Minority integration and interethnic relations in Estonia have received a great deal of scholarly attention. The interest in Estonia stems from the conflict potential that existed in the early 1990s, the surprisingly peaceful nature of interethnic relations, and the unprecedented involvement of both European institutions and Russia in shaping minority policies over the past two decades. The talk focuses on the integration of the Russian-speaking minority along structural, cultural, social, and identity dimensions based on the results of regular integration monitoring. While progress has been made, societal integration is far from complete. The state needs to adopt a more varied approach toward the Russian-speaking minority and to allocate significant resources beyond the promotion of Estonian language learning. These include addressing structural inequalities, promoting interethnic contact, and addressing the cultural competencies of the ethnic majority.

Jennie L. Schulze (PhD) is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Duquesne University. Her research interests include the influence of European institutions and kin-states on minority integration and minority rights in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the influence of cultural, structural, and social variables on minority integration. She has recently published on the following topics: the influence of EU conditionality and Russia’s activism on elite attitudes toward minority integration in Estonia; interethnic relations in Estonia; minority conceptions of integration in Estonia; and the relationship between integration dimensions among second generation Russians in Estonia. Her current book project focuses on the influence of European institutions and Russia on elite attitudes toward minority rights in Estonia and Latvia.