ABSTRACT
In the wake of Perestroika, environmental issues stood out in the eastern Baltic Sea region as being behind the forces successfully mobilizing mass support for independence movements. At the time, these forces challenged the supremacy of the central apparatus to decide on issues of high concern to citizens, which allowed for an initial dialogue between the Soviet state and society. Arguably, mass movements in the then Soviet Baltic republics strongly opposed the extensive model of using natural resources and urged the authorities to account for the ecological repercussions of the Soviet path to economic modernization. However, the tide of environmental protest receded after the Baltic states gained independence from the Soviet Union (SU) and many issues which had mobilized citizens just months earlier lost their prominence altogether. By the mid-1990s, political, economic and social changes further curtailed civic engagement, including environmental initiatives, within the societies of the Baltic states.
