Estonia

Today, Estonia has an advanced digital economy and a high level of human development. The country's digitalized public sector allows for transparent and efficient governance in general, and corruption perception is low in society. This separates Estonia from the rest of the sub-region, where corruption has been a major challenge to democracy.

Although major Estonian political parties did not differ greatly from each other on the conservative-liberal nexus for decades, stronger polarization has appeared recently. As in the rest of Europe, the populist radical right is gaining influence, due to the rise of cultural divides. Issues such as 'family values' and immigration are increasingly salient.

Another important social divide in Estonia is of an ethnic nature: Estonia has a large Russian-speaking minority (around 25 per cent of the population), and democratization in Estonia was strongly ethnicized, partly because of the repression of national identity during Soviet occupation and because Estonia had been independent previously (1918-1940). After regaining its independence, the political doctrine of legal restoration considered all Soviet-era settlers as immigrants to Estonia. Some believed that these settlers were expected to return to their countries of origin. During the transition, Estonia introduced assertive naturalization policies over the Russian-speaking minority. However, this led to deep political and economic inequalities, such as unequal electoral participation and residential segregation between Estonians and the Russian-speaking minority. There is also contestation when it comes to political memory: while many Estonians consider the period under the USSR as occupation, many of the Russian-speaking minority regard the events after WWII as a liberation of the country. Despite these factors, prior to the start of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine in 2022, ethnic relations had been minimally politicized, with the exception of elections, during which issues of citizenship, statelessness and nationality often resurface. Estonian political parties supported by Russian-speaking voters are among the country’s biggest parties and have regularly been included in the governing coalition; this plays a role in defusing ethnic-based mobilization. Moreover, there are notable efforts to address the segregation of communities.

GSoD Indices data show that Estonia has consistently performed at a high range on gender equality over the past three decades. While existing challenges are most notable in attaining equal access to political, economic and social decision-making, Estonia continues to make progress towards gender equality, most recently in areas such as health and care activities. 

In the years to come, it will be important to watch Civil Liberties, especially in light of cleavages regarding reproductive rights and freedoms of the LGBTQIA+ community. It will also be important to watch Clean Elections, particularly because of increasingly tense relations between Estonia and Russia and the threat of foreign interference in elections.