A Question of Identity

METHODICALLY, and with just the right amount of blue paint, someone has removed the Cyrillic script from Riga’s street signs. Other consequences of the long Soviet occupation remain all too visible. Latvia may have regained its independence, but Russian officers still drive down Elizabetes (formerly Kirov) Street. Riga’s skyline is famous for its elegant spires, but the view also includes Stalin gothic and Intourist concrete. In perhaps the ultimate humiliation, half a century of Soviet rule has turned this once affluent Baltic city into a place where visitors are advised not to drink the water.

The confused and shifting politics of the immediate post-independence period meant that, with the important exception of a strikingly successful monetary reform, many of the structural changes essential to the rebuilding of the economy were not introduced. In particular, privatization was a shambles. Even today only about 20 per cent of industry is privately owned, although rather more is under private “control.”

About the Author

Andrew Stuttaford

Andrew Stuttaford is the editor of National Review's Capital Matters.

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METHODICALLY, and with just the right amount of blue paint, someone has removed the Cyrillic script from Riga’s street signs. Other consequences of the long Soviet occupation remain all too visible. Latvia may have regained its independence, but Russian officers still drive down Elizabetes (formerly Kirov) Street. Riga’s skyline is famous for its elegant spires, but the view also includes Stalin gothic and Intourist concrete. In perhaps the ultimate humiliation, half a century of Soviet rule has turned this once affluent Baltic city into a place where visitors are advised not to drink the water.

The confused and shifting politics of the immediate post-independence period meant that, with the important exception of a strikingly successful monetary reform, many of the structural changes essential to the rebuilding of the economy were not introduced. In particular, privatization was a shambles. Even today only about 20 per cent of industry is privately owned, although rather more is under private “control.”