20 August of this year is the twentieth anniversary of the day Estonia again became an independent state.
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 |
Estonian foreign policy. Arab Spring. Riigikogu elections. Equality. OECD recommendations.
Supreme Court decision. Lessons of economic crisis. Prisoners´ right to vote.
Better regulations. Standing advisory councils.
Summaries of articles are in English.
20 August of this year is the twentieth anniversary of the day Estonia again became an independent state.
In Riigikogu Toimetised (RiTo) conversation circle on 24 May, three foreign policy experts analysed the present situation in Arab countries, where the demonstrations against the ruling powers that started in Tunisia have spread over almost the whole North Africa and Middle East.
The author divides the Estonian foreign policy after the restoration of independence into three large periods.
*This article reflects the personal views of the author.
Estonian elections in 2011 were held under the conditions of high unemployment (16.9%) and rather small inflation (2.7%); the real growth of Estonian GDP had turned positive in 2010, after two years of decrease.
The article deals with the part of electorate that did not attend the elections.
In the article the author uses the data from the voter polling conducted by the Institute of Government and Politics of the University of Tartu in March 2011.
The functioning and quality of representative democracies can be assessed on the basis of how the political parties compete between themselves for the voters of the electors and how the voters make their voting decisions.
This article provides a brief focused overview of the OECD analysis of the functioning of Estonian governance sector “Towards a Single Government Approach”.
The article is inspired by the Supreme Court decision of 16 March 2010 concerning the supplementary state budget of 2009 (available in English: http://www.nc.ee/?id=1122).
The article discusses the implementation of better regulation principles in internal security policy on the basis of the results of the content analysis of draft legislation and strategic policy documents and the e-survey of officials.
*Peer-reviewed research paper.
The gender wage gap influences all members of the society in one way or another.
For those who strive for gender equality in politics, the Riigikogu elections of 2011 were a disappointment because, in comparison to previous elections, the percentage of women among candidates and those elected decreased.
The purpose of the article is to assess the bases of Estonia’s economic policy within the context of economic crisis and the development of gross wage in general and by areas of activity before and during the crisis.
Since mid-1990s, Estonia has experienced a successful process of integration to the global economy.
*The statistical data of the article is as of 20 May 2011.
There are increasingly less countries in Europe where prisoners are automatically deprived of the right to vote by law, as is the case in Estonia.
The security sector is often mistakenly considered only the Government’s playground while actually the parliament as the representative body of the nation has an important role in handling security issues.
Since its creation the police has undergone significant changes.
The Court of Justice has interpreted the Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (data protection directive) in seven decisions made on the basis of references for preliminary ruling and applied the directive in three cases that reached the Court as a result of complaints.
Researchers have stated that Estonia lacks a definite family policy vision and resources which would enable the state to create a coherent and supporting family policy.
Standing advisory councils are a cooperation form with quite a long tradition for a country like Estonia; the first such advisory bodies were established already in the early 1990s.
Members of parliament have more freedom in their positions than governments, therefore the best way for pursuing value-based foreign policy is through the parliamentary assemblies of large international organisations.
Estonia made its first official step towards OECD in 1996, when the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the three Baltic states sent a joint declaration to the OECD, in which they proposed to establish the Baltic Regional Programme.