Diaspora policies in the Baltic States

Diaspora policies are gaining increased importance worldwide, and the Baltic States are no exception. This thesis is researching why diaspora policies are playing an important role in the Baltic States' politics and how diaspora policies differ amongst three Baltic States – Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. These three states provide a good research sample because they have significantly large diasporas worldwide compared to their population, which is again in a similar range. The Baltic States share close geographical proximity and some historical commonalities as well, and yet their diaspora policies differ to some extent. All three Baltic states, for example, have different dual citizenship policies and different voting systems for their diasporas abroad, etc. Can existing diaspora engagement policies explain occurring differences? In what ways do respective demographics, histories and economies of the Baltic States affect their diaspora policies? Although these countries appeared to be quite similar on the surface, by analyzing their demographics, histories, and economies, some differences were discovered as well. Both Latvia and Estonia have quite a sizeable Slavic population, while the one in Lithuania is much lower, resulting in some different approaches. Overall, Baltic States' diaspora policies seem to be heavily influenced by their demographic and historical backgrounds, and as a result, these countries encourage long-distance nationalism. Diaspora institution theories were used as another method to research and understand occurring differences. This thesis also explains that a multitude of factors of which some are susceptible to constant changes, influence each state's diaspora policies and the Baltic States are no exception. Overall, it can be noted that all Baltic States prioritize their diasporas even if their general diaspora engagement levels differ.