ABSTRACT
The restoration of the Municipality of Kanepi in 1991 was a political decision. Its revitalisation however is an integral process, calling for extensive economic, social and political transformations in the life of the local community. The village soviet was a local administrative unit responsible for functions such as the Voluntary People’s Patrol and community life – houses of culture, schools, kindergartens, etc. The central condition for transforming the village soviet of Kanepi into a self-governing municipality is the development of its own local habitat. Historically, schools in Estonia have been major ‘engines’ and driving forces behind local development, attracting the intelligentsia to the rural areas, mediating ideas, etc. The means and resources for the cultural life of an Estonian village in Soviet era depended mainly on relationship between two sources of finance – the village soviets and, in particular, the collective farms. An important phase in the political development of Kanepi was the referendum on independence on 3 March 1991.
