Minority Rights, Multiculturalism and EU Enlargement: the Case of Estonia
Publisher: Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe Volume: 40 pages, pdf Description: The nationality question in contemporary Estonia has formed the object of considerable attention – both academic and political – over the past decade. In the course of 1940 to 1991, Soviet policies of industrialization led to large-scale settlement by Russians and representatives of other Soviet nationalities. Consequently, the share of ‘non-titular’ nationalities in Estonia’s population grew from its pre-war figure of 12 per cent to 39 per cent by 1989. When Estonia restored its independence in 1991, Soviet-era settlers and their descendants (around 30 per cent of the total population) were denied any automatic right to Estonian citizenship.