Thursday, July 9, 2015
H007 (28 rue des Saints-Pères)
This paper deals with the period of the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, which can be seen as a “critical juncture” in the history of Europe. Following Giovanni Capoccia and Daniel Kelemen, critical juncture is a situation when structural constraints relax, resulting in an increase in the range of choices for political actors to remodel existing institutions. As Reinhart Koselleck notes, however, not everything changes with the same velocity and in the same degree, even in major revolutions, and that allows accurate prognoses of the future. Expectations of the future, resting on cumulative historical experiences, influence decisions in the present—and these lead to choices that tend to have long-term consequences.
Estonian politics of the late 1980s allows one to explore the interplay of historical consciousness and expectations of future in decision-making. The idea of an open future vs. the revival of the pre-war Estonian state was a highly debated political and ideological dilemma for popular movements during the Singing Revolution in 1987–1991. The so called radical restorers were inspired by the interwar Estonia (1918–1940) and they aimed at bridging the 50-year Soviet gap by restoring the citizenship, symbols and laws of 1939. In contrast, Estonian reformists were more suspicious towards the idea of continuity and saw the future as a more open landscape. This presentation studies the contrasting ideas on the future through public speeches, writings and political manifests by the leaders of the rivalling Estonian national movements and parties.
Estonian politics of the late 1980s allows one to explore the interplay of historical consciousness and expectations of future in decision-making. The idea of an open future vs. the revival of the pre-war Estonian state was a highly debated political and ideological dilemma for popular movements during the Singing Revolution in 1987–1991. The so called radical restorers were inspired by the interwar Estonia (1918–1940) and they aimed at bridging the 50-year Soviet gap by restoring the citizenship, symbols and laws of 1939. In contrast, Estonian reformists were more suspicious towards the idea of continuity and saw the future as a more open landscape. This presentation studies the contrasting ideas on the future through public speeches, writings and political manifests by the leaders of the rivalling Estonian national movements and parties.
