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ID:
114095
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Publication |
2012.
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Summary/Abstract |
This article examines the historical development of the two different concepts of the Latvian nation: the one that included the equal participation of all ethnic groups residing in Latvia, and the one that put them at the margins of the new state. In 1919, citizenship was granted to all Latvian residents irrespective of their ethnicity, while the Law on Minorities' Schools established a framework for cultural autonomy. National unity was perceived as being crucial to state independence, and remained central to political debates in the first republic. However, similarly to elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe, the creation of the political nation faced a number of serious domestic and international challenges. The worldwide economic depression and the parliamentary crisis of the 1930s finally tipped the scale in favour of the ethnic version of the Latvian nation. Nevertheless, even seventy years later, the brave multicultural experiment in this small Baltic country resonates with modern debates on nation-building and minority rights.
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2 |
ID:
149624
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Summary/Abstract |
The theme of continuity is a recurrent one in Latvian historiography. Many of those working in the field have previously observed that given the country’s highly fragmented history of foreign domination, wars, destruction, and regime changes, it is difficult to form a coherent historical narrative without succumbing to the politicisation of history and the temptation of being selective about the past.
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