Resident aliens? Explaining minority disaffection with democratic politics in the Baltic states

ENCommentators and scholars alike recognize the important role political dissatisfaction plays in the process of regime change. A considerable body of literature has used dissatisfaction with a regime and distrust in political institutions to explain political dynamics during democratization's initial phase, yet these indicators are rarely used to assess disaffection with politics in established democratic regimes. Recent research on the post-communist region has established that citizens demonstrate high levels of political alienation, and that ethnic minority communities in particular are widely dissatisfied with democratic politics, institutions and regimes. This paper uses the 2004 data from the New Baltic Barometer to analyse individual-level disaffection with politics among the minorities in the Baltic States and explores the structural roots of such disaffection. The paper draws upon interviews with political representatives of minority communities in order to understand their perceptions of opportunities to participate in decision-making. Building on quantitative and qualitative analysis, the paper concludes that disaffection with politics among both the mass of ethnic minorities and their elite groups is best explained by the misrepresentation of minority interests in post-communist Baltic polities.

• A Cat's lick: democratisation and minority communities in the Post-Soviet Baltic. Amsterdam ; Rodopi, 2010. 379 p.
• Civil society versus nationalizing state? Advocacy of minority rights in the post-socialist Baltic states.. Nationalities papers 2011, 39, 2, 181-203.
• Contexts of exit in the migration of Russian speakers from the Baltic countries to Ireland. Ethnicities 2009, 9, 4, 507-526.
• Explaining trust in political institutions: some illustrations from the Baltic States.. Communist and post-communist studies 2006, 39, 4, 475-496.
• Lietuvos etninių grupių adaptacija: kontekstas ir eiga. Vilnius : Eugrimas, 2003. 285 p.
• Lithuania: progressive legislation without popular support. Minority rights in Central and Eastern Europe. London: Routledge, 2009. P. 151-165.
• Lyderystės kompetencijų ugdymas Lietuvos universitetų pedagogų rengimo programose. Andragogika 2011, 2, 208-217.
• Mokinių lyderystės gebėjimų skatinimas muzikine projektine veikla. Pedagogika 2016, 123, 148-158.
• Nation-states into nationalising states: the impact of transformation on minority participation in the Baltic states.. Intersections (Budapest) 2017, 3, 4, 41-65.
• Political support in the Baltic States, 1993-2004. Journal of baltic studies 2007, 38, 1, 1-20.
• Taming nationalism? Political community building in the Post-Soviet Baltic states. Aldershot ; Ashgate, 2011. 248 p.
• The Characteristics of teacher leadership. Tiltai 2010, 4 (53), 67-76.
• The Need for students of pedagogy programmes to develop leadership conpetencies and its realization in Lithuanian higher education. Tiltai 2013, 3 (64), 221-230.
• Viduriniojo mokyklinio amžiaus mokinių lyderystės raiškos muzikinėje veikloje tendencijos. Pedagogika 2014, 115, 232-246.