Lithuania

Presidents and Cabinets: Coordinating Executive Leadership in Premier-Presidential Regimes

“…As with other Central and East European contexts, scholars have characterized the political systems in Lithuania and Romania in terms of personalization and relatively low levels of institutionalization (Crowther and Suciu, 2013; Duvold and Jurkynas, 2013). A high percentage of citizens appear to favour the presidency over other institutions, including the PM and political parties (Ekman, 2014; Ekman et al, 2016).…”

State, Nation, and the National Flag in Post-Soviet Lithuania: Legitimating Identities of the State in Institutional and Social Discourses

“…The Polish ethnic minority is not only larger than that of other ethnic groups in post-1990 Lithuania, but also stands out as a “border minority, which has come about from changes due to state borders over several centuries and from the assimilation and migration processes” (Janušauskienė 2016, 578–79) among those that were formed almost exclusively through migration, like that of Russian-speaking migrants during Soviet era (Duvold and Jurkynas 2013, 148). In contrast to other ethnic groups, the Polish minority is not spread throughout the country but rather concentrated in the southeastern part of Lithuania around the capital city of Vilnius, where “in some administrative districts it makes up a majority or a plurality of the population” (Janušauskienė 2016, 579).…”

“…In contrast to other ethnic groups, the Polish minority is not spread throughout the country but rather concentrated in the southeastern part of Lithuania around the capital city of Vilnius, where “in some administrative districts it makes up a majority or a plurality of the population” (Janušauskienė 2016, 579). Finally, the Polish minority was inevitably entangled in the complicated relationship between Lithuania and Poland through the centuries, from their coexistence within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (Staliūnas 2005), to the annexation of Vilnius by Poland in 1920 (Dambrauskaitė et al 2011, 101; Duvold and Jurkynas 2013, 149; Pettai and Pettai 2014, 45), to the secessionist position expressed by a fraction of Poles during the period of independence from the Soviet Union (Clark 2006, 169; Dambrauskaitė et al 2011, 128; Duvold and Jurkynas 2013, 149).…”

“…The issue of political alienation (exemplified, among other things, by chronically low trust in democratic political institutions and political isolation; see Agarin 2012; Duvold and Jurkynas 2013; Duvold and Berglund 2014; Donskis 2011; Ramonaitė 2007; Rose 2007) indicates that the Lithuanian state encounters difficulties with regard not only to its ethnic minorities but also to its titular ethnic group—Lithuanians. There is no consensus regarding the causes for state/nation alienation in Lithuania; explanations vary from fast and drastic sociocultural change (Donskis 2011, 107), to economic problems and corruption (Duvold and Jurkynas 2013, 138–140, 146–148), to divergent ideas about the nature of democracy (Ramonaitė 2005). In some sense, it cannot be otherwise, for such a complex problem cannot have just a few underlying factors.…”