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Introduction: Reflections on Baltic Exceptionalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Andrejs Penikis*
Affiliation:
Columbia University

Extract

On October 20, 1989 the Harriman Institute's Nationalities and Siberian Studies Program of Columbia University sponsored a panel discussion entitled, “The Baltic Republics Fifty Years After the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.” The panel, consisting of Dr. Allen Lynch, Dr. Stephan Kux, Mr. Jenik Radon and Mr. William Hough, analyzed the current situation in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as well as in the other republics from a variety of perspectives, and debated the motivations and appropriateness of the response of the Western powers to the growing strength of the various independence movements in the Baltic republics. The following edited transcript of those proceedings points up the complex and contentious nature of the status of the Baltic republics in the era of Gorbachev, in both the domestic (Soviet) and international contexts. Nationalist leaders within the Soviet Union debate the appropriate tactics and pace to pursue their goals. The Soviet leadership dabates the extent to which autonomy may be granted to the nationalities. Western leaders consider their options in responding to the changes in the Soviet Union, changes which necessitate an overhaul of policies nearly a half-century old as well as some “new thinking” on their parts.

The discussion centered on two issues: (1) What in general has been the response of the West to nationalist movements in the USSR and how appropriate has that response been? (2) Is there any validity to claims of Baltic “exceptionalism”? The following introduction comments briefly on these issues and places them into perspective by drawing on the discussion and exploring several key points.

Type
The International Status of the Baltic States: The Baltic Republics Fifty Years after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 by the Association for the Study of the Nationalities of the USSR and Eastern Europe, Inc. 

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References

Notes

1. The analysis of international behavior presented herein draws upon K.J. Holsti, International Politics: A Framework for Analysis, Fourth Edition, (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1983,) pp. 373-378.Google Scholar

2. For an excellent discussion of the evolution of the non-recognition doctrine and its application to the Baltic case, see William J.H. Hough, III, “The Annexation of the Baltic States and Its Effect on the Development of Law Prohibiting Forcible Seizure of Territory,” New York Law School Journal of International and Comparative Law, v.6, n.2, Winter 1985, pp. 301-533.Google Scholar