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In 1998, Estonia became the first of the former Soviet republics to enter membership negotiations with the European Union. Since then it has been hailed as 'the model pupil' amongst the current applicants. This study traces the remarkable reforms that have propelled Estonia from the USSR to the threshold of the EU in less than a decade. The work also explores the tensions inherent in the concept of a postcommunist 'return to Europe'. Since 1991, membership of western transnational organizations has been consistently portrayed as the best guarantee of Estonia's independence. Yet the membership criteria imposed by these organizations have frequently confllicted with the nationalist priority of restoring a sovereign Estonian nation-state. At the same time, Estonia's geopolitically-sensitive location poses a dilemma for the West, thereby ensuring that the country will remain the 'litmus test' - not just of Russia's intentions towards Europe, but of the 'New Europe' as a whole.
List of contents
1. 'One Day There Will Be an Estonian State.' 2. The Long Second World War: Estonia under Occupation 1940-1991 3. Old Wine in New Bottles: The Politics of Independence 4. 'The Little Country that Could.': Estonia's Economic Return to Europe 5. 'The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.': Foreign Policy Between East and West
About the author
David Smith
Summary
In 1998, Estonia became the first of the former Soviet republics to enter membership negotiations with the EU. This book traces the remarkable reforms that have propelled Estonia from the USSR to the threshold of the EU in less than a decade.
