This study analyzes the revolution of 1989 in the Baltic State of Latvia and considers its effects on democracy since the reestablishment of independence in 1991. Scholarly and popular accounts tend to depict the 1989 movement as an ethno-nationalist one. While recognizing the importance of ethnicity and cultural nationalism, this article suggests that transnationalism was an equally important force. An analysis of the information bulletin of the Popular Front of Latvia, Awakening [Atmoda] reveals that independence activists deliberately sought to place their movement in a global and transnational framework. The article concludes with a discussion of the fate of this transnational vision after 1991. In the immediate post-independence period, strict citizenship and language legislation indicated a retreat from transnational ideals. However, more recent reforms suggest that this retreat was not permanent and that the discussions of 1989 continue to shape the building of democracy in Latvia. Evidence of the continued existence of transnationalism can be found in government legislation, participation in institutional networks such as the European Union, and individual decisions to apply for citizenship.Keywords Nationalism . Transnationalism . Ethnicity . CitizenshipIn the Baltic States, the revolutions of 1989 marked a radicalization of movements for democracy that had for several years been testing the limits of glasnost. Since the mid1980s, Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians launched their criticism of Moscow through issue-oriented protests, such as demonstrations against destructive environmental policies.

This article examines how gender equality activists in postsocialist Latvia negotiate national and transnational frameworks in their campaigns. The case study for this analysis is the 15-year evolution of one gender equality non-governmental organization (NGO), the Resource Center for Women, Marta, in Riga. RCW Malta's work has resulted in significant steps in policy reform and broader social awareness regarding questions of gender equality. In doing so, it bridges essentialist, patriarchal conceptions of the Latvian nation-state and a transnational European feminist narrative. The experience of RCW Marta affirms the continued relevance of the nation, though a redefined one, within transnationalism, which in turn contributes to a rethinking of post-socialism as a spatial and analytic category.

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