Baltic Journal of Political Science
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PERCEIVED MAGNITUDE OF UNEMPLOYMENT: A DARK HORSE IN THE LITERATURE ON PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARDS GOVERNMENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES TO THE UNEMPLOYED?
Get PDFIn this article, we propose a new variable in the formation of individual attitudes towards governmental responsibilities to the unemployed – the perceived magnitude of unemployment. Our choice is based on the argument that people’s reactions are strongly influenced by subjective meanings ascribed to social realities. We apply a multilevel analysis approach and mainly use the European Social Survey (2008). Results show that the perceived magnitude of unemployment positively influences public attitudes towards governmental responsibilities to the unemployed, when corrected for a series of relevant individual and national characteristics. Moreover, of all tested measures of actual unemployment rates, only the long-term unemployment rate has a significant effect on attitudes towards governmental responsibilities to the unemployed. Interestingly, this effect is negative, which raises questions about how the social realities of unemployment translate into perceptions of unemployment
REPORT: WELFARE STATE MODEL – NORDIC EXPERIENCES AND PERSPECTIVES IN LITHUANIA
Get PDFThe aim of this article is to review the ideas presented by the Nordic scholars of the “Welfare State Model – Nordic Experiences and Perspectives in Lithuania” project and to discuss the applicability of these ideas to the Lithuanian context. During the program, held in Lithuania, in 2013–2014, Nordic scholars and their Lithuanian colleagues debated Nordic welfare model features such as active labour market policies, family policies, digital welfare innovations, the role of culture, and social trust. They also discussed contemporary challenges to Nordic success. The project intended to: promote the Nordic countries’ experiences of becoming welfare states, increase knowledge of the Nordic welfare model among Lithuanians, and initiate a debate on the potential for this model to function in Lithuania
LEARNING THE ECONOMIC VOTE AT LOCAL ELECTIONS: CASE OF LITHUANIA, 1995-2011
Get PDFThis paper argues that economic voting is not limited to first-order elections and also can be observed in local elections (usually considered as second-order). Though local governments do not have the power to shape the macro-economic policy of the state, they may have some instruments to influence the well-being of their regions. Moreover, voters may perceive them as accountable for the state of the economy in the region and punish or reward them in local elections on basis of the economic trends. Lithuania appears to be a quite interesting case in which to test these theoretical arguments. Party identification and cleavages are quite weak here: therefore economic voting can be expected to provide at least some explanation of voting (it should not be shadowed by other social factors). Six local municipal council elections were held in Lithuania since the transition to democracy: the first were held in 1995 and the last in 2011. While controlling for important political-contextual factors, this paper strives to compare the impact of economic voting at Lithuania’s municipal elections across time five separate time periods. Results of the empirical analysis reveal that Lithuanians are learning the economic vote with unemployment being more significant as a factor in explaining changes in votes for dominant parties in the municipal councils in the more recent period than in the first several elections. A referendum effect is also observed: parties that belong to the national government parties are punished more during economic downturns
A SHAPE-SHIFTING CREATURE DISSECTED: POLITICAL REPRESENTATIONS OF JEAN MONNET IN EUROPEAN STUDIES
Get PDFIn this paper, I argue that contemporary political and intellectual conflicts over the right course for European integration are reflected in the historiography of Jean Monnet, the so-called founding father of the European Union (EU). Multiple and mutually antithetical representations of Monnet are explored across the central themes of the contemporary European debate: nationalism, sovereignty, political methodology, and economic ideology. I investigate how the different faces of Monnet are constructed and used to legitimate contradictory scholarly standpoints regarding these central themes. Along the way, I attempt to decipher the puzzle of Monnet’s elevation to the status of a theoretical pioneer in EU Studies. Finally, I also explore how different roles assigned to Monnet in the various narratives of the EU’s origins contribute to the construction of European identity
A SMALL STATE IN THE ASYMMETRICAL BILATERAL RELATIONS: LITHUANIA IN LITHUANIAN-RUSSIAN RELATIONS SINCE 2004
Get PDFIn this article, Lithuania\u27s relations with Russia from 2004 to 2014 are examined. This analysis is not much of a challenge in itself: there have been no significant changes in the overall quality of the two countries\u27 relations, no new issues of disagreement, and the countries\u27 approaches to each other have also remained unchanged. This analysis is significant in a different way—relations with Russia motivate and induce Lithuania\u27s entire foreign policy arena, from its strategies to the country\u27s everyday debates. Understanding Lithuania\u27s relations with Russia leads to insights regarding Lithuania\u27s geopolitical thinking and how Lithuania represents itself. Therefore, in this article, the goal is to demonstrate that an analysis of Lithuanian-Russian relations since 2004 not only explains Lithuanian foreign policy, but also reveals an enduring and negative stability in bilateral relations notwithstanding constant turbulence and quarrels
ZENONAS NORKUS, ON BALTIC SLOVENIA AND ADRIATIC LITHUANIA
Get PDFSeveral years ago, the 20th anniversary of the fall of Communism prompted a considerable number of academic meetings and publication. By that time, most ex-communist states had already made their new identities clear and familiar to the world – or so it seemed. Transitology was slowly growing out of intellectual fashion, and the whole region affected by the post-communist transformation was more and more frequently regarded as stable and comparatively uninteresting. Amid this fading interest, conferences that aimed to re-examine of the post-communist transition were considered, even by the participants themselves, more of a ritual commemoration than a necessary attempt to solve pressing issues.
THE IMPACT OF THE EU ON AGENCIFICATION AND DEPOLITICISATION IN LITHUANIA
Get PDFThis article compares the actual patterns of agencification and depoliticisation in Lithuania and explains the extent to which the EU influenced these changes. Our research employs (descriptive and inferential) statistical analysis of data on the organisational changes of Lithuanian agencies and the political participation of their managers in the 1990-2012 period. The article found that the EU made a significant contribution to the establishment of new agencies but changes in the scope of politicisation can be explained by a combination of evolution in the political conditionality of EU membership and wholesale government changes. The differentiated impact of the EU on public administration changes was observed with the management of the Europeanised agencies becoming increasingly professional over time. Overall, the results of our research confirm the stronger and more enduring impact of specific acquis rules in the policy domain compared to the much weaker influence of the EU’s political conditionality.
THE SECRET OF POLITICAL LEADERS’ PERSONAL APPEAL: (HOW) DO PERSONALITY TRAITS MATTER?
Get PDFLiterature on personalization of politics emphasizes growing salience of individuals and private issues when party democracy is in decline. These trends are believed to strengthen personal appeal of politicians. However, what is the secret of party-leader’s personal appeal? Are politician’s personal traits the major key to popular sympathies? The article examines the impact of voter’s perception of party-leader’s personality along Big Five and personal charm on voter’s affinity for the leader. Analysis of the Lithuanian pre-election survey data (2012) on national party-leaders’ popular appeal, measured with “feeling thermometer”, and popular perception of leaders’ personality traits, measured with a set of semantic differentials, reveals that the significance of personality differs both across personality dimensions and between politicians under consideration. Agreeableness is the most important and universally desirable dimension of a political leader’s personality, followed by conscientiousness, with classic predictors of electoral choice under control. The significance of other personality dimensions of Big Five is much smaller if any, and personal charm seems to be inwrought with the five personality dimensions. The results prove that popular yearning for moral leadership, complemented with high performance, persists regardless of changes in political communication and (post)modern citizenship.
Ugland, T. 2011, Jean Monnet and Canada: early travels and the idea of European unity. Toronto, Buffalo, and London: University of Toronto Press.
Get PDFWhat does the European polity of twenty-eight member states owe to an eighteen-year-old Frenchman’s journey across Canada in 1907? This question preoccupies Trygve Ugland in his 2011 study Jean Monnet and Canada: early travels and the idea of European unity. Ugland presupposes there would hardly be a European Union to speak of if it weren’t for Jean Monnet; and he wonders whether there would be a Jean Monnet worth talking about if it weren’t for Monnet’s formative experiences in Canada as a salesman for his father’s cognac firm. [...