Baltic States

Focus

    The Extreme Right in the Baltic States: Introduction
  • The positions of far-right forces in the Baltics show the differences between these countries. Looking at them as one whole turns out to be a simplification, making it difficult to understand the internal specifics of each nation. Read our article series on the different approaches, successes and failures of far-right forces in these countries.
    The results of European elections in Lithuania
  • The main result of EP elections in Lithuania could be summed up as a pro-EU anti right-wing populism victory. None of the anti-EU agencies got any seats in the EU parliament. The very high turnout (53.08%) was a result of the second round of very popular Presidential election, but also of...
    Estonia
  • Elections 2014 1. The elections to the European Parliament are subject to a 5% threshold. The parties submit electoral lists, but the voters must select and vote for an individual candidate. 2. This year’s elections to the European Parliament were mainly dominated (besides the domestic issues) by...
    Latvia
  • Landslide win for Conservatives, Left significantly short of 5% threshold.
    Lithuania
  • Elections 2014 1. This year’s elections to the European Parliament were held together with the runoff presidential elections. This resulted in a much higher voter turnout of 47%, compared to 20.5% in 2009. A 5% threshold applies, and seats are awarded by proportional representation. 2. Besides...

Blog

    "Lūžis" – New Left-Wing Magazine in Lithuania Out Now
  • DEMOS Institute of Critical Thought, supported by transform! europe, has launched the first issue of its magazine Lūžis (Fracture). Lūžis is one of the rare left-wing magazines in Lithuania edited by progressive academics, political activists and trade unionists from Vilnius and Kaunas.
    "Plague Soft" in Arcadia: Lithuania Comes to Grips with Covid-19
  • The old Grand Duchy of Lithuania was variously described and compared to classic Arcadia, with its bucolic, rustic landscapes and woods, and the supposed tranquillity of its agrarian population. These rhetorical traditions persisted into modern nationalism, including the idea of Arcadian naivety and...
    Unlimited Liberal Feminism in Lithuania
  • When thinking about the situation of feminism in Lithuania, the film Kramer vs. Kramer springs to mind. Or, perhaps it would be better to say that what arises is discussion within feminist circles about this film, decades after it was first seen on the screen.
    A New Left Party Needed More Than Ever!
  • Eva Brenner in conversation with the Lithuanian scientists and activists Andrius Bielskis and Jolanta Bilskiene, co-founders of DEMOS Institute of Critical Thought.
    26 Years of Apartheid and Ethnic Discrimination
  • With the proclamation of independence by Estonia in 1991, the Estonian political elite took action to prevent the Russian national minority from governing the country, depriving Russians of their political and civil rights. The Estonian Left needs the support of the European Left in its struggle for equality and human rights.
    Green peasant blues in Lithuania
  • Against the backdrop of the current rise in neo-nationalism and the growing xenophobia in the EU and across the Atlantic, one could say that the recent Lithuanian elections, which ended on 23 October, almost seemed to pass with bucolic tranquility. But it is a prelude to yet another phase of a deepening post-democratic crisis affecting national democracies without a politically mobilized precariat in the region.