THE BALTIC STATES AFTER THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION

Abstract

At first glance it may appear that Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania belong in a separate post-communist transitional category from the pace-setting former peo­ ple's republics of East Central Europe such as Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic. As union republics of the USSR, the Baltic states were fully integrated into the Soviet political and economic system with virtually no opportunity for exercising autonomy in policymaking. Moscow's centralized control was evident in all phases of life, especially in the social policy of promoting massive in-migration of non-Baits that resulted in sweeping changes in ethnic composition during the decades of Soviet rule. Nevertheless, it is striking that the political and eco­ nomic transition in the Baltic states during the 1990s most closely paralleled that of the Visegrad countries rather than that of other former Soviet republics.1 His­ torically, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania had experienced Central European, espe­ cially German and Polish, political and cultural hegemony, and they constituted the most Westernized and modernized parts of the USSR. Unlike other Soviet republics, they also benefitted from two crucial decades of independence during the 1920s and 1930s. It is thus no accident that the Baltic states played a key role in the collapse of the Soviet Union, particularly through the activism of such mass organizations as the Popular Fronts of Estonia and Latvia as well as Sajudis in Lithuania, all of which drew inspiration from East European models, especially Solidarity and the Prague Spring. The most significant difference between the Baltic states and the countries of East Central Europe in the twentieth century has been the greater geopolitical vulnerability in the Baltic case, as reflected in their location and size, although their current security concerns may well be mitigated by growing European and international integration. The following overview will stress the commonalities in the Baltic experience in the 1990s, but it also impor­ tant to bear in mind the distinctive profile of each country. The restoration of Baltic independence in August 1991 was the culmination of a long process that began more than five years earlier with demonstrations organ­ ized by the Latvian human rights group Helsinki '86.2 The East Central European events of 1989, especially in Hungary and Poland, and the withering away of the