
Journal of Baltic Studies
The Fall 2019 issue of Journal of Baltic Studies (Vol 50, Issue 3) is now available online. The issue contains articles on the Latvian adaptation of Communicative Development Inventories, trilemmas of recognition in the Baltic states’ foreign policies, post-Cold War economic ties between Kaliningrad and Europe, music education literature in German-language polyethnic schools in Estonia, 1860–1914, and security considerations related to the growing number of Finnish tourists to Soviet Estonia from the mid-1950s until 1980. The issue also includes three book reviews and a list of recently published Baltic titles.
ARTICLES
Latvian CDI: methodology, developmental trends, and cross-linguistic comparison
Olga Urek, Anna Vulāne, Roberts Darģis, Agrita Tauriņa, Tija Zīriņa & Hanne Gram Simonsen
In this article, we report the results of a large-scale population study based on the Latvian adaptation of Communicative Development Inventories (CDI) – a parental report tool aimed at mapping the lexical and grammatical development of children under the age of three. Two CDI forms are discussed: CDI I: ‘Words and Gestures’ (8–16 months), and CDI II: ‘Words and Sentences’ (17–36 months). This article discusses the Internet-based methodology used for the data collection, reports the main developmental trends of the lexical development of Latvian children, and compares these trends to analogous data from American English, Norwegian, and Russian.
KEYWORDS: CDI, Latvian, lexical development, receptive and productive vocabulary, communicative gestures, cross-linguistic comparison
Trilemmas of recognition in the Baltic states’ foreign policies
Gediminas Vitkus
The article presents the results of research on the attitudes of foreign policy decision makers in the Baltic states toward several international recognition trilemmas. A trilemma describes a situation where only two of three things can hold true at the same time. In case of the recognition policy in the Baltic states, these three conditions could be identified as (1) respect of international law and state sovereignty; (2) consistency of national foreign policy and political expediency; and (3) moral obligations in the interrelations of people and states. This obligation also may be supplemented by or be related to a sympathy for national liberation movements. Of course, this trilemma may be confronted by other states as well. The Baltic states’ own path to independence and international recognition makes the issue especially sensitive.
KEYWORDS: Baltic states, foreign policy, decision-making, international recognition, legal recognition, political recognition, moral recognition
Unthawed: post-Cold War economic ties between Kaliningrad and Europe
Yacov Zohn
Kaliningrad’s post-Soviet economic interconnection with Europe is encountering obstacles due to specific Russian governmental idiosyncrasies as well as its particular regional challenges. In essence, the Kremlin’s direct control from afar and European misgivings have influenced the territory’s economic development in relation to Europe. The distance of the region from Russia, exclave status, large size for an exclave, and conflicted history subject the area to contradictory forces. On the one hand, it links Kaliningrad to Europe because of a shared history and geography. On the other, it promotes a sense of political instability and geographical isolation that discourages economic integration with Europe.
KEYWORDS: Kaliningrad, Europe, economy, transition, exclave, Russia, Baltic states, separatism, post-communism
Music education literature in German-language polyethnic schools in Estonia, 1860–1914
Tiiu Ernits
This article focuses on music education literature in German-language schools in Estonia from 1860 to 1914. Music education literature in Estonian schools with German as a language of instruction has been an unexplored field of research. As a result of this systematic research, a representative sample of music education literature was formed: 30 German-language editions and 2,330 songs. The songbooks and music textbooks were considered as signs of German culture being dominant. The profound social, economic, and political changes, characteristic for the nineteenth century, caused tensions, which were expressed in the content of music literature.
KEYWORDS: Music education, music literature, German-language schools, Estonia
Finnish tourists in Soviet Estonia: security considerations
Oliver Pagel
The death of Joseph Stalin resulted in the liberalization of formerly strict travel policies in the Soviet Union. The number of foreign tourists to the Soviet Union gradually increased, and soon Finnish visitors accounted for the majority of foreign visitors. One of the main travel destinations of Finns was Soviet Estonia. The aim of this paper is to analyze security considerations related to the growing number of Finnish tourists to Soviet Estonia from the mid-1950s until 1980.
KEYWORDS: Security, Finland, Soviet Estonia, foreign tourism, hard currency, black market
BOOK REVIEWS AND RECENT PUBLICATIONS
War, revolution, and governance: the baltic countries in the twentieth century
David Ilmar Lepasaar Beecher
Strategic frames: Europe, Russia, and minority inclusion in Estonia and Latvia
Licia Cianetti
Russia and the European Court of human rights: the Strasbourg effect
Myroslava Antonovych
List of books received and recent publications
ABOUT THE JOURNAL
Journal of Baltic Studies (JBS), the official journal of AABS, is a vital source of scholarship for those engaged in Baltic state and Baltic Sea region studies. JBS is a peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary journal published on a quarterly basis that aims at progressing and disseminating knowledge about the political, social, economic, and cultural life – both past and present – of the Baltic states and the Baltic Sea region. JBS seeks high-quality original articles and review of broad scholarly interest that advance knowledge of the Baltic states and Baltic Sea region.
Published quarterly by the AABS, the annual fee for both membership in the Association and a subscription to JBS is $70.00, $35.00 for full-time students, and $35.00 for emeritus members. Members of the Association receive a free personal subscription to the Journal.
JBS welcomes article and book review submissions from AABS members and other scholars. See the Instructions for Authors page for more info.