Dyskursy historyczne państw bałtyckich jako instrument ochrony młodych demokracji po rozpadzie ZSRR

Abstract

HISTORICAL DISCOURSES OF THE BALTIC STATES AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR THE PROTECTION OF YOUNG DEMOCRACIES AFTER THE COLLAPSE OF THE USSR: SELECTED ASPECTSThe aim of the article is to discuss selected elements of the historical policy of the Baltic states, tracing the process of shaping their official historical discourse – from post-Soviet nationalist narratives and the glorification of interwar independence to the pro-Western freedom narrative. The starting point of the research is the hypothesis that the top-down memorisation processes of the Baltic states, the centre of which were anti-Sovietism and nationalism, were an effective instrument for protecting the young democratic systems in the Baltic Sea against both the neo-imperial attempts of Putin’s Russia and the autocratic inclinations characteristic of other countries created after the collapse of the USSR.