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Tag: Latvia

The Istanbul Convention: a political tool for Latvia’s upcoming parliamentary election

Opposition parties are capitalizing on Latvia’s deeply ingrained cultural divisions for political support.

May 4, 2026 - Sam Freeman

How a battle over the management of a cultural centre in Latvia became a geopolitical issue

In a town near the border with Russia, concerns over a mayor’s move to decide the fate of the GORS cultural centre sparked a national crackdown.

April 23, 2026 - Gabriel Matias Castilho

A nation in arms: how Latvia is preparing for war to prevent it

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, national security has been at the forefront of political debate in the Baltic states. Once occupied by the Soviet Union, Latvia seeks to involve every facet of society in its defence, amid fears it could be next.

March 23, 2026 - Rebecka Pieder

Looking for heroes. Experiences in Latvia

Latvia’s understanding of heroism has been rewritten repeatedly over the past century, shaped in turn by Soviet occupation, the struggle for independence and the challenges of democratic renewal. Each era constructed its heroes – some imposed, some rediscovered, others newly recognised. Today, debates over memory, justice and national identity continue to determine which lives are honoured and which stories are told.

December 8, 2025 - Vita Zelče

Is Latvia ready for war?

Riga has found itself at the centre of questions concerning NATO defence for many years. However, in recent years, these issues have increasingly moved beyond the abstract. Latvia must now prepare itself for a potential confrontation with Russian aggression while also ensuring the effectiveness of long-term alliance commitments.

On January 13th, as dusk settled over Riga, Artur Savelyev, an employee at Riga Airport, glanced out the window and caught sight of a drone in flight. He promptly contacted security, who quickly discovered it was neither an airport drone, nor was there any record of its ownership. What was even more concerning was that the airport radar had failed to detect it.

July 8, 2025 - Nasta Zakharevich

Inside a new Cold War brewing in an Eastern European capital

How decades of geopolitical conflict between Latvia and Russia have resulted in an internal crisis for the young Russian-speaking minority in Riga.

June 12, 2025 - Athan Yanos

Stopify: taking matters into your own hands

“Let’s not be a passive bystander if you can do something to help,” says Māris Upenieks, co-founder of the donation streaming platform Stopify, created to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine. When global leaders change their minds faster than the spring winds shift direction, and the whole world seems to be falling apart, grassroots initiatives like this can offer a glimmer of hope to us all.

April 25, 2025 - Solveiga Kaļva

What is wrong with Latvia? Why the middle Baltic state lags behind

Latvia has often been overlooked when it comes to the socio-economic advancements made in the Baltics. While neighbours such as Estonia and Lithuania have promoted themselves as technological hubs, the middle Baltic state has lagged behind overall. This position appears to be due to a variety of factors.

The cover of the Latvian weekly current affairs magazine Ir for the last week of November 2024 struck a tone hardly unfamiliar in this neck of the woods: “Why are the Estonians paying less for Rail Baltica but getting it done faster?” Close observers of the nation’s mood, aspirations and insecurities over the three-and-a-bit decades since it restored its independence will have seen comparable sentiments expressed many times.

February 28, 2025 - Will Mawhood

Making the invisible seen. The Baltic struggle for independence

A conversation with Una Bergmane, author of Politics of Uncertainty: The United States, the Baltic Question, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union. Interviewer: Maciek Makulski

MACIEJ MAKULSKI: How did you arrive at the point when you thought that there is still much to uncover when it comes to our understanding of the processes around the collapse of the Soviet Union and the regaining of independence by the Baltic states?

UNA BERGMANE: I would probably say by accident, since I wanted to write a master's thesis about French-Baltic relations in the 1920s and 30s when the Baltic states were independent before the Soviet occupation. But then I discovered that there was already a doctoral dissertation just defended in Paris on that very topic. So I started then to look at what seemed like the next logical thing – what France did when the Baltic countries wanted to become independent again at the end of the 1980s. What was interesting for me initially was the discrepancy between what I saw in the French archives.

June 22, 2024 - Maciej Makulski Una Bergmane

A central and eastern EU elections summary

While the results of the EU parliamentary elections in Central and Eastern Europe did not lead to political upheaval as seen in France, it is becoming clear that the far-right representation in Strasbourg will increase from this part of Europe.

June 11, 2024 - Ottilie Tabberer

Fallen heroes: the challenging issue of remembering controversial figures.

There is no model approach to dealing with how to commemorate controversial figures in the post-Soviet world. Estonia could provide an example for countries in the region on how to counter an often deafening silence.

December 12, 2022 - Owen Howells

The Rīga Conference 2022 – Live stream

The Rīga Conference 2022 is a dynamic hybrid event. It blends a traditional face-to-face meeting with remote streamlined interactions both among speakers and participants, in Latvia and abroad. Watch the live stream here - October 21st and 22nd.

October 21, 2022 - New Eastern Europe

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