| Project/Area Number |
15530106
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
International relations
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| Research Institution | Showa Women's University |
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Principal Investigator |
SHIMA Sonoko Showa Women's University, Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Professor, 人間社会学部, 教授 (80192607)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2003 – 2004
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| Project Status |
Completed (Fiscal Year 2004)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000)
Fiscal Year 2004: ¥1,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000)
Fiscal Year 2003: ¥1,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000)
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| Keywords | Latvia / Baltic States / History of International Relations / Nation-State / "History of the Nation" / regional cooperation / Latvians' initiative / the concept of "the Baltic" / バルト / 国家形成 / EU加盟 |
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| Research Abstract |
The first question we have to put here is : how was Latvia as an independent state created toward the end of the First World War and at the time of the Russian Revolutions? Although much research has been carried out on the formation of the Latvian Republic in the years 1918-1920, these discourses have tended to be influenced by such factors as the period and the necessity of nation building.
In contemporary Latvia, the focus of study now tends to be on the description of her "national" history, so to speak, because of a continuity in consciousness born out of Latvians' experience of struggle for regaining independence. The contemporary description of Latvian history is very similar in terms of emphasis to the trend of Latvian history writing between the two World Wars. Most studies on the formation of the Latvian Republic show that the idea of an independent Latvian nation had evolved from the second half of the 19^<th> century.
We are concerned with the question of why Latvian independence emerged on the basis of such fragile administrative underpinnings as existed in what was the territory of Latvia at the time. After the First World War and the collapse of the empires in Europe, many newly independent nation states appeared in Eastern and Central Europe. Latvia was one of those newly emerging nation states.
I should point out very briefly that the Latvian provisional government that had been formed in November 1918 lacked any solid backing for independence both at home and abroad. It seemed to the Japanese that there were three steps toward the declaration of Latvia's independence and the establishment of its provisional government. The first one was to make a claim for the unification of the territory. The second one was to assert autonomy in the Russian Federation. The third one was to declare independence.
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