Transformation of Higher Education as the Precondition for Competitive Development in Estonia and Latvia

This paper outlines the main trends in higher education in the Baltic States and in particular in Estonia and Latvia, on the basis of the European Union concept of competitiveness and knowledge-based society development. Using the World Bank system of knowledge-based indicators, the position of the Baltic States is discussed and compared with international competitiveness ratings. We illustrate higher education systems in Estonia and Latvia by providing information on present institutional structures and by analyzing the key issues that contributed to their adaptation to a market economy in the 1990s until they became members of the EU. The study suggests that the educational systems in Estonia and Latvia are rather similar and that they have been restructured in accordance with western educational requirements and quality standards. They have greatly benefited from international efforts to professionalize the faculty in these institutions. At the same time, the educational system is not yet fully adjusted to the dynamic needs of the labor market. In order to meet the needs of competitive development, the education systems of the Baltic States, as small open countries and new EU members, should focus on increasing the functional flexibility of the labor force.     

The Perils of Utopia: The Russian Intelligentsia under Communism and Perestroika

After evoking the spirit of the Russian intelligentsia, this essay interprets its changing place in society. A force for humanism, universal brotherhood and freedom of expression within a succession of repressive political regimes, the intelligentsia should — one might think — be greatly favoured by perestroika. Yet its very idealism and uncritical faith in such abstractions as ‘the people’ and ‘beloved foreigners’ have ill prepared it to deal with harsh and complex realities. As earlier stereotypes crumble and the Communist regime disintegrates, the intelligentsia itself is confused and divided. Faced with moral and political dilemmas, Tolstaya suggests that there may be some virtue in a productive form of escapism in art.     

The Ethnic Dimension to Bureaucratic Encounters in Postcommunist Europe: Perceptions and Experience

Abstract. In a survey of public opinion about the behaviour of officials in four postcommunist countries ‐Ukraine, Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic – we found pervasive suspicions of ethnic bias. Although ethnic minorities themselves were particularly suspicious of officials, there was a consensus across both ethnic majorities and minorities that officials favoured their own ethnic group and discriminated against others. Suspicion may distort reality, however. Citizens' own reports of dealing with officials generally revealed much less ethnic discrimination in their personal experience than in their suspicions, presumptions and perceptions. Either suspicion exaggerated reality or general perceptions of bias focused on the most badly treated, rather than the most numerous, minorities. Ethnic minorities themselves behaved in different ways towards officials. Amongst the ethnic minorities covered in this study, only Gypsies displayed the characteristics of hopelessness and ‘exclusion’. Some minorities behaved much like the titular nationality. But most compensated for their minority status by engaging more than the titular nationality in a wide range of strategies to influence officials ‐including the use of contacts, presents and bribes. Conversely, in areas where an ethnic minority was concentrated locally, members of the titular nationality displayed a measurably defensive reaction and a somewhat heightened degree of vigilance. The paper is based on a total of 6,050 interviews made in the winter of 1997–8, including representative country‐wide samples and special additional samples in areas where ethnic minorities were concentrated. It compares the four titular nationalities with eight ethnic minorities. This research was funded by the ODADFID (formerly Overseas Development Administration, now Department for International Development) under grant R6445 to Miller and Koshechkina, and by the ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) under grant R222474 to Miller and Grødeland. Translation and fieldwork was carried out by OPW (Opinion Window) of Prague and MVK of Bratislava both under the direction of Ladislav Koppl, CSD (Centre for the Study of Democracy) of Sofia under the direction of Alexander Stoyanov, and GfK‐USM (Ukrainian Surveys and Market Research) of Kyiv under the direction of Tatyana Koshechkina.     

Applying Policy Process Theories to Environmental Governance Research: Themes and New Directions

Policy scholars have effectively leveraged policy process models, theories, and frameworks to respond to a variety of important environmental questions. For example, how do environmental issues arrive on the agendas of policymakers? What factors contribute to environmental policy change? What are the designs and effects of institutions (e.g., policies or cultural norms) on environmental governance? In this review, we survey the field of policy process scholarship, focusing on environmental governance, with three objectives. The first objective is to catalog the policy process models, theories, and frameworks most often featured in studies of environmental governance. The second is to capture the methodological choices commonly employed in the application of these models, theories, and frameworks in environmental domains. The third is to identify how these approaches deal with issues central to environmental governance research, including time, space, and policy scale. We aim to identify trends and strategies for integrating key considerations of scale into empirical policy process scholarship.