resulted in the strike. While rejecting pre-1989 depictions of the strike, the text argues that labor history helps to reveal the limits of Romanian interwar democracy in ways that political and legal approaches may not.
{"title":"Reframing the Lupeni Strike of 1929: State Intervention and Organized Labor in Romania’s Jiu Valley","authors":"Anca Glont","doi":"10.37710/plural.v11i1_2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37710/plural.v11i1_2","url":null,"abstract":"The article examines the Lupeni strike action of 1929. While Communist-era historiography exalted the strike as a political action led by party members, the strike was atypical for local labor organization. Placing the strike in the wider context of 1920-1931, the article traces the interaction between local organized labor, the coal companies of the Jiu Valley, and state agents, both locally and in Bucharest. In the post-1918 period, the unions pressed for miners to receive reasonable compensation; given the state’s demand for coal and the companies’ need for labor, this initially fostered compromise. The Romanian state was willing to tolerate local labor unions led by Social Democrats, while using repression — including the army — to suppress strikes and ensure an uninterrupted coal supply. Shifts in the market and coal production, however, reduced the need for miners — resulting in the fragmentation of local unions. In 1929 the combination of a relatively liberal regime, coal companies seeking rationalization of their work force, and a radicalized fringe group resulted in the strike. While rejecting pre-1989 depictions of the strike, the text argues that labor history helps to reveal the limits of Romanian interwar democracy in ways that political and legal approaches may not.","PeriodicalId":36611,"journal":{"name":"Plural. History. Culture. Society","volume":"61 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136272373","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The 19th century redefined the place of nations within empires. Enlightenment ideas of mother-tongue education, natural rights and liberty join the imperial center’s aim to attract loyalties, gain allegiance, create economic wealth and educate a citizenry attached to the state. In south-eastern Europe, the fragile coexistence of three empires (Ottoman, Russian and Austrian) was disrupted by the way in which the neighboring ethnic groups intended to adjust the Enlightenment ideas to suit the development of their own cultures. The present study traces the transfers brought by the Transylvanian intellectual émigrés to the field of education from Austrian Transylvania to the neighboring Ottoman principality of Wallachia. Coming from the ranks of the Greek Catholic intellectuals – an intermediary stratum between the imperial center, the privileged aristocracy and the majority of Romanian peasants – they pursued, at the same time, their professional development and the rise of literacy in Wallachia. As school inspectors, they intervened administratively and pedagogically in the school network recently established in Wallachia. Their leader, Ioan Maiorescu, questioned the Russian-style model of modernization and called for adapting Western models to the local reality to further the aim of cultural emancipation
{"title":"Émigrants et réviseurs scolaires dans la Valachie de la première moitié du XIXe-siècle: transfert intellectuel et construction nationale. Étude de cas: Ioan Maiorescu","authors":"Nicoleta Roman","doi":"10.37710/plural.v11i1_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37710/plural.v11i1_1","url":null,"abstract":"The 19th century redefined the place of nations within empires. Enlightenment ideas of mother-tongue education, natural rights and liberty join the imperial center’s aim to attract loyalties, gain allegiance, create economic wealth and educate a citizenry attached to the state. In south-eastern Europe, the fragile coexistence of three empires (Ottoman, Russian and Austrian) was disrupted by the way in which the neighboring ethnic groups intended to adjust the Enlightenment ideas to suit the development of their own cultures. The present study traces the transfers brought by the Transylvanian intellectual émigrés to the field of education from Austrian Transylvania to the neighboring Ottoman principality of Wallachia. Coming from the ranks of the Greek Catholic intellectuals – an intermediary stratum between the imperial center, the privileged aristocracy and the majority of Romanian peasants – they pursued, at the same time, their professional development and the rise of literacy in Wallachia. As school inspectors, they intervened administratively and pedagogically in the school network recently established in Wallachia. Their leader, Ioan Maiorescu, questioned the Russian-style model of modernization and called for adapting Western models to the local reality to further the aim of cultural emancipation","PeriodicalId":36611,"journal":{"name":"Plural. History. Culture. Society","volume":"48 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136272376","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-30DOI: 10.37710/plural.v11i1_10
Jana Stöxen
A research Report of Jana STÖXEN (Germany), Transnational Migration in the Moldovan- German Context, or: My Totul va fi bine (Road)trip
Jana STÖXEN（德国）的研究报告《摩尔多瓦-德国背景下的跨国移民》，或《我的 Totul va fi bine（公路之旅）》：我的 Totul va fi bine（公路）之旅
{"title":"Transnational Migration in the Moldovan- German Context, or: My Totul va fi bine (Road)trip","authors":"Jana Stöxen","doi":"10.37710/plural.v11i1_10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37710/plural.v11i1_10","url":null,"abstract":"A research Report of Jana STÖXEN (Germany), Transnational Migration in the Moldovan- German Context, or: My Totul va fi bine (Road)trip","PeriodicalId":36611,"journal":{"name":"Plural. History. Culture. Society","volume":"37 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136271633","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The events of the late 1980s-early 1990s played a key role in the history of Georgia. April 9, 1989, was one of the most important events in this respect. It defined the shared identity and memory for a long time and determined future developments in the country. April 9 proved to be a paradigmatic event in the recent history of Georgia. The narrative of trauma and triumph was formed, being reflected in historical, literary and documentary texts, as well as in different sites of memory. Two years later, at the very place of the tragedy, the restoration of independence of Georgia was declared. The paper deals with the process of the crystallization of April 9 as a paradigmatic event. Cultural patterns that played a crucial role in the establishment of the traumatic-triumphal narrative of April 9, 1989, and in the thirty-year dynamics of the attitudes towards this event are explored. The study presents how April 9 and its resonance influenced the perception of the past, as well as further developments. Theories of collective memory and cultural trauma serve as the theoretical framework for the research, while official documents, memoirs, literary texts and various types of media sources form its empirical basis
{"title":"April 9, 1989 as a Paradigmatic Event: “The Time We Live in Now Started That Night”","authors":"Nino Chikovani","doi":"10.37710/plural.v11i1_4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37710/plural.v11i1_4","url":null,"abstract":"The events of the late 1980s-early 1990s played a key role in the history of Georgia. April 9, 1989, was one of the most important events in this respect. It defined the shared identity and memory for a long time and determined future developments in the country. April 9 proved to be a paradigmatic event in the recent history of Georgia. The narrative of trauma and triumph was formed, being reflected in historical, literary and documentary texts, as well as in different sites of memory. Two years later, at the very place of the tragedy, the restoration of independence of Georgia was declared. The paper deals with the process of the crystallization of April 9 as a paradigmatic event. Cultural patterns that played a crucial role in the establishment of the traumatic-triumphal narrative of April 9, 1989, and in the thirty-year dynamics of the attitudes towards this event are explored. The study presents how April 9 and its resonance influenced the perception of the past, as well as further developments. Theories of collective memory and cultural trauma serve as the theoretical framework for the research, while official documents, memoirs, literary texts and various types of media sources form its empirical basis","PeriodicalId":36611,"journal":{"name":"Plural. History. Culture. Society","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136272221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A collective trauma established in the cultural memory can function as a unifier of the in-group for a long time. The objective of this article is to clarify how April 9, 1989 and 1991, the Tbilisi War and civil confrontation, and a stressful series of sudden and intensive changes are analyzed, conceptualized, and interpreted in the fiction and memoirs created after Georgia became independent, to what extent the use of the notions of trauma and triumph are appropriate for Georgia, and whether the reality of the 1990s can be assessed as the trauma of victory. We believe that fiction and memoirs play a major role in constructing an event as a cultural trauma. On the one hand, literary texts determine the meaning of an event and shape it as a trauma and on the other hand, narration is an important method for overcoming a trauma. A trauma can be overcome through constantly conceptualizing and analyzing it, not through repression and hushing.
{"title":"The Chronotopos of the 1990s: Trauma and Triumph in Georgian Literary Texts","authors":"Ivane Tsereteli","doi":"10.37710/plural.v11i1_6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37710/plural.v11i1_6","url":null,"abstract":"A collective trauma established in the cultural memory can function as a unifier of the in-group for a long time. The objective of this article is to clarify how April 9, 1989 and 1991, the Tbilisi War and civil confrontation, and a stressful series of sudden and intensive changes are analyzed, conceptualized, and interpreted in the fiction and memoirs created after Georgia became independent, to what extent the use of the notions of trauma and triumph are appropriate for Georgia, and whether the reality of the 1990s can be assessed as the trauma of victory. We believe that fiction and memoirs play a major role in constructing an event as a cultural trauma. On the one hand, literary texts determine the meaning of an event and shape it as a trauma and on the other hand, narration is an important method for overcoming a trauma. A trauma can be overcome through constantly conceptualizing and analyzing it, not through repression and hushing.","PeriodicalId":36611,"journal":{"name":"Plural. History. Culture. Society","volume":"138 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136272219","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A review of the book Catherine Durandin, Cécile Folschweiller (coord.), Enfances communistes. Mémoires de Roumanie et de République de Moldavie (Paris: Editions PETRA, 2022) signed by Nicoleta Roman
{"title":"Review, Catherine Durandin, Cécile Folschweiller (coord.), Enfances communistes. Mémoires de Roumanie et de République de Moldavie (Paris: Editions PETRA, 2022)","authors":"Nicoleta Roman","doi":"10.37710/plural.v11i1_8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37710/plural.v11i1_8","url":null,"abstract":"A review of the book Catherine Durandin, Cécile Folschweiller (coord.), Enfances communistes. Mémoires de Roumanie et de République de Moldavie (Paris: Editions PETRA, 2022) signed by Nicoleta Roman","PeriodicalId":36611,"journal":{"name":"Plural. History. Culture. Society","volume":"61 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136272220","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A book review Victor Moraru, La République de Moldova: les enjeux du passé, du présent et de l‛avenir. 2nd revised edition (Chisinau: Tipografia Sirius, 2022) signed by Elana Prus
{"title":"Review, Victor Moraru, La République de Moldova: les enjeux du passé, du présent et de l‛avenir. 2nd revised edition (Chisinau: Tipografia Sirius, 2022)","authors":"Elena Prus","doi":"10.37710/plural.v11i1_9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.37710/plural.v11i1_9","url":null,"abstract":"A book review Victor Moraru, La République de Moldova: les enjeux du passé, du présent et de l‛avenir. 2nd revised edition (Chisinau: Tipografia Sirius, 2022) signed by Elana Prus","PeriodicalId":36611,"journal":{"name":"Plural. History. Culture. Society","volume":"53 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136272222","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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