Speaker
Description
The 1990s and early 2000s witnessed a swift rise in automobile ownership across Eastern Europe. The inhabitants of former Soviet states were keen to obtain passenger cars that were now freely available. In Estonia, the number of passenger cars skyrocketed during the early 1990s, doubling from 154 per 1000 inhabitants in 1990 to 307 in 1997. The number of cars continued to rise in the following decades, doubling again to 620 by 2021. Despite surpassing all prognoses and despite concerns raised by critics and activists, the process unfolded with little resistance, with key institutions considering the process to be inevitable and even natural.
My paper aims to delve into the multifaceted dynamics propelling the widespread adoption of motor vehicles in post-Soviet Estonia. Acknowledging that this process can not be understood in the relatively limited context of the 1990s and the 2000s, I will take a longer-term perspective, tracing the origins of this phenomenon back to the Soviet era. I further contend that this process is not simply a product of economic, cultural, or ideological factors in isolation but rather a complex interplay of these and other elements.
To navigate this complexity, I draw upon theoretical frameworks from transition studies, such as Frank W. Geels' multi-level perspective and the deep transitions framework developed by Laur Kanger and Johan Schot. Transition studies offer valuable insights into socio-technical systems undergoing change and provide a useful toolkit for analyzing such intricate processes.
By adopting a broad temporal lens and a systematic analytical approach grounded in transition studies, I aim to offer a nuanced explanation that transcends simplistic interpretations. I seek to provide valuable insights and lessons that can inform future discourse on rapid automobilization and serve as a “cautionary tale” for possible similar societal shifts elsewhere.
Biography
Tambet Muide is a PhD student at the University of Tartu, Faculty of Social Sciences, where he researches the modernisation of Estonia's mobility system during the 20th century. He has previously acquired BA and MA degrees in history at the University of Tallinn and has researched cycling history. His more recent research has dealt with the green bicycle tours in Estonia during the late 1980s and the early 1990s, road maintenance practices in 19th-century and 20th-century Estonia and Soviet public transportation planning in Tallinn.
