Browsing by Author "Pettai, Eva-Clarita, juhendaja"

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Borderlands between history and memory: Latgalia in mnemohistory
(Tartu Ülikool, 2015) Gibson, Catherine; Pettai, Eva-Clarita, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaal- ja haridusteaduskond; Tartu Ülikool. Riigiteaduste instituut
This study investigates the relationship between how the past appears in collective memory, or ‘mnemohistory’ (J. Assmann 1997), and how history is recorded by historians as part of the historiographical accumulation of knowledge about the past. It argues that this distinction is important for our understanding of geographical borderlands, especially those which have been subject to numerous geopolitical border changes and where there is a divergence between what is remembered of the past in collective memory and what is recorded of the past in History. This study proposes a novel synthesis of concepts by applying Aleida Assmann’s (2011) distinction between functional memory and storage memory to borderlands in order to investigate the palimpsests-like layering of memory that occur there. Based on Aleida Assmann’s (2008a) concepts of ‘canon’ and ‘archive’, an interdisciplinary mixed methods approach to studying functional and storage memory in borderlands is developed using a combination of critical discourse analysis (CDA) of museums, qualitative survey analysis and an expert interview. This theoretical framework is applied to the case study of Latgalia in eastern Latvia, which has thus far been largely neglected in the literature. The functional memory is studied through an analysis of the historical narratives presented in three museums and the storage memory landscape is examined through an expert survey of professional historians of Latgalia and an interview. The analysis exposes key differences between the functional memory and storage memory: whereas the mnemohistory of Latgalia is largely incorporated within the framework of the Latvian national canon, professional History research represents a more diversified and transnational memory. This study highlights how the mnemohistory of borderlands is subjected to the contradictory dynamics of nationalisation and marginalisation, the ways that the past can be mobilised in both the functional and storage memory realms as part of regional identity movements, and how borderland minorities can construct and maintain narratives about the past which diverge from the national canon. The theoretical framework developed in this study can be applied to further research on mnemohistory in borderlands and border regions.
Changing the official memory of communism: Polish politics of memory under the Kaczyński brothers and its impact on social perceptions of the past
(Tartu Ülikool, 2013) Steinbach, Selena; Pettai, Eva-Clarita, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaal- ja haridusteaduskond; Tartu Ülikool. Riigiteaduste instituut
Coming to terms with communist past: comparative study of lustration policy in the Czech Republic and Poland
(Tartu Ülikooli Euroopa kolledž, 2014) Kupatadze, Tamta; Pettai, Eva-Clarita, juhendaja
Transitional or retroactive justice is chosen by political elites of countries in transition to come to terms with past. Lustration is a non-criminal measure of transitional justice. The Czech Republic and Poland both initiated lustration policy in the post communist period. The difference between these countries is that the former approved initial lustration act in 1991while the latter adopted lustration bill only in 1997. The laws were temporarily limited yet, both Czech and Polish legislators decided to engage with lustration once again after the initial laws had expired. The thesis offers a double layered comparative study of lustration policy in the Czech Republic and Poland. The first part focuses on initial lustration policy and highlights a) the factors which influenced the decisions whether to adopt or not lustration laws soon after the regime change and b) the factors that determined the nature of original bills. In the second part this thesis will explore various explanatory variables to explain the wave of late and renewed lustration initiatives in both countries. The analysis reveals that the decisions whether to approve or not lustration acts in the early years of post communist period were influenced by various past factors: the lack of legitimacy of the post Prague Spring government; the crisis in other communist countries; the loss of strengths of the ruling forces in Czechoslovakia, the weakness of the governing forces in Poland; Solidarity’s attitude towards regime change. The difference in nature was a result of different factors of present: the collapse of two governments and the communist return to power in Poland, the tendency of misusing past in the Czech Republic. Furthermore, the need to safeguard democracy/or the desire to discredit political opponents as well as the memory of post Prague spring regime as illegitimate and the memory of negotiated transition in Poland as a mistake explain the decision about the wave of new and renewed lustration in both countries.
The EU accession and transitional criminal justice in Serbia and Croatia
(Tartu Ülikooli Euroopa kolledž, 2014) Teshigahara, Risa; Pettai, Eva-Clarita, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Euroopa kolledž
The international mechanisms to pursue the legal accountability of the past atrocities evolved from the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials to the permanent International Criminal Court (ICC). As a result of such development, the post-Cold War international tribunals appear to hold particular characteristics; they impose a legal obligation for states under their jurisdiction to cooperate and they are dependant on such state cooperation to fulfil its legal mandate. To secure such cooperation, third party coercion appears to be effective as a determining factor of the state’s behaviour in the face of legal obligation. In this scope, former Yugoslavian states offer a significant example. In 1993, the United Nations (UN) established the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) as an international court to prosecute those who were most responsible for the massive human rights violations committed during the bloody Balkan Wars in the1990s. In the due course of its operation, the political pressure from third party actors, most notably the EU, played a vital role to yield a significant outcome of the tribunal’s mandate. This study is to address such impact of the EU accession conditionality on the politics of Transitional Criminal Justice in post-conflict Croatia and Serbia. For this purpose, the author conducted the comparative analysis of those two cases with a scope of the Most Similar System Design (MSSD). She combined several qualitative methods, such as content analysis, secondary analysis and interviews with experts, to trace the evidence showing the changes that occurred before and after the EU’s imposing its political pressure. The outcome of this study showed that the EU accession conditionality could facilitate positive and stable development in the overall cooperation with the tribunal, while such external pressure had a counterproductive effect at the level of domestic war crime prosecution. Therefore, the findings of this study contain a warning that partial involvement of a third party in the area of Transitional Justice could result in an undesirable outcome.
From “Deutschland ist kein Einwanderungsland” to “Multikulti ist tot”: tracing German state approaches towards immigrant integration
(Tartu Ülikool, 2016) Salumäe, Piret; Pettai, Eva-Clarita, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
A functional perspective on post-communist civil society: contentious activities and internet activism in Latvia
(Tartu Ülikool, 2013) Drews, Wiebke; Pettai, Eva-Clarita, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaal- ja haridusteaduskond; Tartu Ülikool. Riigiteaduste instituut
Post-communist civil society is generally depicted to be rather weak. However, the existing academic literature is outdated and reveals conceptual issues. The incorporation of normative assumptions, focus on formal activities and establishment of universally applicable indicators has resulted in rigid operational concepts of civil society that do not sufficiently account for contentious activities and internet activism. Yet, these forms of public participation are becoming increasingly important. By adopting a functional perspective, this dissertation develops a revised operational concept of civil society that allows for assessing alternative forms of public participation in terms of their quantity and quality structure. The framework is applied to the case of Latvia, where quantitative aspects of contentious activities and internet activism as well as the quality structure of the online CSOs ManaBalss.lv and Politika.lv are investigated. The analysis yields remarkable results. Latvian civil society is not weak. The extent of both contentious activities and internet activism militate for a rather strong civil society in the country. However, the organizational infrastructure of ManaBalss.lv and Politika.lv shows that financial strains serve to illustrate huge constraints on the working capacities of the organizations and, thus, need to be addressed if civil society is to be maintained and further strengthened.
Lustration in Post-Soviet Ukraine: a study on unsuccessful transitional justice
(Tartu Ülikool, 2016) Saltan, Galyna; Pettai, Eva-Clarita, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
Shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a number of countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) implemented lustration procedures. Ukraine was not among these countries, as it took until 2014 to pass any laws regarding lustration, or any other aspects of how the state would deal with or sanction former KGB agents or informers. Building on existing theoretical models for explaining lustration policies in CEE, this work develops an analytical framework that clearly identifies two sets of factors, namely structural and elite-actor-based factors, and their relative value for explaining the absence or failure of lustration legislation in Ukraine at two critical moments in time: right after the dissolution of the Soviet Union (1991-1993) and after the Orange Revolution (2004-2006). The study thus engages in an intro-case comparison and uses the method of process-tracing to track and explain the development of actor decisions and elites behaviour in the broad context of political events. The main data for the study was collected from documents of the Ukrainian parliament and its media archives. The study concludes that the failure of the Ukrainian political elite to adopt lustration measures akin to other CEE states during the first window of opportunity (the immediate transition period around 1991) can be best explained by structural factors. While some of these still apply later, the post-2004 failure to engage in lustration is best explained by via actor-based explanations. Moreover, the analysis of parliamentary debates and public (media) reports demonstrates that the very term “lustration” underwent considerable semantic changes, increasingly shedding its original meaning to denote all kinds of anti-corruption measures in contemporary Ukraine.
Re-defining the meaning of place: a discourse analysis of the Hauptstadtdebatte
(Tartu Ülikool, 2014) Seškena, Signe; Pettai, Eva-Clarita, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaal- ja haridusteaduskond; Tartu Ülikool. Riigiteaduste instituut
Since the reunification Germany has been closely connected to Berlin as its capital and also one of the main representative symbols of the state. However, it became the capital of the reunited Germany only after a 12-hour-long debate at the German Bundestag on June 20, 1991. Only couple of days ago in unofficial pools Bonn was leading, which meant that the arguments expressed at the debate were of the highest importance for the deputies as legislators and the representatives of the German people. In this regard this thesis analyzes the Hauptstadtdebatte as a case study chosen to present how meanings could be attached to places and interpreted in relation to the particular purpose, which in this case was the reunification process where the debate symbolized a turning point in the way how Germany and Germans perceived themselves and their country. Thus, this thesis argues that people create place out of space and attach meanings to this place by observing and interpreting signs that this environment has. In this context the aim of this study is to explore, what meaning did Berlin and Bonn obtain at the debate and whether it has changed in the course of time. The author has tried to answer to this question by interpreting the topic from the perspective of urban semiotics as a theory focusing on the semiotic meaning in the urban forms and its interpretation through signs. Accordingly, Berlin and Bonn are perceived as signs that represent Germany and, at the same time, they are also sign systems for people who perceive both cities as unique environments connected to particular habits and experiences exercised there. The discourse analysis of the debate focuses on three interrelated narratives that will present what meaning both cities had from the past, what meaning did the deputies at the debate attach to them and, eventually, through looking at secondary sources from printed media the author provides a temporal perspective on presenting whether and how this meaning has changed in the course of time. Eventually, This thesis manages to verify the hypothesis and argues that the meaning attached to both cities at the debate was constructed as a narrative about the anticipated future development of Germany in relation to both cities as signs for it and, thus, deriving from the meaning that they already had. Furthermore, this meaning since the debate has a bit changed, particular for Bonn, which was not chosen as the capital city and had to reinvent itself anew.
Representations of the European Union in German and UK secondary school textbooks - a comparative analysis
(Tartu Ülikool, 2016) Borchardt, Gesche; Pettai, Eva-Clarita, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaalteaduste valdkond; Tartu Ülikool. Johan Skytte poliitikauuringute instituut
The current thesis observes secondary school textbooks from the UK and Germany from a comparative perspective and evaluates how the European Union is represented in them. For doing so, a methodology of qualitative content analysis along with a sociosemiotic analysis of the visual materials is conducted. The UK and Germany have been chosen as countries for the analysis since they take very different approaches towards EU integration, Germany strongly supporting EU integration, and the UK being apprehensive towards enhanced integration. Along with their significant political influence in EU decision-making Germany can be seen as a driver and the UK as a critic of EU integration. Based on the theoretically supported assumption that textbooks have a political dimension and are subject to political control and influence, it aims to understand if and how the narratives, presented in the textbooks, reflect government positions towards the EU in both countries. The analysis reveals a quite low standing of EU teaching, especially in the UK textbooks. These mainly emphasize the institutional structure and economic aspects of the union. Furthermore, the risk of losing too much sovereignty is regularly mentioned which goes along with the British approach of “cooperating” with the European states rather than “integrating”. The UK’s relationship with the EU, which is represented, can be described as ambiguous. German textbooks, on the other hand, mainly emphasize institutional aspects and the Monetary Union. The EU is usually represented as an unfinished process with an undefined end, e.g. the enlargement discussion takes an important position in the German textbooks. This goes along with the German government's active engagement in integration processes. Furthermore, the EU is presented as something incontestable. The solution for problems is generally seen in ever further political integration. Altogether, the discourse by political élites and governments is quite strongly present in the observed textbooks. However, perspectives of other political actors may also be presented.
Towards a common identity? A comparative analysis of Estonian integration
(Tartu Ülikool, 2014) Semenyshyn, Mariana; Pettai, Eva-Clarita, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaal- ja haridusteaduskond; Tartu Ülikool. Riigiteaduste instituut
This thesis looks into the Estonian policies towards its Russian-speaking population within the framework of ethno-political regimes. It engages into a meta-analysis of major integration documents, namely, the State Integration Programme ‘Integration in Estonian Society 2000-2007’, the Development Plan ‘Estonian Integration Strategy 2008-2013’, and the Strategy of Integration and Social Cohesion in Estonia ‘Integrating Estonia 2020’. By focusing on the development of the ‘state identity’ concept in these documents, it evaluates changes of the ethno-political regime in Estonia. A thorough analysis of the most recent integration Programme ‘Integrating Estonia 2020’ demonstrates that Estonia is slowly moving towards more liberal vision of state identity in particular and its policies towards Russian-speakers in general.
Trauma, memory and victimhood: Estonia and the holocaust, 1998-2012
(Tartu Ülikool, 2013) Stocker, Paul Oliver; Blobaum, Robert, juhendaja; Pettai, Eva-Clarita, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaal- ja haridusteaduskond; Tartu Ülikool. Riigiteaduste instituut
Twenty years post-independence: the relevance of ethnic democracy and control theories in understanding contemporary Latvia
(Tartu Ülikool, 2013) Lone, Nicholas; Pettai, Eva-Clarita, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Sotsiaal- ja haridusteaduskond; Tartu Ülikool. Riigiteaduste instituut
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.