Different Paths of Europeanization: The Case of Estonian and Latvian Research Policy

Over the past decades, research policies have at least in rhetoric taken a course towards greater collaboration between the state, businesses and academia. Amongst other international organizations, this rhetoric is strongly supported by the European Union (EU), setting it as guideline for member states for obtaining financial support in form of so called structural funds. In this context, two neighboring countries, Latvia and Estonia, have recently adopted R&D policy documents in accordance with the objectives of the EU research area. Due to similar historical circumstances and relatively corresponding policies that were carried out during last twenty-five years, development of Latvian and Estonian Research policies initially seemed to have similar impact. However, despite the similar policy objectives, R&D performance in Estonia and Latvia differs significantly, particularly since economic crises in 2008. The paper argues that one of the key variables in diverging impacts of R&D policy in Estonia and Latvia is the different course Europeanization has taken in these two countries. Accordingly, given that funding is the main way for governments to attain research policy objectives, our proposal aims to discuss the Europeanization process of research policies in CEE countries with the example of Estonian and Latvian public research funding instruments reforms. Even if EU´s role in the formation of research policies and the related structures in CEE has been significant, local idiosyncracies are prevailing in implementation of European policy ideas and guidelines (Suurna, Kattel, 2010; Karo, 2011). Estonia and Latvia have increased reliance on EU resources and become to rely mostly on competitive funding mechanisms. But instead of tracking macro-level developments, the project of this proposal is to set the focus on the development of policy funding instruments in national institutional contexts. Our hypothesis is that diverging performances in similar countries have been caused by differentiated Europeanization process of research policy- this stems from institutional contexts of funding instruments. The argumentation consists of two parts. First, we analyze the research policy since the economic crises (2008-2014) and we show that in comparison to the Latvian fragmented system, the consolidation of different funding agencies and instruments in Estonia has contributed to the better performance capacity. Second, we analyze the EU accession period (1995-2004) and we show the different role of main stakeholders (ministries, public agencies, scientific councils, and academy) in forming and implementing funding instruments. Latter gives one possible explanation of differentiated impacts of economic crises in the research policy. The proposal gives an opportunity to discuss the role of the context on similar public policy instruments. The presentation is based on policy document analyses. This information is put in perspective using 15 interviews conducted in Estonian Ministry of Education and Research, Estonian Research council, Latvian Ministry of Education and Science, Latvian Council of Science and Latvian Education and Development Agency from October 2015 to February 2016.