Rein Taagepera
Predicting party sizes – Skytte Prize lecture
Skytte Prize may be the largest prize given in political science. The most recent recipients were Theda Skocpol, Jean Blondel, Robert Keohane and Robert Putnam – before Rein Taagepera who received the prize in October 2008 in Uppsala, Sweden. Taagepera reviews three of the laws of social nature he has discovered and tested. They predict the size of national assembly for a given population, the mean duration of governmental cabinets for a given number of parties, and the degree of attrition of minority representation when the number of positions decreases. These laws are based on logical models. Science stands on two legs – inquiry of how things are, and inquiry of how things should be on logical grounds. Social sciences have stressed the first, which includes statistical analysis of data. They need more of the second – logical models, which tell us what we should measure. This argument is expanded in Making Social Sciences More Scientific: The Need for Logical Models (Taagepera 2008), and a simple introduction to models is offered in www.psych.ut.ee


Martin Kala
The strength of Europe lies in globalization
Globalization is a dynamic process accompanied by determined integration of markets, nation states and technologies on an unprecedented scale, which enables individuals, corporations and states to do business faster, from a greater distance and cheaper than ever before. The same process also produces a severe backlash from those whom the old system treated cruelly. The current phase of globalization reflects the advent of the era of Asia, which means that the US-dominated Western economic power will be replaced by China and India. Considering the current trends, in 2025-2030 four of the largest economies in the world will be in Asia.

"Globalization" is a word that does not go down well with most Europeans. In reality it does not only include the economic problems or challenges concerning the labour market but denotes a chain that sets off further changes. What will it mean for the European Union which is still trying to identify its goals and wondering how to cope internally and externally? In order to survive, Europe must focus on the future.

Firstly, Europe is facing a demographic crisis. One of the greatest internal problems of Europe concerns its native population which in a few generations will decline to an extent unimaginable today.

Secondly, globalization influences the power relations between states with greater pressure on the international arena being exerted by new economic forces. The keyword for globalization is international cooperation. But there is still no global unity concerning even the most urgent problems. Modernization of the work of international organizations is extremely topical and requires the understanding that "Old World methods" can not be applied to reorganize the emerging world.

Thirdly, the globalizing world changes power relations: ideas are in constant change and established concepts are constantly challenged. The West, however, stubbornly holds on to the old ways and still defines what is regular and "normal" in the world. One of the challenges is abandoning the misconception that the West still set the norms that the rest of the world has to follow.

The European Union has to start playing its trump cards. Europeans have created an original institution based on delegation of sovereignty, which cannot be found in the past, and established an ensemble of international relations that differs absolutely from the global treatment of things. This means that Europe has been flexible, achieving economic and political results that no one has been able to achieve earlier or later. Today's challenge, however, lies in a constantly changing world – a global village where we have to not only be flexible ourselves, but also flexible in relation to the rest of the world. The relations of the West with the rest of the world, however, include a certain paradox: it would be much easier to concentrate on new promising opportunities than to ponder how everything could be as it was before.


H. L. Hix
An excursion into present-day Estonian poetry
In the preface to On the Way Home: An Anthology of Contemporary Estonian Poetry, published in India in 2006, the compiler of the anthology introduces the creations of ten authors.

Hando Runnel (b. 1938) the Head of the Editorial Council of the Publishing House Ilmamaa, in Tartu, writes satirical poems from a nationalistic vantage. Andres Ehin (b. 1940), a freelance writer, tried in his poetry to trump the absurd language of the Soviet regime with poetic absurdity. Jaan Kaplinski (b. 1941) has been a member of the Estonian parliament and writes a cosmopolitan poetry that arises from his vast knowledge of world languages, literatures and cultures. Paul-Eerik Rummo (b. 1942), who has been the literary director of theatres in Tartu and Tallinn, writes a lyrical poetry of spontaneous and immediate metaphors. He has also worked as the Estonian Minister of Population. Juhan Viiding (1948-1995), an actor in the Estonian Drama Theatre, wrote a poetry of puns, colloquial speech, abundant quotations and pastiches, using the pen name Jüri Üdi. Ene Mihkelson (b. 1944) expresses in her unrhymed verse a pessimism that contradicts both the official optimism of the Soviet ideology and the euphoric nationalism after the country regained its independence. Jüri Talvet (b. 1945), professor of comparative literature at the University of Tartu, views Estonia in its relation to the rest of world culture. Mari Vallisoo (b. 1950), a freelance writer, employs in her poetry swift transitions from the humbly trivial and intimate to the mythical and vice versa. Hasso Krull (b. 1964) teaches at the Estonian Institute of Humanities in Tallinn and writes a "postmodern" poetry aimed at deconstructing great narratives. Triin Soomets (b. 1969) specialized in Estonian literature at Tartu University and challenges postmodern theorizing with a poetry charged with spontaneous personal passion.


Mari Järvelaid
Cannabis as a drug. I
Cannabis, which contains tetrahydrocannabinol as well as cannabis products, belongs to the list of the most dangerous narcotic and psychotropic substances – therefore its possession and use is punishable by law. Thus, the use of cannabis per se is a violation of law, and most registered offences related to cannabis concern the possession and use of the substance. Still, experimentation and use of cannabis products show a rising trend among children and adolescents in Estonia.

Scientific research into the influence of cannabis on the human psyche and behaviour has begun only in the recent decades. A factor contributing to the wide spread of cannabis is that, differently from the opium poppy and the coca bush, the cannabis plant accommodates well to the new environment. It can be grown in greenhouses and as a houseplant; it also grows well in open fields in many regions of the world. This makes it expensive and labour consuming for legislators to control. Although the medical journal Lancet published Dr. C. R. Marshall's article on his personal experience about the influence of cannabis as early as in 1897, and law has declared cannabis products hazardous and forbidden drugs, until recently knowledge of cannabis-related health hazards has been based on empirical experience only.

Several statements and beliefs concerning the effect of cannabis have proved to be myths, and the actual risk level of many health hazards resulting from the use of cannabis has been found. Several pharmaceutical companies have also abandoned the development of cannabis-based medicines, as the expected success has not been achieved.

The great popularity of cannabis products and their wide spread in society imply that the motivation to avoid the use of psychoactive substances is low, and awareness of their effect is equally so. The article gives an overview of recent scientific research into the effect of cannabis on the human organism.


Paul McLaughlin
In defence of philosophical anarchism
This article examines the relationship between philosophical anarchism and political anarchism and seeks to demonstrate the importance of the former to the latter. In other words, it seeks to bridge the gap between the anarchism of intellectuals and the anarchism of activists. It does this by (1) tracing the historical development of philosophical anarchism, (2) seeking to analyze philosophical anarchism as such, (3) specifying existing forms of philosophical anarchism so understood, and (4) defending a weak but engaged form of such anarchism: that is, an anarchism simultaneously committed to rigorous argumentation and social transformation.


Eli Pilve, Meelis Saueauk
Repatriation of Estonian citizens after the conclusion of the Tartu Peace Treaty. Part I
According to Article IV of the Tartu Peace Treaty (1920), during one year inhabitants of Russia of Estonian ethnicity, aged 18 years and older, had the right to opt for Estonian citizenship. A man's citizenship application also included his wife and children if not agreed otherwise. A person was considered to be of Estonian origin if he/she or his/her parents appeared in population registers of communities or estate institutions within the territory of Estonia. The same conditions applied for Estonian inhabitants of Russian ethnicity.

The repatriation of Estonians was organized by the Repatriation Commission in Moscow and its departments in Petrograd and Omsk. The initial deadline for submitting applications for Estonian citizenship was 15 February 1921, but as the time was clearly insufficient, the term was prolonged to 1 January 1922. On 15 December of the same year, the Repatriation Commission finished its work.

The application to opt for Estonian citizenship had to be submitted to the Commission according to one's place of residence; persons serving in the Red Army had to submit the application to their division chief or the administration of their military district. The decision to grant Estonian citizenship was made by the local representation of Estonia and the Russian government. Persons receiving Estonian citizenship had to give up the citizenship of Soviet Russia, as according to the regulation of the Estonian Province Assembly. An Estonian citizen was not allowed to have dual citizenship. Russia, however, was in no hurry to give up its citizens. By June 1920, the Repatriation Commission in Moscow had registered 7500 people, but the Russian authorities had recognized only 150 of them as Estonian citizens. In Petrograd 13,000 people had been registered and no one had been recognized by the Russian authorities as an Estonian citizen. Many of those who had submitted a repatriation application were arrested; some were even shot or sentenced to hard labour; very often their property was confiscated. To fulfil the so-called compulsory obligations, sometimes one person was required to yield more than could be taken from the whole village. By that, the Russian authorities achieved their aim – to make people afraid to submit applications.

Repatriation of Estonians from Soviet Russia began in May 1920. In the first few months the Petrograd commission received 3882 applications for 6988 persons. By the end of the year, the total number of applications received by the three commissions was 38,440, concerning 76,841 persons, which made up 73.4 per cent of applications submitted during the two years of repatriation. By 1 January 1922, applications for Estonian citizenship had been submitted for 106,067 persons. Out of these, 81,027 were accepted, but only approximately 40,000, i.e. less than a half, could return to their homeland. Some repatriation proceedings continued after 1 October1922, but their number was insignificant. Naturally, some of those who had received Estonian citizenship gave up their plans of returning to Estonia, as they had already settled down in Russia, and it was not easy to pack up everything and leave. This, however, does not diminish the significance of obstacles created by Russian officials. (To be continued)


Isidor Levin
From the treasury of my life and ideas: Memories. III
Isidor Levin (b. 1919 in Daugavpils, Latvia) is an internationally renowned researcher of folktales, particularly of fairytales, and a theologian.

He studied Estonian and comparative folklore under Dr. Walter Anderson and Dr. Oskar Loorits as well as Jewish studies, semitic studies, history of religion and biblical studies at the University of Tartu from 1937-1941.

During the German occupation, he lived illegally in Estonia from 1941-1944, 1942-1945 was spent in concentration camps in Estonia and Germany, and from 1946 he was imprisoned in the Soviet Union.

As there was allegedly no work in his speciality in Estonia, he settled down, studied and worked in Leningrad. In 1967 he defended a doctoral degree at the Institute of Oriental Studies at the USSR Academy of Sciences in Moscow. Additionally, he was the leader of a research team for systematization of folklore collections in Dushanbe from 1966-1984, Tajikistan, and from 1970 fulfilled the same tasks in Yerevan, Armenia.

Recognitions: Honorary Member of the Estonian Oriental Society, the Order of the White Star, IV class 2001.

Publications: Märchen aus dem Kaukasus. Herausgegeben von Isidor Levin. Übersetzt von Gisela Schenkowitz. Düsseldorf 1978; Armenische Märchen. Herausgegeben von Isidor Levin in Verbindung mit Uku Masing. Übersetzt von Gisela Schenkowitz. Düsseldorf 1982; Zarensohn am Feuerfluss. Russische Märchen von der Weißmeerküste. Herausgegeben von Isidor Levin. Aus dem Russischen übersetzt von Gisela Schenkowitz. Kassel 1984; Märchen vom Dach der Welt. Überlieferungen der Pamir-Völker. Herausgegeben von Isidor Levin. Übersetzt von Gisela Schenkowitz. Köln 1986.

At present, Isidor Levin lives as an emeritus professor in Hamburg, Germany.

Published 2009-10-05