Tallinn University Publications
Not a member yet
873 research outputs found
Sort by
Mälupaik sinepigaas. Esimene maailmasõda, keemiarelv ja kirjandus [Memory site mustard gas. World War I, chemical warfare and literature]
No full textThe article discusses World War I as one of the most influential factors in the modernisation of European society that brought about rapid advances in total warfare and modern technology. Weapons of mass destruction were used and “higher forms of killing” deployed, among which the technologically most innovative was poison gas or, more generally, chemical weaponry. It was mustard gas, used for the first time at Ypres in July 1917, that would acquire the most notorious reputation among the war gases, and become almost a symbol of the Great War. Even the gas mask, which was invented during the war, could not lend protection against mustard gas. Due to World War I, a turn towards a less elevated depiction of war occurred in literature. The German word Materialschlacht (‘material battle’) denoted the dispatching of an immense amount of “dead matter” (metal, explosives and gas) on both sides of the front, which resulted in the indiscriminate extermination of organic life (e.g. people, horses and the natural environment). The article provides a survey of the early motifs of gas warfare in literatures writt en in French, German and English (by Georges Duhamel, Roland Dorgelès, Ernst Jünger, John Roderigo Dos Passos, Ludwig Renn, Richard Aldington and Erich Maria Remarque), as well as in Estonian literature (by August Gailit and Richard Roht) and memoirs (Heinrich Laretei, and Estonian soldiers serving in the Russian army). A new reading of the short story by Friedebert Tuglas “The Shadow of a Man” (1919) is given, drawing on a discussion 262 of injuries caused by gas warfare. The foundation of the Russian gas mask industry in Warsaw in 1915 is witnessed via Oskar Luts’s memoirs. The article focuses on the paradoxical transformation of the original deployment of chemical weapons on the fronts of World War I into the genocide that occurred in the death camps of World War II. Active preparations for another, even more extensive chemical war were made during the inter-war period, yet this did not occur as expected. Adolf Hitler, the leader-to-be of the German Nazis, had suff ered from severe mustard gas poisoning in the fi nal months of World War I. This triggered the revenge formula directed against Jews he developed in his autobiography Mein Kampf (I-II, 1925–1927), gegen Giftgas mit Giftgas (‘poison gas against poison gas’), apparently based on the fact that the most enthusiastic ideologist of chemical warfare had been the German chemist of Jewish origin Fritz Haber, the Nobel prize laureate of 1919. During World War II, Hitler’s regime continued the elaboration of the means of gas warfare, exercising it secretly and in a way safe for the aggressors. In 1942 gas chambers went into operation in the extermination camps built in the Polish territory (Auschwitz , Treblinka etc.). Thus, a new total war employing gas could not be avoided
The Phenomenon of Trust in Flat Owners\u27 Collective Renovation Strategies in Estonia
No full textMobilising flat-owners into renovating residential blocks in post-socialist countries has been a complicated process. Evidence from Estonia show that the success of collective renewal strategies depends not only on economic issues but also on ways investments are organised and, significantly, the relationship of trust between different actors. The paper aims at conceptualising the issue of institutional trust upon the experience of urban housing renewal in Estonia. It is contended that trust is crucial for the joint decision-making in a block as well as for facilitating negotiations between flat-owners associations, local municipalities and market actors. The paper draws on three qualitative studies conducted in Estonia during the 2000s which allow asserting that trust towards new strategies of housing renewal can be achieved and maintained by ‘best practices’, which by concentrating expert knowledge also denote direct communication between experts and flat-owners. While it is important to raise the residents’ technical knowledgeability, it is indispensable to develop abilities to manage and communicate the renovation process between different parties. The public sector is conceived to be a central actor in sustaining trust between actors who have no previous positive experience from collective residential strategies
An Evaluation of the Persistence of Blat in Post-Soviet Societies: a Case Study of Ukraine’s Health Services Sector
No full textThe use of personal connections to gain preferential access to goods and services and circumvent formal procedures exists in all countries to varying degrees. In this paper, the aim is to evaluate critically the continuing widespread positive depiction of this practice as a form of friendly help. Studying the health services sector in the city of Mykolayiv in Ukraine, this practice known as blat, widely used in Soviet societies to gain access to goods and services, is shown to persist in post-Soviet market societies but to have transformed. Those possessing connections and access to health services now increasingly view such access-assets as commodities to sell rather than provide them as non-monetised friendly favours. The outcome is a call for blat to be re-theorised more negatively as an exemplar of the darker side of social capital, and for a policy shift from doing nothing to seeking its eradication
Pre-emptive military action: a valid option underinternational law or a threat to international peace?
No full textFirst, it is one of those topics that necessitate starting with clarification of terminology used. Especially as the title doesn\u27t speak, for example, of pre-emptive self-defence but pre-emptive military action, which may include, beside self-defence, actions with humanitarian aims, i.e. so-called humanitarian intervention not to stop but to prevent an imminent genocide. If we speak of pre-emptive use of military force authorised by the UN Security Council, I wouldn\u27t find many problems with that (overstepping the mandate may be an issue). Much more complicated is the question of humanitarian intervention of a pre-emptive nature not authorised by the Security Council. However, I will leave most of that aside. Though interesting and important in themselves, these topics are not, as I understand, at the centre of our panel’s discussion
The development of constitutional norms on indigenouspeoples’ rights for traditional use of lands and natural resources
No full textThe article touches upon the issues of indigenous rights and interests established in the Constitution of Russia in 1993. The author pays particular attention to the right of indigenous peoples to lands and natural resources. The federal and regional legislation is analysed in order to show the lack of legal mechanisms in the implication of constitutional provisions.
Põhjalik koguteos Rootsi võidust [A book review]
No full textA book review by Kaarel Vanamölder for "Eesti ajalugu. III, Vene-Liivimaa sõjast Põhjasõjani" Authors: Enn Küng, Margus Laidre, Ivar Leimus, Aivar Põldvee, Anti Selart, Marten Seppel, Kai Tafenau, Ülle Tarkiainen, Enn Tarvel, editor-in-chief Enn Küng, co-editor Marten Seppel (Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli ajaloo ja arheoloogia instituut, 2013), 487 pages
Morality and the Public Good in Post-Socialist European States
No full textIn this study, we investigate morality in relation to the public good in post-socialist Europe. Public good morality is defined as the (non)acceptance of behaviour that contravenes the law and harms society and the greater good of the collective, such as cheating on taxes if one has the chance, paying cash to avoid taxes, not paying one’s fare in public transport, and claiming state benefits one is not entitled to. Using data from the European Values Study in 2008 on more than 30,000 respondents in 23 post-socialist states, we find that on average the level of public good morality is quite high: 8.4 on a ten-point scale. However, there are marked differences between individuals and between countries, which we attempt to explain by looking at the legacy of communist rule, processes of democratization and compliance attitudes. We find that individuals living in former Soviet states are more ‘lenient’ when it comes to actions that harm the collective. However, those who lived under communist rule for a longer time display higher (and not lower) levels of public good morality. The level of democracy in a country does not seem to add any explanatory power, but individuals who hold more democratic values appear to be morally less strict. Finally, compliance attitudes such as interpersonal trust and confidence in government do not seem to mediate the observed relationships between communist rule and democracy on the one hand and public good morality on the other hand
The right to take part in the conduct of public affairs:a focus on international law and constitutional regulation in Russia
No full textFrom the perspective of international human rights standards of public participation, this article explores the constitutional law genesis of the right to take part “in managing state affairs” in Russia. We start our analysis with a brief outlook of the right to public participation in Russia. Then we continue studying the sources of international human rights law guaranteeing a set of participatory rights and to which the Russian Federation is a state party. Finally, the reader is provided with an analysis of the constitutional genesis of participatory rights in Russia: from the RSFSR Constitution of 1918 until the 1993 Constitution of the Russian Federation. Tentative outcomes are summarised in the concluding section.
«Чужая речь мне будет оболочкой…». Рец. на кн.: «Корни, побеги плоды…Мандельштамовские дни в Варшаве» [“Chuzhaia rech´mne budet obolochkoi...”: Korni, pobegi, plody ... Mandelshtamovskie dni v Warszawe. A review article]
No full textIn his contribution to the second volume of Slavica Revalensia, Sergei Shindin reviews the proceedings of the Warsaw Mandel’shtam conference (September 18—22, 2011) published in 2013 by the Russian State University for the Humanities