Taking its cue from the 90th anniversary commemorations of November 2008, this work explores the relationship between state and nationhood during the three phases to date in Latviaâs existence as a territorial entity: the sovereign statehood of 1918-1940; the Soviet and Nazi occupations of 1940-1944 and the ensuing half-century within the USSR; and the post-1991 period, which has seen the restoration of independence on the basis of legal continuity from the inter-war period and â latterly â accession to the European Union. The aim in relation to all three eras is to go beyond the often essentialising contours of Cold War and post-Cold War debates and reveal the underlying complexities and ambiguities of political and social development.
David J. Smith, David J. Galbreath, and Geoffrey Swain: From Recognition to Restoration: Latviaâs History as a Nation-State
Andrejs Plakans: Celebrating Origins: Reflections on Latviaâs Ninetieth Birthday
David J. Smith: Inter-war Multiculturalism Revisited: Cultural Autonomy in 1920s Latvia
Geoffrey Swain: Forgotten Voices: Reflections on Latvia during World War Two
IrÄna Saleniece: The Deportation of March 25, 1949 in Latgale: Oral History Sources and Archival Documents
William D. Prigge: The Strange Death of Latvian National Communism
Veiko Spolitis: Latviaâs 90th Anniversary: between âPartocracyâ and a Misconstrued Model of Liberal Economy
Marina Germane: A Nation in the Making? The Social Integration Process in Latvia since 1991
Amy Bryzgel: The Bronze Man and the Homeless Man: Performance Art in Latvia from Perestroika to Post-Soviet
David J. Galbreath: Between a âRockâ and a âHard Placeâ: Baltic Foreign Policy after Enlargement