Suchergebnisse

This article considers the legitimacy of political regimes in the Baltic States by analysing three major parameters: confidence in political institutions, level of corruption, and the development of their party systems. The author identifies the major crisis trends in the legitimacy of the political regimes of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. The article stresses the problem of legitimacy reproduction resulting from the limited representation of the national party systems. Special attention is paid to compensatory mechanisms used by political elites to 'artificially' reproduce legitimacy. It makes sense to analyse the deficit of legitimacy in the Baltic States not only in the context of threats to democratic institutions but also considering weaknesses of public institutions and insufficient resources to ensure stateness. This requires developing a hypothesis about smaller states 'importing' legitimacy from larger states and intergovernmental organisations, in whose zone of influence they are included. In other words, the EU and NATO can provide smaller states not only with economic and military resources but also legitimation 'resources' using their prestige to support the belief of local residents that there is no alternative to the current political system of social organisation. Legitimacy deficit increases the risks of a rift between political elites in the Baltic States, which can become a prologue to a deep political crisis. In these conditions, compensatory mechanisms cannot be considered as targeted exclusively at broad social strata. They are also aimed at political elites, whose consolidation or 'encapsulation' is achieved by exaggerating external threats and resorting to repressive measures in an attempt to develop an ethnonational consensus. These methods are used to ensure self-preservation of the Baltic States political regimes within the current ideological and institutional configuration.

This author analyses the 2013 Lithuanian presidency of the EU in the context of the Ukrainian crisis and evaluates the contribution of Latvia and Estonia (the former Soviet republics set to preside over the EU in 2015 and 2018) to the shift in the power balance in the post-Soviet space. Through assessing the actions of small countries in promoting the Eastern Partnership programme with an emphasis on the anti-Russian agenda, the author concludes that they will inflict harm on the EU in a long-term perspective. These former Soviet republics no longer rely on mere diplomacy, but resort to a whole new problematic narrative, where Russia is described as an "aggressive and unpredictable neighbour" that poses the "threat from the East." Being more mobile, small countries are able to concentrate power and resources in one or several key areas. This makes it possible for these countries to take advantage of international politics (even if the consequences of such steps are miscalculated) and "feed" on it through — sometimes consciously — creating "conflict nodes" in the relations between major players. This is especially true in the case of states that do not bear responsibility for global stability.

The author analyzes the process of the formation of the political elite of theRepublicofLithuaniaafter the collapse of theSoviet Unionin the light of the growing presence of representatives of business in ruling circles. The influence of people from the business community in the political process is described through the concept of "inner circles". The article claims, that although in the beginning of the 1990s the political life inLithuaniawas dominated by intellectuals, representing Humanities and artistic elite, through time business increased its impact on political process not only directly entering political establishment, but also through other channels, including sponsorship of parties. ; В статье анализируется процесс формирования политической элиты Литовской Республики после распада Советского Союза через призму нарастающего присутствия выходцев из бизнеса во властных кругах. Влияние выходцев из предпринимательского сообщества на политический процесс рассматривается с помощью концепции «внутренних кругов». Автор отмечает, что если в начале 1990-х гг. в политической жизни Литвы доминировали представители гуманитарной интеллектуальной элиты, то с течением времени бизнес нарастил влияние на политический процесс не только путем прямого вхождения в политический истеблишмент, но и через другие каналы, включая спонсирование партий

The issue of the Soviet Union's assistance to China in the 1950s and the subsequent dispatch of a large number of Soviet specialists cannot be fully studied without revealing the role of translators in the process of providing this assistance, because it was translators who were the main link that allowed to transfer of extensive Soviet experience to the Chinese side. The Chinese archival documents at our disposal allow us to reveal the nature and content of the work of Chinese translators with Soviet specialists in the territory of Shaanxi Province. Thanks to the concentrated assistance of the USSR to create military facilities during the first and partly second Chinese five-year plans, this province became a new center of military production in China. The content of our documents allows us to reveal the methods and principles of the organization of translation activities by the Chinese leadership for Soviet specialists during the years of the Great Leap Forward. It is in the documents of this period that we can detect the emergence of a new understanding of the basic functions of the translator. If previously translators were mainly a link for the transfer of Soviet knowledge and experience to the Chinese side, then in the years of the Great Leap Forward one of the main functions of the translator was the task of relaying Chinese ideological postulates in relation to specialists. Chinese side tried to convey the ideas of the "big leap" to the soviet specialists through translators in order to turn them into a tool for implementing the super-tasks for Chinese society. In this regard, one of the main requirements for Chinese translators was their ideological literacy, which was even higher than knowledge of the Russian language and translation skills. At the same time attempts at ideological pressure on Soviet specialists led to increased alienation and conflicts between the parties.

The author expresses his gratitude to Sergey Smirnov, Professor of the Department of Modern and Contemporary History of UrFU, for his help in writing the article.

The role of the ethnic factor in political processes in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia has been rather significant since these countries' independence. The author investigates the assumption that after the completion of major Eurointegration procedures, the ethnic factor -which became especially important in the Baltics after independence- relegated to the periphery of political life. After a period of 'independence-induced euphoria' faded, Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian power groups had to tackle the problem of civil society formation and the development of a political regime based on democratic procedures. In these countries the processes of elite recruitment were largely affected by the factor of ethic homogeneity of the social structure. This article analyses the process of elite group formation in the Baltics through the lens of the ethnic factor. By applying the ethnopolitical approach, the author concludes that the de facto barriers to non-titular population groups entering power structures, which exist in Latvia and Estonia, "freeze" the system of elite recruitment. In the conditions of increasing social unrest, it may have an adverse effect on the overall political stability in these countries. The results obtained can be used for research, educational, and practical purposes. In the field of research and education, they can be employed in further research on the transformation of the elite structure in the Baltics in view of the ethnopolitical factor, including comparative analysis of the elite re-grouping processes, as well as in developing corresponding university courses. As to the practical aspect, the results obtained can be used by the authorities of the Russian Federation in making decisions regarding interaction with the representatives of Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian political elites.

The article examines the transformation of power groups in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia during the period 1990‒2019: from the proclamation of independence of the Baltic states and the dismantling of the previous ruling institutions to the formation of a new political order by the elites. The objective is to identify the main factors of transformation of the channels and mechanisms for the recruiting of power groups and to determine the general and specific features of this process, to correlate them with the key decisions of the elites that have determined political priorities of the Baltic states. In order to quantitatively analyze changes in the composition of the elites, data from open sources on the background of 886 political figures in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were assessed. Up to 53% of evaluated cases are representatives of parliaments, 40% are members of governments, 7% are presidents and their advisers, meanwhile, 252 cases are from Lithuania, 271 ‒ from Estonia and 363 ‒ from Latvia (the greater number of registered parliamentary electoral cycles – 9- were registered in Latvia, along with 7 in Lithuania and 8 in Estonia). The analysis is based on parliamentary electoral cycles due to the parliaments decisive role in the political systems of the Baltic countries in accordance with the Constitution. The transformation of the power groups in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia took place in a similar political and historical context. However, it is not correct to talk about a single "Baltic elite" as a community of power groups of the three countries consolidated at the interstate level. The general features of the transformation of power groups in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia along with the peculiarities inherent in each country are revealed. Thus, among the elite of Estonia there are the fewest number of representatives of the ex-nomenklatura, Latvia is the leader in the number of proteges of business in power, Lithuania ranked first in terms of the number of politicians with foreign origins. Today, the Baltic states elites more often act like competitors than like-minded people, although they retain elements of political coordination, in particular, dealing with Russia.