Language shift in Lithuania, 1850–1900: A reinterpretation

Abstract

The second half of the nineteenth century was a period of particularly intense linguistic change in Lithuania. This period has generally been viewed as one in which a shift was taking place among many speakers from Lithuanian to Polish, in such numbers that the very survival of the Lithuanian language was under threat. However, an alternate interpretation is possible when one considers that previous researchers failed to deal in sufficient complexity with important taxonomical, geographical, and sociological aspects of this alleged shift. This article proposes a reinterpretation of the sociolinguistic situation in Lithuania at that time, suggesting that the overall linguistic picture was much more stable than has often been supposed.     

Religious change in Estonia and the Baltic states during the Soviet period in comparative perspective

Abstract

The article presents a comparative-historical treatment of the change in the religious life of Estonia from 1940 to 1991, when Estonia was part of the Soviet Union. The article is based largely on documents of the archive of the Estonian commissioner of the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults of the Soviet Union, documents which were not available to researchers before the collapse of the USSR. Religious change in Estonia has been compared to what happened in the neighbouring Baltic countries. The archival data shows an extraordinary decline of institutionalised religion in Estonia during the Soviet period (especially in the Lutheran and Orthodox Churches). Compared to the other republics of the Soviet Union (especially Catholic Lithuania), this fall was particularly drastic in “Lutheran” Estonia and Latvia. Also, some comparisons are made between Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the rest of Europe, in order to test the author's hypothesis that by the end of the Soviet occupation, Estonian society was among the most highly secularised ones in Europe (or possibly the most secularised).     

The welfare systems of the Baltic states following the recent financial crisis of 2008–2010: expansion or retrenchment?

ABSTRACT

This article aims to uncover major social security system reforms that were implemented following the recent financial and economic crisis of 2008–2010 and the post crisis period. Additionally, it explores the dynamics of the socioeconomic situation during the last 10 years, looking at how Baltic states compare with each other and how they compare with other central and eastern European countries in the EU. The findings show that retrenchment is difficult even during times of crisis. Although the Baltic states were affected by the crisis, especially Latvia and Lithuania, their social security institutions did not experience any structural shift.     

The economic output growth of Baltic countries in 1913–1938: a quantitative cross-country comparison

ABSTRACT

This article surveys and appends the available quantitative research on the interwar economic growth of Baltic countries to compare gross domestic product (GDP) (in 1990 Geary–Khamis dollars) growth in Estonia, Finland, Latvia, and Lithuania between 1913 and 1938 in a broad international context. Finland’s GDP per capita recovered to the 1913 level in 1923, in Estonia recovery was complete by 1922, in Lithuania by 1924, and in Latvia by 1924–1925. By high-end estimates, the growth performance of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania was not weaker than Finland’s. By 1938, the GDP per capita of all Baltic countries exceeded the level of the Soviet Union with the possible exception for Lithuania.     

Die Evangelisch-Reformierte Kirche Litauens 1915–40 (Fortsetzung)

Abstract

The article, based on church documents and publications of leading church members, traces the renaissance of the evangelical-reformed (Calvinist) Church in Lithuania during the interwar period. Few Lithuanians know that the Reformed Church was founded in 1555 in Vilnius at the height of the Reformation during the reign of Sigismund II Augustus and under the protection of Lithuania's chancellor Nicholas Radvila (Radziwi??). It was called Unitas Lituaniae, to distinguish it from the Reformed Church founded in Poland. It was given a carefully planned synodal-presbyterian structure which stood the test of time and withstood centuries of adversity during the Counter Reformation in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and, after the partitions, under Tsarist rule.

Purely ethnic Lithuanians resided in northern Lithuania in areas of Birzai and Kedainiai, historical residences of the now extinct Protestant branch of the Radvila family. It is to this day a stronghold of the Lithuanian Reformed Christianity. At the time of the Lithuanian independence in 1918, the Church represented a small but tenacious minority which, reclaiming its historical name, vigorously reasserted its presence in the new Republic. With Vilnius falling under Polish control, the Church leadership chose Birzai as its new (temporary) center. In the first decade of independence, the Reformed Lithuanians, despite their small number, were disproportionately represented in the professions and in government. Discriminatory tendencies did not appear until the thirties. The powerful Catholic Church, acting under its new Code of Canon Laws, revived historical theological hostilities and stereotypes and identified nationality with Catholicism. This shaped public opinion for years to come and was especially galling to Reformed Lithuanians, who were proud of their historical roots. These attitudes still exist and present a challenge for the future.     

Die Evangelisch-Reformierte Kirche Litauens 1915–1940

Abstract

The article, based on church documents and publications of leading church members, traces the Renaissance of the Evangelical-Reformed (Calvinist) Church in the Lithuanian Republic during the interwar period from 1919 to the Soviet occupation in 1940, and includes historiographical background information.

Modern Lithuania is overwhelmingly and adamantly Roman Catholic. Few Lithuanians know that the Reformed Church was founded in 1555 in Vilnius (Wilna, Vilno) at the height of the Reformation in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania during the reign of Sigismund II Augustus and under the protection of Lithuania's chancellor Nicholas Radvila (Radziwi??) the Black. It was called Unitas Lituaniae, to distinguish it from the Reformed Church founded in Poland. It was given a carefully planned synodalpresbyterian structure which stood the test of time and withstood centuries of adversity during the Counter Reformation in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and, after the partitions, under Tsarist rule.

Purely ethnic Lithuanians resided in northern Lithuania in areas of Bir?ai (Birsen, pol. Birse) and Kedainiai (Kedainnen, Kiejdany), historical residences of the now extinct Protestant branch of the Radvila (Radziwi??) family. It is to this day a stronghold of Lithuanian Reformed Christianity.

At the time of Lithuanian Independence in 1918, the Church represented a small but tenacious minority which, reclaiming its historical name, vigorously reasserted its presence in the new Republic. With Vilnius falling under Polish control in 1919, the Church leadership chose Bir?ai as its new (temporary) center. In the first decade of Independence, the Reformed Lithuanians, despite their small number, were disproportionately represented in the professions and in government. Discriminatory tendencies did not appear until the thirties. The powerful Catholic Church, acting under its new Code of Canon Laws, revived historical theological hostilities and stereotypes and identified nationality with Catholicism. This shaped public opinion for years to come and was especially galling to Reformed Lithuanians, who were proud of their historical roots and their faith. These attitudes still exist and present a challenge for the future.     

Resurgence of post-crisis neoliberalism: labor law reform and the return to “business as usual” in Lithuania

ABSTRACT

The economic crisis of 2008–2010 revealed the extreme vulnerability of Lithuania to global financial shocks. However, instead of reforming Lithuanian capitalism, the domestic political and business elites chose to write off the enormous social and economic costs incurred during the 2008–2010 crisis as an expense of continuing doing business in a way that was typical to the pre-crisis, booming years of ‘the Baltic tigers’ (2000–2007), i.e., relying on the unstable and inequitable growth model based on foreign capital inflows and remittances, suppressing and keeping wages and taxes on capital low and exporting cheap-skilled labour to the core EU countries. We illustrate this return to business as usual in Lithuania by analyzing the political process of contestation and eventual consolidation of neo-liberal consensus among domestic political actors that resulted in the passage of the new Labour Code enabling creation of ‘flexible’ labor markets. Social and political implications of the resurgent neoliberal hegemony in post-crisis Lithuania are discussed.     

Remembering Paul Schiemann (1876–1944)

Abstract

This paper explores how population displacement operated in Lithuania in the immediate post-WWI period. In 1918 the disintegration of the old imperial polity led to the emergence of a Lithuanian state. Beyond the field of battle, the struggle to maintain the independence of Lithuania was characterised by an intense process of state and nation-building. All this hectic activity was accompanied by population displacement on a scale first witnessed in 1915–16.

Unlike the military campaigns, these state-building efforts did not come to an end in 1920. My argument is that population displacement presented the Lithuanian authorities with an opportunity to claim and to establish Lithuanian refugees as potential members of a new nation-state, thereby defining its spatial, demographic and cultural boundaries. The newly formed Lithuania offered a potential political homeland for tens of thousands of war refugees of various ethnic groups who had lived in the former north-western provinces before 1914, but who were displaced by war. According to rough estimates, the total number of Lithuanian refugees who settled in the Russian interior stood at 550,000 at the beginning of 1918. My paper explores their fate in the post-war period as well as official policies of the new Lithuanian state adopted towards the refugees.

The logic of the homogenising national state required that the refugees had to be persuaded or forced to abandon their divergent and multiple identities born in exile and rooted down in the single space of the national homeland. Nevertheless, the spatial pattern of ‘the homeland’ was still in flux, due to the border wars between Lithuania, Soviet Russia and Poland in 1918–20. As a result, some refugees were excluded from the ranks of Lithuanian citizenry. Their difficult situation was further aggravated by famine in Russia in 1921, which called for cooperation between Soviet Russia, Lithuania, Poland and Latvia. Thus, on the one hand, the refugees served as a focus for the propaganda of the belligerent states, while on the other hand their uncontrollable movement compelled governments to co-operate.

The paper is based on two collections of primary documents: the files of the Lithuanian Ministries of the Interior and Foreign Affairs.     

The Baltic states,Finland, and British economic expectations in the early 1920s

Abstract

After the First World War, the Baltic states — not Finland — attracted the British as a bridge to Russian markets. The article deals with the rank of these states in British economic expectations. It is shown that whereas the Baltic states were highly prioritized, in 1920, by 1926 the British preferred Finland as a more trusworthy trading partner than Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The article thus shows how the rank of the Baltic states and Finland changed in British expectations when all of these states were seen as markets in and of themselves.     

Baltic foreign policy making establishments of the 1990s: Influential institutional and individual actors

Abstract

This article examines, evaluates, and compares the role of political institutions in the foreign policy making process of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in the 1990s. The central claim advanced is that the extent of influence exercised by political institutions in transitional states was largely conditioned by, and depended on, the individuals who headed these institutions. It is argued that the stronger the personality at the top of a political institution, the greater and more influential role it played in the foreign policy making process of the country.     

On Baltic and Hungarian prehistoric contacts

Abstract

The article assumes that in the beginning of development of a newly independent state the rationale of language legislation is closely related to nation-state building. Later, depending on minority-majority relations, ethnic containment may become more important. As democratization and globalization advance, the management of linguistic diversity might emerge as a principal issue. The article tests this general assumption on the language legislation of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 1989–2001. It appears that while nation building, nation-state building and ethnic containment can be easily identified, the management of language diversity is not yet prominent in this legislation.     

Consolidation as hegemonization: The case of Estonia

Abstract

The shift from the Soviet system to market economies has induced a wide range of changes in the forest sectors of the three Baltic states. The majority of these changes are the result of compromises made between stakeholders participating in forest policymaking and implementation. In this article it is argued that the relative success of the increasingly complex and dynamic environment of forest policy action arenas is ensured by interconnecting policy networks instead of hierarchical governance by the state. We map and characterize forest policy networks in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, while identifying the actors participating in forest policy formation and implementation. The forest policy networks of the Baltic states are compared against each other and with the situation during the last years of the Soviet system.     

Avoidance and appropriation in Bishkek: dealing with time,space and urbanity in Kyrgyzstan's capital

ABSTRACT

Much has changed since Frunze was renamed Bishkek in 1991 and became the capital of independent Kyrgyzstan. Though it was once considered to be among the ‘greenest’ and most ‘orderly’ cities of the Soviet Union, today many of its long-term residents complain about the new settlements (novostroiki) that have emerged during the last two decades. To Bishkek's urbanites, the recent arrival of migrants is not associated with an escape from rural poverty and a rightful struggle for civic rights, but indicates a massive cultural and aesthetic degradation of familiar urban life. In this article, beyond contesting narratives of cosmopolitan nostalgia vs. legitimate belonging, I investigate how urban practitioners in fact produce and deal with different spaces in the city. My ethnographic accounts not only identify social avoidance as an essential pulse of Bishkek's current rhythm, but also illustrate that after a period of post-rural socialization previously stigmatized migrants may manage to smoothly blend into urban spatial flows and lifestyles.     

Emerging cleavages in new democracies: The case of Lithuania

Abstract

Electoral behavior in new democracies has received significant attention, but patterns of party system development in post-communist countries still raise questions about politicization of societal conflicts and their relevance for the configuration of parties. The article discusses political manifestation of emerging cleavages. First, the study conceptualizes the notion of cleavage. The analysis then identifies the main divisive issues and their effect upon the party system. The social structure and electoral behavior helps to identify emerging cleavages. The article concludes that the formation of cleavages has not stabilized yet, and that to date, societal conflicts only have partial influence on the party system in Lithuania.     

Economic inequality in satisfaction with healthcare in the Baltic countries during and after the economic crisis (2008–2014)

ABSTRACT

Public satisfaction with healthcare systems is an important dimension of healthcare legitimacy. The paper analyzes how satisfaction with healthcare systems depended upon the economic situation of our respondents during and after the economic recession in the Baltic states. The results show that there were no differences in public satisfaction with healthcare between better and worse off people in Estonia (except in 2009). In Lithuania, however, satisfaction among the economically better off was higher compared to other groups between 2008 and 2014. In Latvia, inequality in satisfaction between groups in different economic situations became significant from 2010.     

The Baltic miracle? The economic crisis and its consequences for young people in the labor market of the Baltic states, 2007–2017

ABSTRACT

The financial crisis (2008–2009) resulted in significant deterioration of the youth labor market in the Baltic states. In 2017, however, the Baltic states were among the countries with the highest employment-to-population ratio in Europe (the ‘Baltic Miracle’). This article shows that the observed progress is mostly due to the demographic changes in the three countries. Isolating the demographic effect demonstrated that it played crucial role in mitigating the negative effects of the crisis, especially in Latvia and Lithuania. The results of the study show that in 2017 only in Estonia had the youth labor market returned to its precrisis conditions.     

The animal advocacy movement in the Baltic states: links to other social justice issues and possibilities for intersectional activism

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the animal advocacy movement (AAM) in the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Taking an intersectional perspective, I examine whether and how key animal activists in the Baltics see links between animal rights and other social justice issues. I also consider how the movement communicates its messages to the general public in settings where ideas around animal justice and possibilities for animal advocacy are relatively recent and unfamiliar. This analysis contributes to debates regarding possibilities for intersectional activism and collaboration between social justice movements in the Baltics and beyond.     

The role of international regimes in the formation and maintenance of Baltic environmental cooperation

Abstract

Since 1991, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have created a successful cooperative regime in the field of environmental protection. It is built up on international regime-like arrangements, based on bi- or trilateral agreements as well as on commonly accepted behavioural norms and rules. The article argues that such regular cooperation between the three Baltic countries has not sprung from merely their own interests, i.e. from the need to solve the existing problems with transboundary externalities and shared natural resources or to achieve major political goals more efficiently in collaboration than individually. The formation and maintenance of the trilateral cooperation can, to a large extent, be attributed to the influence of normative institutions called international regimes as well as individual members of the international community.     

Poverty and Its Possible Cures: Abe Isoo and Kawakami Hajime

This article explores the views of two eminent Meiji intellectuals, Abe Isoo (1865–1949) and Kawakami Hajime (1879–1946), regarding poverty and its possible cures. Both men addressed this subject at a time which saw the rapid development of monopoly capitalism in Japan. Politically, this period was typified by the social and political oppression that followed the Public Order Police Law (1900) and the High Treason Incident (1910). The latter marked the beginning of the “winter” of the socialist movement in Japan. Abe, the father of Japanese socialism, and the younger Kawakami, a bourgeois economist and later a Marxist, were two of the more prominent intellectuals concerned with poverty. This article outlines their thoughts on poverty and its possible cures in the period between 1903 and 1916 as expressed in their most representative works on the issue, Abe’s Saikin no shakai mondai (Current Social Problems), (1915) and Kawakami’s Bimbô monogatari (The Tale of Poverty), (1916).