An Explanation of the citizenship policies of Estonia and Lithuania
ENThis study attempts to examine and explain the citizenship choices made by the governments of Estonia and Lithuania. The report explains the factors driving the inclusiveness of the policies. The project attempts to discover those factors that lead the government of a newly independent state to develop a more inclusive or more exclusive citizenship policy. Factors that likely affact the development of citizenship policies include: (1) an ethnically defined nation or political-territorially defined nation; (2) whether or not the newly independent state is seen as a nation-state or as a multi-national state; (3) a perceived threat to survival of the nation; (4) strength of minority groups in size, concentration, and economic power; and (5) powerful neighbors interested in inclusive policies due to a large ethnic minority in their own country or human rights organizations monitoring citizenship policies. These factors and questions, although applied to Lithuania and Estonia, also address the civic issues of democracy. Extensive notes accompany the text. Contains approximately 100 references. Keywords: citizen role; citizenship; citizenship education; citizenship responsibility; civics; civil liberties; civil rights; democracy; developing nations; foreign countries; global education; government (administrative body); human relations; law related education; political science; Estonia; Lithuania.
