ENThis article focuses on the development of the management models applied in Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius, the capital cities of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from the moment their independence was restored until 2005. The Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania co-operated closely after restoring their independence in the early 1990s. Later, the countries adopted a Western orientation, and co-operation between them subsided on both the interstate (the Baltic Assembly) and the local levels. Also, with a few exceptions (Vanags, Vilka 2002), studies of local self-government have compared the Baltic States with Western countries, not with one another.