EXCLUSIVE: Joel Burke, who wrote the book on Estonia's modern history, is American — that's not weird at all

Daily Maverick

2 days ago

Of course, Joel Burke asked for some context about the claims of white genocide in South Africa. He is, after all, an American. He is also a tech nerd, and, importantly for this information trade, the author of Rebooting a Nation: The Incredible Rise of Estonia, E-Government and the Startup Revolution – so Daily Maverick schooled him on SA history over lunch at the e-Governance Conference (and promised not to mention where he works).
Question: Joel, who are you when you're not trying to reboot a nation — and what's this book about, really?
Answer: I'm Joel Burke. I wrote Rebooting a Nation: The Incredible Rise of Estonia, E-Government and the Startup Revolution. It covers Estonia's digital transformation journey — from shedding Soviet shackles to becoming a digital powerhouse.
Q: Rebooting a Nation sounds like a Silicon Valley pitch for regime change. What exactly does the book dig into?
A: It's split into three parts: the economic upheaval that shaped modern Estonia; the nuts and bolts of e-government infrastructure (think digital ID and the X-Road); and finally, a look into Estonia's 'country-as-a-service' ambition — a concept that's both literal and slightly sci-fi.
Q: There's this almost mythic quote floating around: 'This is what happens when you let engineers build a country.' You buy into that?
A: It's apocryphal, but not inaccurate. Estonia, during the Soviet era, was a kind of bootcamp for engineers. That engineering mindset – pragmatic, systems-driven – has left fingerprints all over their digital governance approach.
Q: Sure, having tech-heads in power helps. But what's the secret sauce beyond that?
A: More than just having tech-minded people, I think it was also at least an elite or societal consensus that they were going to invest long-term in developing these e-government services. If you look at the timeline, while they did it quite fast, it didn't happen in just one administration, but over a series. This highlights the importance of building things with a long-term view and having collective buy-in.
Q: Estonia doesn't have oil, rare earth minerals or much coastline. How does it sell itself to the world?
A: Through conversations, I've observed a sense that because they don't have any natural resources, what they are selling to the world, and quite aggressively in Africa, is this idea of digitalisation. It's intangible, consisting of strategies and things they can build and implement independently. I often think of Estonia as analogous to places like Singapore or Israel in this way; without natural resources, they invest in their people and build up knowledge industries.
Q: And does the government actually support those local tech businesses, or is it all just marketing brochures and startup memes?
A: The Estonian government acts like a beta customer. It uses homegrown digital services and then those companies – like Nortal and Cybernetica – go global. It's a national proof-of-concept pipeline, not just flag-waving.
Q: You drew an analogy between exporting digital infrastructure and the defence industry in your book. Can you explain that comparison?
A: It's not a perfect analogy, but I compared it in my book. While Estonia is small, building and helping another country like South Africa or Namibia develop its e-government system is a way of forging a very deep, long-term relationship. It's not the same as selling F-35s, but helping build digital infrastructure to run a country is a pretty deep relationship. This is both an economic strategy for the companies and part of a long-term diplomatic strategy for Estonia. Being small, they want to maximise their number of friends.
Q: Why the focus on exporting digitalisation, particularly to regions like Africa?
A: I think there's a feeling that Estonia got to leapfrog much of the West when they gained independence. They jumped directly to modern systems; for instance, they never really used cheques in banking here. There is a feeling that Africa could potentially do this too. There's a belief that Africa could move much faster than some older nations with entrenched bureaucracy. It's seen as an exciting opportunity for many Estonians and companies.
Q: How does Estonia position itself internationally, within organisations like the EU and Nato?
A: I think there's always an element of Estonia trying to be the exemplar of all things, like Western values, the EU, and also America. For instance, regarding military defence spending in Nato, Estonia has always met its commitments and gone above and beyond. They are planning for a very high percentage next year. It shows the country is really trying to make a difference.
Q: Besides its digital achievements, how else does Estonia try to stand out internationally?
A: Estonia wants to stand out in a way that doesn't just bucket them as 'one of these poor post-Soviet countries'. They work very hard to differentiate themselves. They aim to be seen as more than just Nordic or part of a less developed group. They highlight achievements like super low corruption (tied with Iceland or something, ranked high globally), ease of doing business, digitalisation, and startups. In international relations, they try to be a model citizen and maintain strong alliances. It's about showing they are a strong democratic nation that has invented amazing things and that they matter.
Q: Sounds slick. But under the hood, what are Estonia's unresolved issues?
A: Inequality. For a tiny country, they're surprisingly far down the global equality rankings. The gap between Tallinn and everywhere else is wide, and there's also a lingering divide between Estonian and Russian-speaking populations.
Q: Where do you see the main sources of this inequality?
A: I break it up into two buckets. There's Tallinn and the rest of the country divide. Tallinn is where the startup ecosystem, conferences and wealth creation are happening. This is somewhat natural, collecting wealth in the city. The second bucket is the Estonian-speaking and Russian-speaking Estonian divide. This has been a long-term challenge regarding integration and human rights. If you only speak Russian in a country where Estonian or English is the lingua franca for business, you can end up with fewer job opportunities. This creates inequality.
Q: How is Estonia trying to address this inequality, particularly the linguistic divide?
A: The country has started transitioning to all-Estonian education after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Education overall is good, with high Pisa scores. However, there's still a historical legacy from the time it was an occupied country, which was only 30 years ago and within people's lifetimes. Just like you can still see economic data differences between West and East Germany, Estonia struggles with this legacy. They are making serious efforts to correct it, but it takes time.
Q: Can e-governance play a role in bridging these gaps and reducing inequality?
A: I think so. Estonia identified tech and digital as areas where the country was on a level playing field with the rest of the world in the early 90s. Tech does have a great way of levelling the playing field. There are active entrepreneurs trying to bring more people into the system and integrate them, helping people get into the core tech industry, which is key. DM