Latvia for the next 45 years. The peaceful Singing Revolution, starting in 1987, called for Baltic emancipation from Soviet rule and condemning the Communist regime's illegal takeover. It ended with the Declaration on the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia on 4 May 1990, and restoring "de facto" independence on 21 August 1991. Latvia is a democratic sovereign state, parliamentary republic and a very highly developed country according to the United Nations Human Development Index. Its capital Riga served as the European Capital of Culture in 2014. Latvian is the official language. Latvia is a unitary state, divided into
The Case for Latvia "The Case for Latvia" is the only book by Jukka Rislakki about Latvia, that has been translated to English. The Latvian language version of The Case for Latvia was reviewed by the Delfi web portal. The review comments on some of the points given in the book: ""The analyses [of the book] also helps to understand, why the small and militarily weak Latvia in different surveys, for so long has been looked upon as Russia's enemy number one"", and:""The Case for Latvia is mainly written for readers in the USA, even though Latvian readers may find new and interesting news"".