Ethnic Democracy and Estonia : Application of Smooha's Model

Abstract

This paper applies a model of ethnic democracy elaborated by Professor\nSammy Smooha of Haifa University, Israel, to Estonia, a case which is\nusually regarded as marginal in this regard. This application shows that\nEstonia can be characterised as a combination of a strongly-defined ethnic\ndemocracy (citizens of the core ethnic nation are dominating the other\ncitizens) and a control system (citizens of the core ethnic nation are\ndominating the stateless individuals of non-core ethnic origin). As the\nnumber of stateless persons is diminishing, the system of control slowly\ndisappears and ethnic democracy may prevail. The legal foundation of\nethnic democracy in Estonia is in the Preamble of its Constitution.