How Integrated is Latvian Society? [antikvár]

IntroductionNils MuiznieksMost researchers and policy-makers focus on Russians when discussing the integration of Latvian society. The size of the Russian minority in Latvia and its presumed potential for causing mischief have contributed to this narrow focus, which has been reinforced by the attention of the Russian Federation and various European and international organizations to the status of Russians or "Russian-speakers" (those with Russian as a native language). This book examines the position of Russians and other minorities and their relations with Latvians, but also attempts to measure the integration of Latvian society as a whole. As will be argued below, integration implicates not just minorities, immigrants and refugees, but the majority population as well.The slightly presumptuous subtitle of this volume - An Audit - was inspired by an earlier effort by colleagues to measure the quality of democracy in Latvia.' The term "audit" suggests a rigorous, systematic evaluation based on accepted standards. The reader will have to determine the extent to which the authors of this volume have fulfilled this promise. According to the Compact Oxford English dictionary, the traditional meaning of an audit is "an official inspection of an organization's accounts."^ Usually, if an organization's accounts, procedures or processes are found wanting, the auditor provides recommendations on how to improve performance. While the "auditors" in this volume occasionally enter the realm of the prescriptive, they generally let the analysis speak for itself.This reluctance to offer a host of policy recommendations derives from a number of considerations. To propose such recommendations, one must make a number of assumptions: that policy-makers want effective policy, that there is a consensus as to what constitutes effective policy, that policy-makers are willing and able to change policy if it is found in some way wanting, and that there are resources available for implementing policy. All of these assumptions are problematic in contemporary Latvia. As will be suggested below in the chapter by Juris Rozenvalds, Latvia's political elite has been very divided' Juris Rozenvalds, ed. (2005), How Democratic Is Latvia: An Audit of Democracy. Riga:University of Latvia Press. ^ See http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/audit?view=uk.