Tag Archives: 1992

Listening to Estonia, 1992: the official soundtrack to Back on the Map

Posted on 28 February 10 | Leave a comment

In the Bonus Features section of the website I’ve begun to post the long-promised supplements to Back on the Map.

First up: the soundtrack.

This is a subjective selection of a dozen songs that were hugely popular in Estonia in the fall of 1992, the period covered by the book. These songs were played on the radio, at parties, in bars and nightclubs, in shops and restaurants. Several of them are mentioned in the book and, for me at least, all of them evoke vivid memories of newly independent Estonia.

See the list here. By clicking on a song’s title, you’ll be able to listen to the song.

The photo album and the bonus chapter are still to come. Watch for details soon …

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Posted in back on the map

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RIP modern Estonian kroon: June 1992 – June 2010?

Posted on 11 December 09 | Leave a comment

In spite of the economic crisis, Estonia’s government policy-makers have continued to focus, laser-like, on fulfilling the Maastricht criteria for adoption of the euro. Most of the criteria are being met, and the country appears to be on track to become the 17th country to adopt the euro as its official currency.

Getting to this point hasn’t been easy. And as a policy goal, euro adoption has many critics because meeting the Maastricht criteria has meant reducing government spending — and therefore the size of the social safety net — just as tens of thousands of Estonians are falling victim to unemployment. But for better or worse, according to a brand new International Monetary Fund publication, euro adoption could happen as early as next June.

Estonia became the first former Soviet republic to dump the ruble and issue its own currency, the kroon, in June 1992. More correctly, the kroon was reissued. The kroon was first introduced by the fledgling Estonian Republic in January 1928, and it remained the country’s legal tender until the Soviet occupation began in 1940. So taking into account both of its iterations, the kroon will have had a 30-year lifespan if current forecasts prove to be accurate.

If you’ve had the pleasure of holding them in your hands, you know that Estonian banknotes are beautifully designed and a pleasure to behold. I provide a fond description of my first encounter with a 500-kroon note in chapter 12 of my book. Here’s an overview of the notes currently in circulation:

For a more detailed perspective, you can click to open images of every version of every denomination note at the website of the Bank of Estonia.

If Estonia does manage to adopt the euro next summer, it will become the first former Soviet republic, and the third formerly Communist country (after Slovenia and Slovakia) to do so.

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Posted in Economic, News

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Estonia is one of the world’s least-corrupt nations

Posted on 17 November 09 | Leave a comment

I discuss in my book a few instances of petty corruption that I observed in Estonia in 1992, including [in chapter 8] a deal to reclaim a confiscated drivers license by bribing a policeman with a gift of cognac and roses.

But this sort of corruption was the exception rather than the rule, and it struck me as a vestige of the Soviet survival toolkit rather than anything deeply rooted in Estonian culture. In 1992 and in the succeeding five years that I lived in the country, I found that most Estonians were inclined to play by the rules.

These observations are supported by Transparency International’s 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index, released today. The index ranks 180 countries according to “the perceived level of public-sector corruption”. Estonia is ranked 27th in the world and is tied for 12th place in the European Union.

Estonia’s ranking places it far ahead of Baltic neighbors Lithuania (#52) and Latvia (#56). Estonia is also perceived as being less corrupt than Hungary (#46), Italy (#63), and Bulgaria and Romania (tied at #71). The United States is ranked 19th. The world’s least corrupt countries? New Zealand, Denmark, and Singapore.

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You can read the first chapter of my book online

Posted on 9 October 09 | 2 Comments

SovichampagneAmazon.com has just activated their “Look Inside” and “Search Inside” services on my book. This means that you can read the entire first chapter using amazon’s popup book reader, and also that you can enter search terms and find any references to these terms inside the book.

Say, for example, you wanted to find a description of Bistro, my favorite Tallinn restaurant in 1992. Simply go to this page, click on the book cover, enter “Bistro” in the “Search Inside This Book” box, click Go, and you’re taken to page 74 where Bistro is described as “a well-lighted cafeteria with tall round tables, no chairs, and decent pasta that cost less than ten kroons a plate.”

But don’t add Bistro to your itinerary on your next trip to Tallinn. It no longer exists.

You can search for any term you like. But please don’t search for “champanskoye,” the notorious Latvian-bottled sparkling wine. The results are slightly embarrassing.

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Posted in back on the map

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His majesty, the King of Estonia?

Posted on 5 October 09 | 2 Comments

Royal_crown.svgEstonia has a well-functioning parliamentary democracy. The government is led by a prime minister and the state is headed by a president. But could the country have ended up with a king instead?

This was an open question back in 1992, when Estonia held its first free elections since before the Second World War. The balloting marked a key turning point in the country’s evolution from captive Soviet republic to thriving sovereign nation.

A total of 13 electoral blocs competed for the 101 seats in the Estonian parliament (riigikogu). To everyone’s surprise, including their own, one of the 9 blocs to win parliamentary representation was the Independent Royalist Party (Sõltumatud Kuningriiklased), whose platform called for the establishment of an Estonian monarchy. Estonia had never in its history had a monarch, so the proposal was a radical one. The Royalists won 8 seats in that first freely-elected parliament.

This was a remarkable outcome, especially considering the royalist platform was put forward with its proponents’ tongues planted firmly in their cheeks. Although the party did make a show of inviting Britain’s Prince Edward to become King of Estonia, the party was led by humorists and its main purpose was to draw attention to the hypocrisies and absurdities of government, for example through the elaborate performance of pagan rituals during mandatory parliamentary prayer sessions.

The 1992 election was won by the Pro Patria coalition, whose 33-year-old leader, Mart Laar, went on to become Estonia’s best-known prime minister. The Royalist party no longer exists, and the prospect of an Estonian monarchy is, shall we say, remote.

Back on the Map is my just-released memoir of 100 remarkable days in Estonia in the summer and autumn of 1992, a period that encompassed these first free elections. The book can be purchased here.

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Posted in back on the map, Government, History

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