Latvia

Troughout the world, the year 2020 has passed under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic also impacted Latvia's defence sector. Despite the global pandemic and other challenges examined in this article, the defence sector has remained on a path of gradual growth. This is article analyses Latvia's defence sector funding in the last year, including the new opportunities and associated challenges that arise from it, as well as the amount of funding against the background of other NATO member states. This is is followed by an overview of the development of defence sector personnel, Latvia's interaction with Allied states, as well as the new Stated Defence Concept.

The purpose of the bachelor's thesis “Cultural codes in the formation of Latvian national identity (15 May, 1934 – 15 May, 1939)” is to look at cultural instruments over a 5 year period starting from the Ulmanis coup of May 15, 1934. The thesis seeks to understand how important social elements are encoded into their content, in particular, the issue of national identity.

The theoretical part of the work is based on the perspectives of symbolic interactionism, E. D. Smith's theory of national identity, and B. Anderson's theory of imagined communities. Semiotics and cultural code theory have also been used.

Qualitative content and semiotical analysis have been utilized for the acquisition and analysis of data in literary works, and in fragments of books approved in the primary school curriculum.

The analysis conducted by the bachelor's work shows that national identity is socially constructed using public institutes by techniques described in the theory of national identity.

The paper attempts to provide an updated and holistic description of the research ethics system in Latvia and discuses the problems in its structure and functioning. It is based on the data gathered in an empirical study of RECs in Central and Eastern Europe in 2008 and it is structured according to the integrated framework proposed by Hyder et al. First a short outline of the historical development of the ethics review system in the 1990s is given, then the issues of general social, political and economic background and the resultant enabling conditions, as well as the national and regional strategy of ethical review are reviewed. Next, the discussion turns to institutional commitment, the factors influencing the quality of review, and ethically relevant aspects of investigators’ behavior. The main conclusion is that current developmental conditions are not too favorable for research ethics review; despite the overall progress, several crucial enabling conditions are not in place yet.

The article analyses a classic Latvian short story „The Battle near Knipska“ by Jānis Poruks. The storry has been included in the lists of compulsory (or recommended) readings for primary and secondary schools during most of the time since 1920s. The main character Cibins is often perceived and presented to the pupils as the symbol of peacefulness and non-aggression. By that Cibins is often used in popular discourse as an example of the peaceful aspirations in Latvian culture. While the story is fictional, it has two links to the Latvian reality – first it depicts quite well the realities of schools in Latvia both in late 19th century and now and, second, as a role setting example it has influenced generations of Latvians. This article uses the story as an ethnographic text and sets out to ask how peaceful in fact is Cibins and the environment in which he lives. By comparing cross-cultural anthropological data about peaceful societies, the article argues that in fact neither Cibins nor the environment in which he lives are peaceful or capable of peaceful life. On the contrary – the whole structure of the society and its institutions are characteristic of societies that are oriented more towards education of violent and individualistic characters. By the way of extrapolating the conclusions to contemporary Latvia, the article also argues that contemporary Latvian society is similarly geared to violence and individualism which may obstruct developmental efforts of the society.

Статья посвящена реализации одного из основных инфраструктурных проектов в регионе Восточной Балтики – создания высокоскоростной железнодорожной магистрали Rail Baltica/Rail Baltica II по маршруту Хельсинки – Таллин – Рига – Вильнюс – Варшава – Берлин, основная часть которой будет проходить по территории стран Балтии. Латвия, Литва и Эстония рассматривают проект как стратегически важный с точки зрения ликвидации инфраструктурной изолированности от остальной территории Европейского союза, что соответствует общей цели транспортной политики ЕС по
созданию единого европейского железнодорожного пространства. Хотя перспективы экономической окупаемости Rail Baltica неясны, тем не менее, учитывая высокую вероятность реализации проекта в долгосрочной перспективе, уже сегодня как региональные, так и внешние акторы оценивают потенциал использования новых мощностей грузовых и пассажирских перевозок.
The article reviews performance of a major infrastructure project in the Eastern Baltics – namely, construction of the highspeed railway «Rail Baltica/Rail Baltica II» (Helsinki – Tallinn – Riga – Vilnius – Warsaw –Berlin), the longest tracks of which will lead through territories of the Baltic States. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia consider the project strategically important in terms of elimination of infrastructural isolation of these countries from the rest of the European Union, which corresponds to an overall EU transport policy goal of creating a single European railway area. Although the prospects of economic payback of the Rail Baltica remain unclear, given high probability that the Project will be completed sooner or later, today both regional and external actors evaluate the potential cargo and passenger capabilities that may come with it.

The political shocks of the 2014 Ukrainian crisis have been felt in many former Soviet countries, not least Latvia, where over 35% of the population are native Russian speakers. At a time when analysts and commentators are unsure about Russia’s future plans to intervene on behalf of their ‘compatriots’, this study provides a detailed political and cultural analysis of Russian-speaking identity in Latvia.
By using Russian-speakers in Latvia as a specific case study, this volume also offers a fresh methodological approach to the study of discourses and discursive strategies. It outlines a coherent methodology to study the evolution of discourses over time, rather than a single de-contextualized and static time period.
Drawing on media analysis, elite interviews, focus groups and survey data, Russian Speakers in Post-Soviet Latvia situates the identity strategies of Russian speakers within the political, cultural, and economic transformations of the post-Soviet era. By assessing political, cultural, and economic links with their home state (Latvia) and their potential kin-state (Russia), it offers important insights into the complex identity positions of Latvia’s Russian speakers, and how these positions have evolved in Latvia since the late Soviet period.

This article explores the relationship between social networking site use and mass media consumption. Based on data from an online survey, the study examines the consumption of print media, radio, television, online news sites, and social media by Latvian users of three social networking sites. According to the findings, most of the surveyed social networking site users regularly consume other media, although they are more likely to consume online news media than print or broadcast media. However, those users who spend the most time on social networking sites do not exhibit much interest in other types of media. Thus, the main distinction among the surveyed individuals is not between online and traditional media use but rather between the use of social media and traditional/journalism-based media. These results are relevant to the discussions of the potential of social media to attract audiences for the mass media.

This paper presents an analysis of the so-called Latvian national communists, which controlled Soviet Latvia in the 1950s. The traditional interpretation of national communism has profiled the group based on criteria such as youth, prior association, Latvian ethnicity, language and residency in Latvia before 1940. This composite of a Latvian national communist is often accurate: many fought together in the war, had lived in bourgeois Latvia and were in their late thirties during the group’s brief dominance of Latvian politics. There were, however, numerous exceptions in all of these areas. In this paper, I refute the traditional claim that these characteristics constituted Latvian national communism. Instead, this paper argues that the common denominator was their shared vision for Latvian culture and traditions, which allowed these like-minded individuals to coalesce into a unified faction of reformers keen to advance local interests and redraw centre-periphery relations through the repeal of Stalinism.

Historiography about the Latvian national communists treats them as a loose group of like-minded individuals who voted together in the Latvian bureau and did not have specific aims or agenda. In this paper, I argue that the Latvian national communists operated as a cohesive faction to the extent that was possible within the rigid one-Party Soviet structure. Based on archival evidence this paper examines the operations of the national communists within this context.

Finally, this paper examines the structure of the national communists to further demonstrate that they constituted a distinct faction within the leadership. Positions of seniority within the group did not necessarily conform to their rank within the Party or state apparatus. Between 1956 and 1959 the national communists strategised to increase their representation within the organs of power, taking control by appointing members to key positions, usually chairman or deputy of a department and packing the bureau (the highest decision-making body) with members. Furthermore, many decisions were decided informally by senior national communists outside the bureau to circumvent opposition to their goals.

The article examines in detail the process of setting up the security services of Latvia in the period prior to and after regaining full independence. The author emphasizes that a successful transition towards a consolidated democracy requires decisive and quick actions as well as the need for a clear legislative framework, and comprehensive democratic control of the services along parliamentary, government,
judicial, prosecution, and financing venues.

This paper discusses the complicated nature of social memories about World War II in the Baltic States, as reflected in the texture of memory which relates to monuments that have been established therein. The intensity of the past has promoted a wealth of monuments, and motivations for the establishment of monuments have differed. There are monuments which exist thanks to initiatives on the part of memory communities, while others were established at the instruction of the totalitarian regime. The texture of memory in the Baltic States is complex. It is dictated by the fact that different memory communities exist in terms of views about the past. For one community, the end of World War II in Europe meant the triumph of the USSR, while for the other it meant the institution of the Soviet occupation and its attendant repressions. The author has analysed this aspect of the social memory of the Baltic States. Future research will be devoted to solutions for the issues that remain in place.
Keywords: the texture of memory, the sites of memory, Baltic, Latvia, Word War II, memory politics, monuments, local memory map

The aim of this book is to explore key challenges facing the Latvian economy and Latvian entrepreneurship in the first decades of the 21st century. The book focuses on the following key topics: the impact of migration, the quantity and quality of human resources involved in the development of the Latvian economy; the size and determinants of the shadow economy; the development of Latvian regions; innovations and entrepreneurship with high added value; access to financial resources; analysing macroeconomics in Latvia; introducing the euro in the country; and reforms in university education and science in Latvia.

We strongly believe that academic discussion is one of the tools to promote stronger links between university-level education and science, the labour market, industry, the state, municipalities and other partners that play a crucial role in the development of university-level education. This book is meant to bridge the gap in sharing opinions, experience and knowledge among these partners. We dedicate this book to the former rector of Ventspils University College Dr. Janis Eglitis (1961-2013), our colleague and good friend.

2021. gads visā pasaulē turpināja ritēt COVID-19 pandēmijas zīmē, tostarp ietekmējot arī Latvijas aizsardzību ziskajā un virtuālajā telpā. Neskatoties uz pandēmiju, aizsardzības nozare turpināja līdzšinējo gadu a īstības virzienu, lai gan nozares problēmjautājumi savu aktualitāti saglabāja. 2021. gadā apritēja arī pirmā desmitgade, kopš Latvijā faktiski izveidota nacionāla mēroga kiberdrošības sistēma. Vienlaikus 2021. gads bija sava veida paradoksu gads. Komandantstunda tika ieviesta, un civilās mobilizācijas mēģinājums notika atbildē uz pandēmiju, bet ne reaģējot uz militāru apdraudējumu. Savukārt bruņoto spēku vienības tika nosūtītas uz robežu ar Baltkrieviju, bet ne uz robežu ar Krieviju. Tas lika vēlreiz pārdomāt gan drošības risku diapazonu, gan arī mūsdienu karadarbības vides transformāciju.

Digitalization enables the development of existing social activities and the invention of new forms of social activities online. Social networks and microblogging are some of the most frequently used online social interaction services, and Twitter combines them. These channels handle intensive communication embodying persuasion in one way or the other. This paper studies the nature of Twitter to uncover inherent persuasion patterns that change users’ behavior, or attitude, or both. An online survey of Twitter users in Latvia was carried out between July 19 and July 28, 2010, receiving 403 valid responses for further statistical data analysis. Recent frameworks for designing persuasive systems and measuring the success of persuasive technology applications were applied during an evaluation of the results. The main results from this study relate to incremental behavior and attitude change among Twitter users. Other results extend understanding of habits and behaviors of Twitter users in general, and therefore may be used for further studies of the persuasiveness of Twitter.

In this monograph the processes of European and Euro-Atlantic integration of the three Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) are analyzed - since the very restoration of their independence in 1991 up to the end of the first decade of their membership in the EU and NATO (in Rus. language)

In 1958, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev attempted to reform the Soviet education system. The reform effectively proposed making studies of the titular language in schools in each Soviet Republic voluntary. This was not, however, the Stalin era. The Latvian national communists considered the reform as a linguistic Russification campaign and took advantage of the circumstances of Khrushchev’s de-Stalinisation programme to vociferously oppose Moscow’s imposition of the reform, drawing on public support in a uniquely free and unfettered debate in Latvia. This article examines the
national communist challenge towards the reform and explores the impact of this resistance on the centre–periphery relationship.

Why does nation-building become the most powerful space that guides political decision-making mechanisms post-1991 in such distinct places from Latvia to as far as Kazakhstan and beyond, to Russia itself? Why is further separation into distinct "nations" seen by political elites as the best legitimating principle for their political competition or for the exclusion of other parties from such competition on the basis of their centrist position, as it happens in Latvia? This question can lead to further examples of why certain regimes and politicians call for building real walls on their borders to stop what they view as "illegal immigration" or why certain political elites push for Brexit. Why do political elites choose to work with constructed boundaries of difference, why do they make the exclusiveness of a certain ethnic or national group the cornerstone of their own legitimation, a source of their own power? In this book I turn to power elites who have the most power in decision making and in determining the limits and frameworks of national ideology or ideologies to explain why and how mechanisms of nationalizing processes guide political competition. The power elites are "composed of men [and women] whose positions enable them to transcend the ordinary environments of ordinary men and women; they are in positions to make decisions having major consequences." 1 But how do these elites exercise their power under different political 1 Mills, Power Elite, 3.

В статье впервые публикуются показания двух арестованных органами НКВД осенью 1940 г. руководителей политических (охранных) полиций стран Прибалтики - директора Управления полиции МВД Эстонии Йохана Соомана и директора Департамента политической полиции Латвии Яниса Фридрихсонса - в той их части, которая раскрывает неудачные попытки вербовки этих высокопоставленных чиновников германской военной разведкой. В публикуемом протоколе допроса Й. Соомана раскрывается настоящее имя активного высокопоставленного немецкого вербовщика, многократно посещавшего Латвию и Эстонию в 1939-1940 гг. по документам на фамилию «Клее» - Вильгельма Крибица, начальника реферата 3F (внешняя контрразведка) абверштелле «Кёнигсберг».

Latvian folklore, folk ornament, and mythology were an established symbolic capital upon which the second generation of ethnic Latvian artists built a national particularity of visual art during the fin de siècle decades. The construction of national art represents artistic and discursive processes of exchange and conflict between the imperial centre and the local periphery, the Baltic German elite and ethnic Latvian artists, international styles and local particularities. The idea of national art developed within the framework of free discussion, borrowing models of identity from more mature art scenes abroad as well as from other areas of cultural representation, like folklore and ethnography. As a result, several coexisting versions of national art identity are distinguished in the given period. Visual arts were ‘nationalised’ through form – developing particular ethnographic patterns of ornamentation – or through content, the latter ranging from local landscapes and people to motifs of ancient history, folklore, and mythology. Although developments in visual arts follow the international pattern, the application of conclusions emerging from a wider field of studies on cultural nationalism shows that folklore has played a special role due to the particular setting of cultural production in Latvia.

This publication assesses implications of the post-2020 Belarus for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, as well as for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization collectively. Chapters on Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Polish perceptions are also supplemented by perspectives from Russia and Belarus.

This article reevaluates the lifelong artistic patronage and collecting practices of Polish-Lithuanian Count Michał Jan Borch (1753-1810/11) against the historical background of Enlightenment Europe more broadly and specifically the Age of Partition (c. 1750-1810). This article examines how despite persistent financial shortcomings and political difficulties, Borch staked for himself a strategic position as patron and collector, staging a renovation of the present by engaging with late baroque, rococo, and neoclassical Italianate forms that inflected Italy and the antique not as fixed entities but as a malleable or notional fragments that could be arbitrated, reassembled and transformed through the intermediating agency of persons and objects, and related to the past in form, style and language, thematizing the temporal passage between venerable and modern in a way that reanimated the grandeur of the past in honor of Borch’s re-envisioning of his restored homeland. As a case study in period self-fashioning, the article is structured around four portraits of Borch and his family executed at crucial inflection points in his life and career.

Учебник знакомит с основными понятиями межкультурной коммуникации и представляет культурологическую информацию о  странах постсоветского пространства. Задача учебника – способствовать устранению стереотипного восприятия территории бывшего Советского Союза как русской национальной территории; познакомить с официальной и неофициальной символикой постсоветских стран. Учебник – своеобразный путеводитель, знакомящий с некоторыми аспектами развития постсоветских стран и призывающий всех интересующихся к дальнейшей самостоятельной работе.

THE BASICS OF INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION. INTRODUCTION TO THE POST-SOVIET STATES

The textbook presents the basic concepts of intercultural communication and offers a view of the current developments in post-Soviet states; it introduces an illustrated culturological component, which is meant to contribute to the elimination of stereotypical perceptions of the territory of the former Soviet Union as a Russian national space, facilitate the transmission of social experiences from various countries, and introduce national attributes and strategies as well as their modern transformation. The textbook is a distinctive guide introducing some aspects of the development of the post-Soviet territory; it encourages all who are interested in this subject to self-study.


Základy mezikulturní komunikace. Seznámení s postsovětskými státy.

Učebnice představuje základní pojmy interkulturní komunikace a dává přehled o současnem dění v postsovětských zemích, představuje ilustrovanou kulturologickou složku, která má přispět k odstranění stereotypního vnímání teritoria bývalého Sovětského svazu jako ruského národního prostoru, usnadnit přenos sociálních zkušeností z různých zemí, seznámit s národními atributy a strategií jejich moderní transformace. Učebnice je svérázným průvodcem seznamujícím s některými aspekty rozvoje postsovětského teritoria, nabádá k samostatnému studiu všechny, kteří se o toto studium zajímají.

This lecture focuses on the language law introduced in the Soviet Latvia. In 1956, a prominent reformist faction within the leadership of Soviet Latvia, the Latvian national communists, launched an ambitious language law in response to the perceived Russification of language in Latvia. In an effort to restore the primacy of the Latvian language, the national communists created a law enforcing knowledge of Latvian and Russian for Communist Party and government functionaries and service sector employees. This compelled Russians to gain Latvian language competency within a two-year timeframe or face the threat of dismissal. This lecture evaluates the effectiveness of the national communists’ language initiative and asks if it constituted a ‘Latvianization’ programme.

Following a review of current scholarship on identity and integration patterns of Russian speakers in the Baltic states, this article proposes an analytical framework to help understand current trends. Rogers Brubaker’s widely-employed triadic nexus is expanded to demonstrate why a form of Russian-speaking identity has been emerging, but has failed to become fully consolidated, and why significant integration has occurred structurally but not identificationally. By enumerating the subfields of political, economic, and cultural ‘stances’ and ‘representations’ the model helps to understand the complicated integration processes of minority groups that possess complex relationships with ‘external homelands’, ‘nationalizing states’ and ‘international organizations’. Ultimately, it is argued that socio-economic factors largely reduce the capacity for a consolidated identity; political factors have a moderate tendency to reduce this capacity; while cultural factors generally increase the potential for a consolidated group identity.

One of the most disputable questions about history of Latvia is related to lack of military resistance in 1939 and 1940. There are two main views – one opinion represents those who thinks, that main blame is given to President of Latvia Mr. Karlis Ulmanis, who stopped the period of democracy of Latvia in 1934. The second opinion represents that K. Ulmanis was trying to prevent Latvia from huge carnage. Unfortunately, there is given a little attention of military strength and capabilities of Latvian army – opinion we know is based on Latvian ex officers and historians abroad, without researches, based in archival sources.
This article is attempted to explain military situation in Latvian army before next military conflict in late 1930ties. For that reason author explains terms modern war and next war as they were understood in this period.  According this comprehension the staff planned and realized the state defense, having regard to possibilities of military budget. Increasing military threats in the end of 1930.ties, greater attention was given to modernization of armed forces. Base of military equipment was created after Latvian war of liberation. There was huge diversity in weapon systems, so in middle of 1920.ties most of them was unified and based on British. Sadly, most of them gradually became outdated. Modernization of arms and equipment begins only few years before occupation. Under difficult conditions 4 main sectors – anti-tank, anti-air, mobility and communications were developed using procurement from abroad, local production and local military inventions.
Second objective was to develop military strategies and tactics, which could help to fill those gaps which lack of equipment created. Basic unit in Latvian army was joint arm division.  Small arms tactics basically were taken from Germany, but large unit tactics from France. General Hugo Rozenšteins changed it adopting and adapting Czechoslovak military ideas. Meanwhile junior commanders were additional trained, because general staff realized that in next war huge responsibility will be given directly to lower commanders. They prepared for mobile warfare, siege tactics in forests and villages, anti-air and anti-tank tactics. For this purpose unit structure was adopted.

"A three-volume encyclopedia, the first of its kind, including more than 300 entries on methods, debates, processes and concepts of transitional justice and country studies.

This huge encyclopedia, with more than 300 entries by distinguished experts from around the world on all relevant topics, is a superb resource for scholars, students, and others interested in questions of historical memory, transitional justice, and archival openness in former dictatorships. The editors, Lavinia Stan and Nadya Nedelsky, who are among the world's foremost authorities on these topics, deserve immense credit for compiling such a wide-ranging, fascinating set of volumes. It is a truly remarkable accomplishment and will be of enduring value. Mark Kramer, Director, Cold War Studies Program, Harvard University

The phenomenon described as ”the third wave of democratization” has posed for scores of societies and states the problem of crime, punishment and conciliation in the wake of the downfall of dictatorial regimes from the Philippines to Poland and Chile. The pursuit and trials of World War Two criminals together with their collaborators as well as those who in recent decades carried out ethnic purges in the Balkans and Africa are being continued. The conception of an Encyclopaedia of Transitional Justice has arrived, therefore, at a suitable moment and its realisation, achieved thanks to the initiative, energy and ingenuity of Lavinia Stan and Nadya Nedelsky, is an unquestionable success. More than 165 authors from the whole world present in over 300 entries the theoretical, methodological and practical aspects of settling accounts in scores of countries on all continents. The publication predominantly recapitulates heretofore research while simultaneously assisting in the creation of a catalogue of still unresolved issues. An important, valuable and fascinating undertaking. Andrzej Paczkowski, Chairman of the Council, Institute of National Remembrance, Warsaw"

Abstract: The article focusses on the sustainability of the nine largest language communities in the Baltic countries: Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian language communities, Russian speaking communities in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Võro regional language community in Estonia, Latgale regional language community in Latvia, and Polish language community in Lithuania.
The sustainability of these language communities is analysed in respect of their demographics, geographical distribution, institutional support and ethnolinguistic vitality. The coverage includes the impact of different macro-factors, such as globalization, EU ascendancy, Soviet post-colonialism, Nationalism, and Regionalism in the four-way competition between English, Russian, the state language and regional language in each of the three countries. The language political incentives to shape the language ecology are reviewed, and their impact discussed.
In the concluding section the article discusses the definitional issues of the notion of minority language: in the modern world, language dominance and language competition have moved beyond the nation state frame that has been the traditional reference point for defining minority languages. This shift necessitates a refinement of the notion of the minority language. The setting of the Baltic Countries could be instrumental for theoretical research on this topic.