Political support in the baltic states, 1993–2004

Bibliographic Data

ID11264477
AuthorsPiret Ehin (0000-0001-9398-1730, North-West State Technical University, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume38
Issue1
Pages1-20
Publication date2007-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Baltic Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0162-9778 • E-ISSN: 1751-7877
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01629770701223486
OpenAlexW2056474833
LanguageEN
Citations received23
References cited28

The object of this article is to map trends in public support for Baltic political regimes during the transition period. Using a multidimensional model of political support, the article tracks trends in identification with the political community, approval of regime principles, evaluations of regime performance, and trust in political institutions. The results suggest that popular satisfaction with Baltic political regimes is increasing, presumably as a result of improved economic and political performance. However, there are three reasons for concern: frustration with parliaments and political parties is widespread, the ‘attitudinal consolidation’ of democracy remains incomplete, and there is a significant ethnic gap in popular regime evaluations in Latvia and Estonia. Keywords: Baltic statespublic opinionpolitical trustregime supportdemocracylegitimacy Acknowledgements This research is supported by a grant from the Estonian Science Foundation for a study of ‘Regime Support in New Democracies: Data from the Baltic States 1993–2004’ (grant number 6212). I am indebted to Professor Richard Rose from the University of Aberdeen for providing the research team with data. I am grateful to Hans-Dieter Klingemann and two anonymous reviewers for their comments, and also wish to thank Kadri Aas, Kadri Lühiste and Elina Seppet for their assistance. I am also indebted to the participants of workshop 9 of the ECPR Joint Sessions, Granada, Spain, 14–19 April 2005, for their helpful comments on an early version of this paper. Notes 1 Valdas Adamkus, ‘State-of the-Nation Address to the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania by H. E. Mr Valdas Adamkus, President of the Republic of Lithuania’, 12 April 2005, available at: www.president.lt, accessed 20 November 2005. 2 Richard Rose and Neil Munro, ‘Elections in the Baltic States’, available at: www.balticvoices.org, accessed 17 January 2006. 3 For instance, Linde and Ekman (Citation2003) show that satisfaction with democratic performance is influenced by partisan support for existing governments. Munro (Citation2002) demonstrates that evaluations of the economic system have a strong effect on assessments of political performance. 4 Data from the Statistical Office of Estonia (available at: www.pub.stat.ee, accessed 20 November 2005) and from the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia (Press Release, 29 June 2005, ‘Trends in Ethnic Composition of the Population’, available at: http://www.csb.lv, accessed 20 November 2005). 5 I owe this point to Hans-Dieter Klingemann. 6 For comparative macro-level performance indicators see, for instance, World Bank (Citation2002) or United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Human Development Reports, available at: http://hdr.undp.org/statistics, accessed 25 November 2005. 7 See http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org for more information (last accessed 20 November 2005). 8 This criterion–like most other indicators of ethnic belonging–has potential limitations. Distinguishing between titular groups and Russian speakers is a simplification: obviously, the latter group is diverse, including Russians, Ukrainians, Belorussians and others. Nor can one rule out the possibility that some bilingual individuals chose to conduct the interview in a language that does not correspond to their ethnic (self-)identification. However, it is reasonable to expect that most individuals would choose their mother tongue for a lengthy, detailed interview (especially in light of the generally limited knowledge of the local languages amongst Baltic Russians). 9 This usage is consistent with the semantics of these terms in the titular languages of the Baltic states–e.g. the word ‘eestlane’ (Estonian) by definition refers to ethnic Estonians, and can never be automatically equated with the legal category ‘Eesti kodanik’ (Estonian citizen). 10 This finding merits closer attention in future research. The validity of this figure should be checked against the results of other comparable studies. Indeed, in the 2004 data set, the sub-sample of Russian speakers in Lithuania is somewhat–but not unreasonably–small, containing 222 individuals (compared to 891 Lithuanian speakers). 11 Measuring democratic support by negation of alternatives has numerous advantages. It allows us to avoid the complicated task of defining democracy for the respondent, and is better than most alternative measures at distinguishing support for democratic principles from evaluations of how democracy works in practice. 12 This dramatic improvement is difficult to explain. It may be related to high economic growth rates since 2001 or to popular rejoicing over EU and NATO accession. Evaluations appear to be surprisingly unaffected by the scandal surrounding President Paksas, widely regarded as the biggest setback in Lithuania's democratic development since the restoration of independence

Consolidation (business · Democracy · Economics · Estonian · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · European Union Policy and Governance · Law · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies · Public Administration

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