Marju Lauristin is an Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

n politician and social scientist

Social Scientist

Social Scientist is a New Delhi based journal in social sciences and humanities published since 1972....

. She is the daughter of Johannes Lauristin and Olga Lauristin. Her father signed away Estonia's freedom to the Soviet Union in 1940. Together with Edgar Savisaar

Edgar Savisaar

Edgar Savisaar , is an Estonian politician, one of the founding members of Popular Front of Estonia and the leader of the Centre Party. He has served as the acting Prime Minister of Estonia, Minister of Internal affairs and Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications...

, in 1988 Lauristin established Rahvarinne

Rahvarinne

The Popular Front of Estonia - initially introduced to the public by Estonian politician Edgar Savisaar as the "Popular Front for the Support of Perestroika" - a name soon discarded - was a political organization in Estonia in late 1980s and early 1990s...

, the first large-scale independent political movement in Estonia since the Soviet occupation. In 1990 she was deputy speaker of the Estonian parliament. From 1992 to 1994 she was the minister of Social Affairs of Estonia (Estonian Social Democratic Party/'Moderates'). Later, she was also a member of the Riigikogu

Riigikogu

The Riigikogu is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. All important state-related questions pass through the Riigikogu...

, elected as a member of the People's Party Moderates .

Education

Lauristin graduated from the Tartu State University (now Tartu University) in 1966 with a degree in Journalism and Sociology of Mass Communication.

In 1976, Lauristin completed her PhD

PHD

PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 studies in Journalism

Journalism

Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...

 at Moscow University. Her thesis was focused on content analysis of newspaper texts.

Since 2003, Lauristin has been a professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 of Social communication

Social communication

The term social communication refers to using the so-called social media. However there is no standardised definition yet recognised. Generally communication requires a social nexus of at least two entities in a technical or just social relation...

 at Tartu University.

External links

• United Nations University
  United Nations University
  The United Nations University is an academic arm of the United Nations established in 1973, which serves purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. The UNU undertakes research into the pressing global problems of human survival, development and welfare that are the concern of...
  
  council: a brief biography