HISTORICAL DISCOURSE IN THE LEGITIMATION OF ESTONIAN POLITICS: PRINCIPLE OF RESTITUTION
HISTORICAL DISCOURSE IN THE LEGITIMATION OF ESTONIAN POLITICS: PRINCIPLE OF RESTITUTION

Summary/Abstract: The Baltic Republics—Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania—underwent in 1987-1991 a nationalist reawakening. Initially in support of Gorbachev’s reform agenda, the nationalist movements in Estonia managed to gain support for the nationalization of society, politics and culture. Why were these movements able to mobilize support for self-determination so quickly and why was the counter nationalist movement suppressed so effectively? What differentiates a nation from any other form of community and from other nations is the way it defines itself in order to achieve its goals. This paper discusses the construction of historical narrative focusing on the principle of restitution, which is used in order to consolidate the elites and mould the majority group ideology. A core element of discourse is the term ‘occupation’ that plays a crucial role in the legitimization of nationalizing politics. In order to explain these processes regarding the ‘invention of nationhood’, the concept of ‘nation and narrative’ is used. In the following study, I examine how national narrative is constructed and reconstructed according to the principle of restitution. Secondly, I explore how this principle legitimized the inclusion of ‘Russians’ who are a ‘historic’ minority. And finally, I examine how terms such as ‘occupation’ legitimize the policy of exclusion. The paper is based on results from a PhD research project in Political History at the University of Leipzig. The author has conducted historical—sociological analysis using qualitative and quantitative data from official documents, legislation, and statistics. Discourse analysis was performed on official documents and information from the daily press.

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