In this well-researched book, Jennie L. Schulze contributes to debates going back to the 1990s about how international organizations and international actors can influence the minority situation in east central Europe. Although there is no shortage of works exploring the ways in which various international organizations, such as the European Union (EU), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Council of Europe (CoE), and others have attempted to transform the minority situation in the countries aspiring for EU membership, Schulze's book does several new things. First, it explores not only the impact of European organizations, but also of Russia, which played an important role in Latvia and Estonia, the two countries analyzed in this book. Schulze analyzes the intersections of the influences exerted by Russia and European institutions, and makes a convincing case that it is not possible to ignore this intersection. Second, unlike most works exploring the influence of international organizations in general and the EU in particular, Schulze's analysis covers the post-accession period, when Latvia and Estonia continued to pursue liberalizing reforms to their citizenship policies. Her book presents a deep and well-structured analysis of policymaking in the areas of citizenship, language, and electoral policies in Latvia and Estonia during the past twenty-five years. Third, to explore the impact of external factors on the minority situation in Latvia and Estonia, Schulze has developed a novel theoretical approach: strategic framing.

She defines strategic framing as “the deliberate effort of a policymaker to promote a particular view of European institutions and/or Russia in order to justify their policy preference and to persuade others to support it” (21). She argues that frames can be conceptualized as “statements of belief” (21); however, interestingly, it is not necessary that policymakers should fully believe in these frames. Frames can be used to support certain policies, and they are likely to be contested by counter-frames, or attempts to promote opposing policies. Schulze's “strategic framing approach” draws on Rogers Brubaker's perspectives on nation building in post-communist Europe. She has revised Brubaker's “triadic nexus,” consisting of minority groups, the host-states in which the minorities live, and kin-states with which minorities share ethnic culture, to include European institutions (making it into a “quadratic nexus” framework (17). Schulze makes a convincing argument that policymakers (primarily located in the host states) should be treated as “their own subfield of contestation” (18).

Schulze divides policymakers in Latvia and Estonia into “nationalizers,” or those who push for the interests of the core national group in the host state, and “minority advocates,” or those who pursue minority-friendly policies, often arguing for liberalizing reforms. Drawing on parliamentary debates and interviews with policymakers, Schulze explores how policymakers in Latvia and Estonia have used European institutions and Russia “to frame their policy preferences over time” (25) and determines how strategic framing has influenced these policies. The “nationalizers” were likely to use historical memory in their framing practices, even referring to the Russian-speakers in Latvia and Estonia as “occupiers” and complaining about the failure of European institutions to recognize the legacy of occupation. In contrast, minority advocates were likely to argue for the inclusion of Russian speakers into the body politic of Latvia and Estonia, suggesting that exclusion may become a pretext for Russian intervention and making a case that the two countries need to respect the international norms of European organizations. Schulze's analysis includes all parliamentary debates about citizenship, language, and electoral policies in Latvia and Estonia. Therefore, she is able to detect an important change in the discourses: after joining the EU, policymakers in Latvia continued to use the “occupation” and “disloyalty” frames (that is, reminding their audiences of the wrongs of the past and suggesting that Russian-speakers cannot be treated as loyal members of the Latvian political community), while in Estonia these frames disappeared. Furthermore, she is able to detect an important trend: policymakers engage in framing discourses in response to external pressures, and strategic framing changes as these pressures change. In sum, the use of the strategic framing approach enables Schulze to gain important insights into how local actors interpret international norms and respond to international pressures. This book will be of interest not only to those who study the impact of international actors on minority policies, but also to those who study topics such as historical memory and ethnic relations in post-communist Europe.