Martha Merritt in Minorities and Tolerance, (Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2001). Adapted and reprinted as the lead article for the Newsletter of the Association for the Study of Nationalities ("Fragments of Empire: Baltic Lessons for Building Tolerance," ASN 7:1, Fall 2001).

The Baltic states have unwittingly served as laboratories for the mediation of ethnic tension during the process of state-building. Their challenge has been to transform isolated, culturally Russian populations and localities into more integrated parts of the national and international communities, which is often as much a mental as a geo-graphical exercise. She discusses how focusing on membership (which includes both national membership and the ultimate mutual goal of join-ing Europe) rather than abstract quali-ties like loyalty allows for constructive and often modest goals of integration.

Top of Page

Home > Publications > Peace Colloquy > Issue 2 (Fall 2002)