By the end of the 1990s, we had a wealth of good examples of journals on parliamentary policy, legislative drafting and other topics from around the world, but the idea was still novel in Estonia.
Siim Kallas | Presentation in the Riigikogu at the 1st Reading of the Draft State Budget Act 2000 |
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Kalle Jürgenson | State Budget 2000, What and Why? |
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Olev Raju | Commentaries on the State Budget 2000 |
Madis Võõras | Estonia on the Way to Full Membership of the European Space Agency |
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Ene Ergma | Estonia Has Become a Space State |
Urve Läänemets | A Good Teacher Should Be Ready to Learn Also from the Pupils |
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Külli Eichenbaum | Using the Local Peculiarities of Old Võromaa |
In focus: Estonia 2035 strategy
The issue analyses the various aspects of the strategy and explores how it could become the engine driving Estonia’s development for the next 15 years. In the opening essay, Tarmo Jüristo, the Head of the Praxis Center for Policy Studies, emphasises the importance of the big picture during planning.
The Strategy Director of the Government Office Henri Kattago examines strategic planning as a process and takes a closer look at the Estonia 2035 strategy. The Deputy Secretary-General for Fiscal Policy of the Ministry of Finance Sven Kirsipuu writes about the financial implications of the strategy and the possibilities to finance the chosen goals adequately. The Vice Rector for Academic Affairs of the University of Tartu Aune Valk analyses the ambitions of the strategy from the aspects of education and labour market. A panel of politicians discusses the strategy.
Silvia Kaugja analyses the attitude of Estonia’s residents and judges on intimate relationship violence, and Diana Marnot discusses the common security policy of the Baltic states. Einar Vära outlines the history of the five point grading scale in the Estonian general education system, and Silva Kirsimägi looks at the legal responsibility of assistant police officers.
The issue also includes traditional parliamentary news from around the world, and a historical column dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the journal, where the former Editors-in-Chief of RiTo Aare Kasemets, Helle Ruusing, Aivar Jarne, and Mart Raudsaar look back at their struggles in putting the journal together.
Summaries of articles are in English.
By the end of the 1990s, we had a wealth of good examples of journals on parliamentary policy, legislative drafting and other topics from around the world, but the idea was still novel in Estonia.
The authors from whom the contributions were commissioned had to have something valuable to say to the readers from the point of view of the criteria set by the journal, and they had to present their ideas in a well-argued way.
My objective was to take the journal to a new level, improving its readability while maintaining the quality standards of a research journal.
Over these 20 years, a number of interesting, necessary and educational texts have been published. Many of these will grow in value over time.
It is important to know the target group of the journal: university students, followers of politics, politicians, civil servants, or casual readers.
It is very welcome that the present government included preparing the strategy “Estonia 2035” into its action programme, so that Estonia will finally have a longer-term plan. This plan will need to reach far longer than one election cycle, and ideally it should form an umbrella strategy for national strategies with a shorter time perspective and narrower topics.
Jaak Valge (Estonian Conservative People’s Party), Riina Sikkut (Social Democratic Party), Helir-Valdor Seeder (Isamaa), and Erki Savisaar (Centre Party) discussed the Estonia 2035 strategy in the panel of the Riigikogu Toimetised on 14 October. The discussion was moderated by Tiina Kaalep.
In Estonia, nearly fifty documents direct policy shaping and strategic development at the government level in more than 17 fields.
The Government of the Republic initiated preparation of the strategy “Estonia 2035” on 8 March 2018. The General Part of “Estonia 2035” constitutes a strategic development document that pursuant to Article 20(1) of the State Budget Act has to be approved by the Riigikogu.
Historically, fiscal policy and public finances have been surrounded by many sophisticated concepts, myths and inaccurate interpretations. In the case of economic developments, it is fairly clear that four-percent growth is better than two-percent growth, while in the case of budget deficit and national debt burden the good-bad scale is insufficient and the answer generally depends on the particular situation.
The strategy “Estonia 2035” gives the priority over the next 15 years to the compatibility between the labour market and people’s skills.
Over the last decade, life expectancy in Estonia has grown faster than the EU average. At the same time, the increase in healthy life years has ground to a halt. This means that although people live longer, illnesses and health related causes limit their participation on the labour market and increase the health care costs for the state.
At present, co-creative governance seems to be more complicated than ever before. The crisis that is changing the world contains a billion intricate problems, but there is a lack of trust.
In my article, I assess the vision document “Estonia 2035” (2020) from four aspects: the feasibility of the strategy, the role of the digital transition, the role of the innovation within the context of “Estonia 2035” and citizens’ expectations to the Riigikogu. “Estonia 2035” expressly describes the dream destination.
Spatial planning in Estonian towns has followed a fairly unruly path since the 1990s, with no broader vision to guide it. This has made the towns more inefficient and lowered the quality of their spaces.
The development of technology and innovation usually go hand in hand. If we want both the government and the private sector to provide better services to the public, it is necessary to find good and safe solutions for data processing.
Over the next decades, personal mobility is facing huge changes: because of developments in mitigating climate change, technological innovation, ageing of the population, but also the consumer and mobility habits of the Y-generation. The main challenges are linked to the more sustainable and environmental nature of mobility.
The increase of the importance of China in global economy and politics is strongly connected with developing of digital platforms. This is reflected in the painful reactions of the United States in regard to the digital infrastructure company Huawei and the social media application TikTok. It is necessary to pay more attention to China’s investments into the European digital platforms and into platform-type companies in the wider sense.
In 2017–2018, the Foresight Centre created three sets of scenarios: on governance and e-governance, labour market, and productivity. What could we conclude from these sets today – can we already see where we are coming from, and where we are going?
After Estonia restored its independence in 1991, the first instinct of the national leaders was to join the united Europe as soon as possible.
This article analyses the effects of the European Union Cohesion Policy Structural Funds on the performance of Estonian companies in terms of productivity, job creation, and exports. In the period of 2014–2020, a total of EUR 4.4. billion was granted to Estonia, which was the highest support allocation per capita in Europe; a significant share of that support was granted to activities that promoted the growth and competitiveness of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
The article gives an overview of the security trends and national activity measures of the Baltic states. The paper is based on the analysis “A comparison of the Baltic security policy documents” that the author carried out in the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences.
The article looks at the five point grading scale used in the Estonian general education system, tracing its history from its introduction in the first half of the 19th century until today.
A corner stone in protecting victims of intimate partner violence and controlling violent acts in intimate relationships is the attitude of the population and of the appliers of law.
The most important room in the Government Building of the Province of Estonia or Toompea Palace, which was built during the reign of Catherine II 250 years ago, is the White Hall.
The article discusses the legal responsibility of assistant police officer and the supervision exercised over their activities.