Soviet Genocide? Communist Mass Deportations in the Baltic States and International Law

2001 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 757-787 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauri Mälksoo
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Present Article ◽  
The State ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
General Context ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
International History ◽  
Soviet Occupation ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Historical Truth

The present article deals with international law problems that have arisen in the process of legal clarification of the state crimes committed during the Soviet occupation in the three Baltic states. Following the restoration of their independence in 1991, the Baltic states have sought to establish the historical truth about the mass crimes committed during the Nazi and Soviet occupations – Estonia's International History Commission recently published its first report which is analyzed in this article. Moreover, the courts in the Baltic states have convicted deporters of 1941 and 1949 for crimes against humanity and/or genocide. By discussing different definitions of ‘genocide,’ the author attempts to answer the question whether the general context of the Stalinist mass repressions in the Baltic states permits to qualify the occupant's policy as ‘genocide.’

National Historical Myth as an Element of the Baltic States’ Strategic Cultures: Examining Postage Stamps

Istoriya ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7 (105)) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Vladislav Vorotnikov
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
Political Class ◽  
Semiotic Model ◽  
Contemporary Politics ◽  
Postage Stamps ◽  
Relative Proximity ◽  
The One ◽  
The Baltic

The article examines the structure of national historical mythology of the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) with an emphasis on the foreign policy dimension based on the analysis of their issues of the postage stamps. Since issuing of the postage stamps is a product of consensus between the state and civil society, their topics and images presented on them, on the one hand, may be considered as a part of the semiotic model of the state image, thus reflecting its stance on processes, events, phenomena or personalities of the past and the present and, accordingly, shaping, transforming or supporting a certain nation-forming mythology or state ideology; on the other hand, they reflect mass perceptions of the dominant national historical narrative, and often the priorities of contemporary politics. Due to the specifics of the Baltic states’ history and the dominant values and ideology of their political class, the mainstream historical narrative is inevitably turned outward, that makes the analysis of its main elements extremely operational in the study of their strategic cultures. The article proposes the author's attitude to categorizing and highlighting the main chronological and thematic elements of the arrays of postage stamps of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia from 1990 to 2020. On the basis of discourse and selective iconographic analysis, the key elements of national historical narratives and their coherence with the foreign political positioning and strategies of the Baltic states are identified and analyzed. A comparative analysis of the three country cases allows us to pinpoint their relative proximity as well as some specific features.

scholarly journals Financial Security in the Baltic States: Comparison with Selected EU Countries

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadežda Semjonova
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Financial Security ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
Financial Independence ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
The Baltic

AbstractThe present paper applies recently developed consolidated indicator of the state financial security to the situation in Baltic States and some EU countries. The indicator summarises a number of economic and financial parameters relevant to the financial independence of the country. The resulting indicator demonstrates a reasonable correlation with sovereign Fitch rating both for Baltic States and the “old” EU countries, but Fitch rating gives more optimistic evaluation for old EU countries.

scholarly journals INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ORDER: ON THE ISSUE OF ITS PROPERTIES (THEORETICAL ASPECTS)

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (127) ◽  
pp. 115-122
Author(s):  
I. Zabara
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
General Context ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Ability To Act ◽  
The Status ◽  
International Legal Order ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Internal And External Factors

The article deals with one of the theoretical aspects of international legal order issues – the question of its properties. The author summarizes the doctrinal views of international law and regards the basic properties of the phenomenon of international legal order as its ability to act as system complexity, dynamism, orderliness, the reality and legitimacy of actions of subjects. The author notes that there is a common position in the doctrine, according to which the international legal order is a system. However, he notes that the difference in views on the international legal order as a system consists in the components the researchers include in its composition; the author examines two theoretical approaches. The complexity of the international legal order is determined from the standpoint of the number of its elements and components, as well as the number of their connections. This opinion highlights the fact that the predominant role is played by the quantity of links between elements and components, and indicates the international legal order capacity for permanent changes under the influence of the relevant internal and external factors. The dynamism of the international legal order is characterized from the point of capacity for the development and modification. It is stated that the state of the dynamics is effected by several circumstances. The author concludes that this international legal order’s property as a dynamism is one of the qualities that characterizes its condition as a system. The orderliness of the international legal order is considered from a consistency point, the interaction of parts of the whole, due to its structure. The author notes that the ordering of the international legal order displays its internal relationships and emphasizes its status as a system. The reality of the international legal order is characterized from the point of objectively existing phenomenon. The author concludes that the allocation of the international legal order of reality as one of its properties is intended to emphasize the status of one of its most important components - the state of international relations. Separately, the author considers the question of the legality of actions of subjects of international law, which are discussed in the doctrine from the standpoint of the conditions necessary for its maintenance. The author points out that in the general context of the properties that characterize the international legal order, it can be considered as an aspect wich together with other characterizes the state of the international legal order.

Civil society versus nationalizing state? Advocacy of minority rights in the post-socialist Baltic states

2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timofey Agarin
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Minority Rights ◽  
State Policies ◽  
The State ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Full Support ◽  
Public Debates ◽  
The Baltic

Strong civil society provides individuals with arenas to bring their interests to the attention of policymakers. In so doing, civil society organizations (CSOs) can support state policies, but can also criticize policies. This paper argues that most minority rights advocacy CSOs in the Baltic states have little say in the crafting of policy and are compartmentalized into the existing agendas, with only a few groups able to evaluate policies independently. It concludes that the Baltic civil society is weak because the CSOs working on minority issues ask policymakers either too much, or too little. The findings suggest that policymakers quell criticism of their work from the side of the CSOs by ignoring their activities. Alternatively, by funding the CSO that shores up the state agenda, policymakers delegate their responsibilities to civic actors, keep critical voices from public debates and claim that their policies have the full support of a vibrant civil society. This paper investigates the options available for civil society actors to relate to policymakers in a nationalizing state by drawing on the data collected in 77 semi-structured interviews with the CSOs working with Russian and Polish minorities in the Baltic states between 2006 and 2009.

Slav non-citizens in the Baltics

1994 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-137
Author(s):  
Bart Driessen
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
Citizenship Rights ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Large Groups

AbstractThis study argues that customary international law obliges the Baltic states to accept the Slav populations as an integral part of the Baltic peoples. The history and collapse of the Soviet Union has produced large groups of Slav immigrants to remain in the Baltic states. They are not automatically granted citizenship rights in Estonia and Latvia, as they have to prove to qualify for naturalisation. People descending from the inter-War citizenry do ipso facto qualify for citizenship. First the nature of the coming-to-independence of the Baltic states is analysed, after which the law on self-determination is investigated. The de facto recognition of the Soviet annexation by most of the international community is seen as the watershed as far as the status of the Baltic states is concerned; from then on they were for all practical purposes part of the Soviet Union. Following an analysis of the applicable norms of customary international law, a scrutiny of relevant Baltic legislation is presented.

State as Transgressor: Šilingas versus the State—A Case Study

2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-150
Author(s):  
Svaja Vansauskas Worthington
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The State ◽  
Soviet Rule ◽  
World War ◽  
Baltic States ◽  
Travel Guide ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Baltic

The usually cheerful Insight Travel Guide to the Baltic States offers this synopsis of the Baltic situation:Their independence was sentenced to death by the Nazi–Soviet Pact [the secret 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Non-Aggression Pact] just before World War II. The pact envisaged the Baltic States would be parceled out between them, but it was overtaken by events with Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union. The three states were incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940 … Among few other people did the Soviet mill grind finer than in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania … The final injustice was the permanent imposition of Soviet rule and Stalinist terror. Anyone a visitor meets today in the Baltics is likely to have a relation who was sent to Siberia or simply shot.

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