Societal Security

224 Pages·2016·3.24 MB·English

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This work has received funding from the European Union Seventh
Framework Programme (FP7-SSH-2007-2013) under the grant
agreement no. 613344, MIME.
The work was financially supported by the State Education
Development Agency (State Budget Programme 70.06.00,
“Participation in Research and Technologies Development
Programmes of the European Union”).
Financing is provided also by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation
and the Latvian Political Science Association.
Edited by Žaneta Ozoliņa
Cover photos are from the private collections of
Žaneta Ozoliņa, Kristīne Plūksna-Zvagule,
and Diāna Dimza-Dimme.
Cover design by Kristīne Plūksna-Zvagule
English language editor Līvija Uskalis
Proofreading by Antra Legzdiņa
Layout by Oskars Stalidzāns
The authors are responsible for facts and opinions
reflected in the articles.
© Authors of the articles, 2016
© Kristīne Plūksna-Zvagule,
cover design, 2016
ISBN 978-9934-549-10-6 © Zinātne Publishers, 2016
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Mobility and Inclusion in Multilingual Europe (MIME) is a research project
on multilingualism in Europe, funded by the European Commission’s Seventh
Framework Programme. Using an innovative interdisciplinary approach, MIME
will generate an organised body of policy-relevant propositions, identifying the
language policies and strategies that best combine “mobility” and “inclusion”. The
diverse concepts and methods are combined in an analytical framework designed
to ensure their practice-oriented integration. MIME identifies, assesses, and rec-
ommends measures for the management of trade-offs between the potentially
conflicting goals of mobility and inclusion in a multilingual Europe. Rather than
taking existing trade-offs as a given, we think that they can be modified, both in
symbolic and in material/financial terms, and we argue that this objective can
best be achieved through carefully designed public policies and the intelligent use
of dynamics in civil society.
The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) is a political foundation. In Germany, 16
regional offices and two conference centres offer a wide variety of civic education
conferences and events. Our offices abroad are in charge of over 200 projects in
more than 120 countries. The foundation’s headquarters are situated in Sankt
Augustin near Bonn, and also in Berlin — where an additional conference centre,
named “The Academy”, was opened in 1998.
We are proud to bear the name of Konrad Adenauer. The name and principles
of the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany are our guidelines, duty
and obligation. Established in 1955 as the “Society for Christian-Democratic Civic
Education”, the Foundation took on the name of the first federal chancellor in
1964.
At home as well as abroad, our civic education programmes aim at promoting
freedom and liberty, peace and justice. We focus on consolidating democracy, the
unification of Europe and the strengthening of transatlantic relations, as well as
development cooperation.
In our role as a think-tank and consulting agency, our soundly researched, fun-
damental scientific concepts and current analyses are meant to offer a basis for
possible political action.
We provide moral and material support to intellectually gifted young people,
not only from Germany, but also from Central and Eastern Europe and developing
countries. We stay in close contact with our alumni, numbering more than 10 000.
Exhibitions, readings and awards are also distinctive elements of our work. We
promote young artists, and annually award our prestigious Literary Prize.
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Contents
Introduction. Žaneta Ozoliņa .................................7
Societal Security: Conceptual Framework. Žaneta Ozoliņa .......13
Inclusion in the 21st Century: an Exploration of Policy
Opportunities and Challenges. Christopher Houtkamp ...........29
Societal Resilience: The Case of the Russian-speaking
Community in Latvia. Rihards Bambals ........................44
Economic Threats and the Russian-speaking Community
Gunārs Valdmanis ..........................................74
Non-governmental Organisations:
Source for Inclusion or Exclusion? Sigita Struberga ..............95
Societal Security Through the Lens of Social Networks.
Artūrs Kvesko .............................................124
Education as Part of the Societal Security Dilemma.
Aleksandra Vonda ..........................................144
Culture, Religion, and Societal Security — The Case of the
Pentecostal Russian-speaking Community in Latvia
Veronika Šilkina ...........................................162
Capability of Mobility — Diaspora of Russian Speakers
From Latvia. Aija Lulle .....................................187
Russian-speaking Community in Jelgava. Otto Tabūns .........204
Conclusions ..............................................218
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Introduction
Žaneta OzOliņa1
Every book project has its historical background. The book Societal
Security: Inclusion–Exclusion Dilemma. A portrait of the Russian-speak-
ing community2 in Latvia is also the result of long-lasting studies and
discussions. Security was one of the dominating research themes
from the early 1990s, for obvious reasons — the restoration of
Latvia’s independence and efforts to maintain this constitutes the
core of the nation’s identity. Therefore, national security became the
most important focus of scholars, while societal and individual levels
of analysis were not applied sufficiently. In the late 1990s, the focus
of researchers in the country turned to other aspects of security. In
2002/2003, a group of scholars drafted the Human Development
Report on Human Security in Latvia3, thus widening and deepening
the interpretation of security. During the financial and economic cri-
sis in 2009–2010, the government commissioned the next series of
studies on human security, inviting researchers to look at individual
and societal reactions to challenges caused by the crisis and assist in
1 Professor, University of Latvia.
2 In the book we use different terms as synonyms — Russian-speakers, Russian-
speaking community, Russian-speaking minority. These are terms which are used
in order to describe a group of people with different ethnic backgrounds (Russians,
Ukrainians, Belarusians, Latvians, and others) who use Russian language as their
communication language in their families.
3 Human Development Report 2002/2003. Human Security. (2003). (Riga: UNDP). Avail-
able at http://www.lu.lv/fileadmin/user_upload/lu_portal/projekti/citi_projekti/
undp2003_ful_en.pdf , accessed 2 February 2016.
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10 SOCIETAL SECURITy: INCLUSION–ExCLUSION DILEMMA
providing evidence to decisions taken by policy makers. While ana-
lysing the risks to human security, the team of researchers decided
to focus their attention on strategies being advanced by individu-
als in Latvia towards building their individual security capabilities,
which would allow them to adapt to various challenges.4 In order
to describe pro-active individual responses to risks and challenges,
the Latvian researchers introduced the term ‘securitability’, which
is now known more as a notion of ‘resilience’. However, there is one
substantial difference between the two terms — resilience assumes
response to hardships that can reduce the consequences. While
in our case, we consider the need to utilise individual and societal
capital proactively, not only to respond, but more importantly, to
take actions based on personal choices and on behalf of the needs of
others. The study on human security from the perspective of secu-
ritability/resilience led to another research project on gender and
human security5. The aim of that study was not so much focused on
the threats, vulnerabilities, and risks that women in the Baltic Sea
Region face, but on the sources of their empowerment. The inter-
national environment, states, regions, civil society, and local com-
munities accumulate a wide spectrum of resources that can be uti-
lised for enhancing resilience capabilities. While putting together a
catalogue of resources for the empowerment of women, researchers
arrived at the conclusion that a similar approach could be applied
when investigating the security of other social groups. The efforts
to continue research on different communities coincided with the
invitation to join the EU FP7 project MIME (Mobility and Inclusion
in Multilingual Europe), which served as a catalyst for initiating a
study on the Russian-speaking community in Latvia, applying the
4 Ozoliņa, Ž. (ed). (2014). Cilvēkdrošība Latvijā un pasaulē: no idejas līdz praksei. (Rīga:
Zinātne); Practical guidelines for the implementation of the human security concept
at the community level, including non-governmental organisations. (2014). Sup-
ported by European Economic Zone (EEZ) financial instrument and Social Integra-
tion Fund (SIF). Available at http://lapas.lv/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Cilvek-
drosibas-vadlinijas_LV-1.pdf , accessed 2 February 2016.
5 Ozoliņa, Ž. (ed). (2015). Gender and Human Security: A View from the Baltic Sea Region.
(Riga: Zinātne).
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