David Smith

Lecturer in the Contemporary History and International Relations of the Baltic States

Cobden Building, Room 27

tel: 01274-235574; fax: 01274-235550

The bulk of research time during the first six months of appointment was devoted to completion of the PhD thesis ‘Legal Continuity and Post-Soviet Reality: Ethnic Relations in Estonia 1991-95’. The work was submitted in March 1997 and successfully defended two months later, well within the ESRC deadline. In the light of the examiner’s comments, a revised outline of the thesis has since been prepared, with a view to eventual publication. A summary of the main arguments contained in the thesis was presented in the form of a paper at the Estonian Studies Day, SSEES, University of London in February 1997. This has since been modified and submitted as a journal article under the title ‘Estonia: Towards a Stable Ethnopolitics?’. Aspects of the thesis were also outlined in an occasional paper, ‘Legal Continuity and Post-Soviet Reality: Estonian Nationalist Movements and the Restoration of Statehood 1988-1995’, published by the Research Institute for European Studies, Athens, in January 1997. A further paper, ‘Nationalism in the New Europe: the Restorationist Principle in Post-Communist Estonia’, will be included as a chapter in C Williams and T Sfikas (eds), Nationalism in Russia, the CIS and the Baltic States, (Dartmouth, 1998). Other research activities during this period included chairing a panel on political transition at the conference ‘Democracy and Markets in Central and Eastern Europe’, held at St Catherine’s College, Windsor in February 1997 and attending a conference on Baltic security at the Conflict Studies Research Centre of the Sandhurst Military Academy.

Since May 1997 priority has been given to researching and writing a work on Estonia for the Harwood Academic Publishers’ series Post-Soviet States and Nations. The initial draft of the book - provisionally entitled Estonia: the Return to Europe - is now almost complete, and it is hoped to submit the finished manuscript during the Spring of 1998. The other main area of activity has been the elaboration of a new research project Mapping the Baltic Sea Area: Regional Integration from an Eastern Baltic Perspective, an investigation of current projects of region-building in the Baltic Sea area. The project is being coordinated jointly with Dr Marko Lehti of the University of Turku, Finland. Initial funding has been received from the British Council and CIMO (Finland) towards the establishment of a longer-term project involving partners in Russia and the Baltic states. Initial joint articles and conference papers are planned for 1998.

In addition to the above, two preliminary research visits were made as part of a project investigating the political history of the Russian minority in Estonia between the two World Wars. The initial material collected will be used to prepare two conference papers during the Spring and Summer of 1998. Other relevant archival sources have been identified with a view to submitting an application for a British Academy small research grant. Other ongoing commitments involve participation in the Department’s British Council-funded joint research project with the University of Latvia on Baltic security in the 20th century, and a project on foreign policies of the former socialist countries coordinated by the Department of International Relations of the University of St Andrews. Early in the new year, a contribution on Nordic states and intergovernmental organisations will be submitted to the Annual Register for 1997, along with a review article to the Slavonic and East European Review.

‘Legal Continuity and Post-Soviet Reality: Ethnic Relations in Estonia 1991-95’ forthcoming.

‘Estonia: the Return to Europe’ in Harwood Academic Publishers’ series Post-Soviet States and Nations forthcoming.

(with Dr. M Lehti) Mapping the Baltic Sea Area: Regional Integration from an Eastern Baltic Perspective forthcoming.

‘Nordic States and Intergovernmental Organisations’ in Annual Register forthcoming.

‘Nationalism in the New Europe: the Restorationist Principle in Post-Communist Estonia’ in C Williams and T Sfikas (eds), Nationalism in Russia, the CIS and the Baltic States, (Dartmouth, 1998).

‘Estonia: Towards a Stable Ethnopolitics?’ Estonian Studies Day, SSEES, University of London in February 1997.

‘Legal Continuity and Post-Soviet Reality: Estonian Nationalist Movements and the Restoration of Statehood 1988-1995’ Research Institute for European Studies, Athens, in January 1997.