Gendered political subjectivity in post-soviet latvia

Political texts such as parties' pre-election programs, manifestos, slogans, or TV ads can be analyzed as narratives using multidisciplinary methods. Such an analysis can be especially beneficial in the political context of Latvia where the prevalent political rhetoric contains post-Soviet legacies, the impact of international integration and nationalist projects of ethnic isolationism. This article is based on a study of political documents of parties in Latvia and their story of what characterizes an empowered political subjectivity. It consists of three main themes—the family, the borders and the order. In all of them, the political subjectivity is masculinized and concentrated on developing various levels of social and political differentiation, especially ethnic and gender stratification. Such a political rhetoric leads to the exclusion from decision-making of women and other groups that do not fit prevalent characterizations of the political subjectivity.