This article examines the role of Holocaust memory in British public discourse and political context during the late Cold War, focusing on attitudes towards the re-emerging Baltic States between 1988 and 1994. The research addresses the problem of how historical memory and debates on war crimes shaped reputational and moral evaluations of the Baltic States without directly determining British foreign policy decisions. The article aims to demonstrate that Holocaust memory functioned primarily as a normative and reputational framework within which political positions were articulated and legitimised. The study is based on qualitative analysis of British national newspapers, the Jewish community weekly The Jewish Chronicle, parliamentary debates, and diplomatic correspondence. The findings show that Holocaust memory significantly influenced public narratives and diplomatic caution towards the Baltic States, while official British policy was driven mainly by broader geopolitical, strategic, and security considerations.
Research ethics and the committees supervising adherence to ethical norms have been receiving increasing attention in academic institutions as they are tasked with ensuring responsible conduct and integrity in research practices. The main goal of the committees and their members is to assesses the compliance of planned research with research ethics requirements. They also assist researchers in planning their research in accordance with ethical principles, and provide relevant advice and methodological support. As research ethics has become an established standard in academic journals and scholarly publications, political science faces an imperative to align its practices with these evolving ethical expectations. The text presents a conversation with Professor Derica Lambrechts from Stellenbosch University, South Africa, who has been serving as a committee member for more than a decade. She shares her experiences and challenges in a local South African context while conducting her research on crime gangs in Cape Town. Her insights are based on personal experiences and should not be identified with the positions of the committee. The interview may prove valuable to committee members, lecturers reflecting on the ethical dimensions of their research, and students undertaking their first scholarly works.
This article draws on empirical material from in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews collected during a research expedition in the summer of 2024 to examine the causes of the electoral popularity of Remigijus Žemaitaitis, leader of Nemuno aušra, through the lens of the concept of political authenticity. On the one hand, the concept of perceived political authenticity — rarely employed in Lithuanian political science — offers a novel perspective on the factors underlying the rapid rise in popularity of certain new political forces in Lithuania and highlights the mechanisms of their interaction. On the other hand, the study expands the field of political authenticity research by providing a case analysis from a region that has received relatively little attention from this perspective and is characterized by comparatively low levels of political trust and party identification, as well as the frequent emergence of new parties. In doing so, it reveals in greater detail how the mechanisms of political authenticity operate in fostering a politician’s popularity in such a context. The article also, drawing on the most recent scholarship in the field, presents a more detailed account of the concept of political authenticity itself, as it is being integrated into Lithuanian political science research.
This article analyses an atypical case of Soviet legacy transformation in Kop & umacr;st & edot;liai (Ukmerg & edot; district), where a former Soviet missile base has become the home of Mi & scaron;ko broliai, a historical reenactment club reviving the memory of the 1944-1953 anti-Soviet freedom struggles. The article aims to understand how this legacy is reworked through the memory work performed by the club and draws on material collected during the author's ethnographic fieldwork in winter 2024-2025, including interviews withMi & scaron;ko broliai members and (non-) participant observation. The club's activities are enabled by a flexible approach to the site's legacy, seen not as a symbolic framework but as a material medium for shaping their own vision of memory, and by disappointment with state-led commemorative policies. Detached from institutional constraints, Mi & scaron;ko broliai create a heterogeneous and dynamic assemblage of people, narratives, meanings, and processes-transforming memory into an open-ended and living field.
The article analyzes affective polarization in Lithuania among voters of different parties, aiming to determine what drives their political antagonism: partisanship or specific issue-based attitudes, such as support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia, views on same-sex marriage, support for the European Union, evaluations of the Soviet period, and attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines. The study employs a new tool in Lithuanian political science – a conjoint experiment. The results show that in some cases partisanship (specifically, support for the party “Nemuno Aušra”) acts as a factor that divides voters, even when the influence of issue-based factors is eliminated. Supporters of different parties are antagonized by different issue positions; however, on one issue the attitudes of supporters of all examined parties coincide – those who support Ukraine are consistently evaluated much more positively than those who do not.
This article analyzes the dynamics of the Tajik political migrant community in Lithuania, drawing on their own experiences and perspectives. The research was conducted in March–April 2024 and involved 12 semi-structured interviews: 8 interviews with Tajik migrants who had been granted asylum in Lithuania due to political persecution in their country of origin, and 4 interviews with NGO representatives: lawyers and social workers working with this group. When reflecting on their experiences in Lithuania, the research participants placed particular emphasis on the role of their community. Therefore, the article focuses on the internal dynamics of the Tajik political migrant community, examining it through the theoretical lens of migration networks. The findings reveal that, in the case of Tajik political migrants, migration networks play a significant role at different stages of migration and settlement. The community acts as one of the “pull” factors facilitating arrival and integration in Lithuania. However, it also becomes evident that maintaining migration networks, through communication with family members remaining in Tajikistan or through building ties with Tajik economic migrants in Lithuania, exposes political migrants to various risks and threats related to their political identity. As migration networks expand to include economic migrants and their ties with the country of origin strengthen, these networks transform from a support structure into a space of potential threat. As a result, the situation of political migrants becomes more vulnerable than in earlier periods of Tajik migration to Lithuania. Recent anthropological studies on Tajik economic migrants in Russia explained their migration experiences through the lenses of personhood, self-fashioning, the pursuit of a “good life,” and masculinity. This article demonstrates that the situation of Tajik refugees in Lithuania is better understood through the perspective of security and threat, which emerges as a central axis shaping their identity, everyday life, and experiences of community.
The Central Asian region has been recently receiving increasing attention, especially due to the war launched by Russia in Ukraine, the growing influence of China both in the region and in the world, and the EU’s desire to find new trade routes with Asia, which would bypass Russia. In this case, the Central Asian states, when developing their foreign policy, claim that they use a multivector foreign policy strategy, but the understanding and explanation of the latter outside the region is somewhat limited. Therefore, this article attempts to show that the multivectorism declared by these countries essentially corresponds to the omnidirectional hedging foreign policy strategy, and the relations between the Central Asian states and the European Union can be one of the examples of the implementation of this strategy, since they are developed based on the key dimensions of the omnidirectional hedging strategy – diplomatic, economic, and security.
This article aims to address the political economy of Fintech (Financial Technology). The key assumption guiding the paper is that the regulation, supervision, and ultimately the degree and shape of development of the Fintech sector are affected by and, at a fundamental level, even determined by political factors. While politics can influence Fintech via both demand and supply channels, this article primarily focuses on the supply side. The article reviews the emerging academic literature aiming to analyze the politics and political economy of Fintech, showing that there is still a significant gap. Drawing inspiration from the earlier literature on the political economy of traditional finance, but also taking into account certain specificities of Fintech, the article suggests how the research agenda for the political economy of Fintech should proceed, addressing the potential influence of economic interests, institutions, and ideas.
Straipsnyje nagrinėjama netipinė sovietinio palikimo transformacija Kopūstėliuose (Ukmergės r.). Šioje vietoje sovietmečiu veikusi branduolinių raketų bazė šiandien yra tapusi 1944–1953 m. antisovietinio pasipriešinimo atmintį aktualizuojančio istorinių rekonstrukcijų klubo „Miško broliai“ namais. Straipsnio tikslas – analizuojant „Miško brolių“ atliekamą atminties darbą, suvokti šį du iš pirmo žvilgsnio nesuderinamus dėmenis sujungiantį palikimo virsmą. Straipsnis remiasi autorės 2024–2025 m. žiemą atlikto etnografinio tyrimo Kopūstėliuose metu surinkta medžiaga – interviu su klubo nariais ir dalyvaujamojo stebėjimo duomenimis. „Miško brolių“ veiklą Kopūstėliuose įgalina klubo požiūris į šios vietos palikimą ne kaip į simbolinę terpę, bet kaip į savarankiškos atminties vizijos plėtojimo įrankį ir nusivylimas valstybės vykdoma partizaninio pasipriešinimo įamžinimo politika. Nevaržomi oficialių atminties struktūrų, „Miško broliai“ kuria savitą pokario kovų naratyvą. Sąveikaudamas su Kopūstėlių materialiniu palikimu ir prasmėmis, šis pasakojimas kuria gyvybingą žmonių, objektų ir procesų tinklą – asambliažą, kuris statišką atmintį paverčia interpretacijoms atviru lauku.
. Since 2019, many Latin American states, the USA, and the European Union countries have not recognized Nicol & aacute;s Maduro as a legitimate head of state. This made Venezuela relatively isolated on the world stage, especially in regional affairs. This aspect forced N. Maduro and his government to seek closer relations with the powerful actors that recognized the legitimacy of his rule, such as the PRC. The main objective of this article is to assess the relationship between Venezuela and the PRC in the political, economic, and security spheres. In this article, Stephen Walt's balance of threat theory was used in order to test how this theory works while analyzing bilateral ties in different cooperation fields. Finally, in this paper, I also raise the theoretical problem that it is difficult for a weaker player to create a balance of power when its partner is geographically distant from it, especially when a weaker ally has less leverage to influence the actions of a more powerful partner.
This study critically assesses the 2018 Western Balkans Enlargement Strategy, arguing that its failure to accelerate democratic reforms in Serbia and Montenegro was structural. Using a comparative case analysis grounded in the External Incentives Model (EIM), Complex Interdependence theory, and stabilitocracy frameworks, we analyze why EU conditionality proved insufficient against entrenched local elites. The analysis supports three key propositions that explain this stagnation: 1) Reform outcomes negatively correlated with the presence of rival external actors (Russia/China) in key sectors; 2) The strategy’s exclusive engagement with incumbent politicians reinforced the logic of the stabilitocracy model and enabled democratic backsliding; and 3) The failure to link the EU’s high structural leverage to credible enforcement mechanisms left insufficient pressure for costly rule-of-law reforms. The paper concludes that the strategy was fundamentally flawed. It requires urgent recalibration: inclusive, better-resourced, and attuned to geopolitical realities.
War’ is a perennial issue of world politics. Building upon the insight that war is a socially constructed phenomenon (Bartelson, Butler, Wilhelmsen), one to be “explored… not explained or counted by IR theory” (Barkawi), this paper suggests an original theoretical framework for deciphering the role that language plays in making modern international conflict. The article reflects on the persistence of war in world politics, despite the extensive normative, legal, moral, and even aesthetic rejections of this form of interstate interaction that have developed over many centuries. Taking these injunctions seriously, the project explores how the ‘language of war’ (the elective framing of international issues, relationships, and even forms of actors, within militarised metaphors and symbolic invocations) enacts particular processes which participate in the making of armed (international) conflict. Specifically, the framework suggests that the language of war not only reflects but actively shapes the predispositions and decisions leading to conflict. By framing international disputes in this way, language establishes a symbolic landscape that makes recourse to violence appear permissible, advantageous, and then necessary. It argues that the metaphor of war operates through, and indeed pervades, the ‘ordinary security language’ (Leader Maynard 2022) which attends the modern international state system. By explicitly deploying such framings, which are easily brought to the surface, the language of war – inadvertently, at first – enacts a cycle of radicalisation between domestic constituencies, international diplomacy, and (political) elites. In this way, the paper begins to ask how we can talk ourselves into war.
This article explores the potential of applying a priori deductive reasoning within political science. Contemporary social science methodology relies heavily on empirical research, which is often insufficient for uncovering the universal structure of human action. The article argues that praxeology, the method developed by Ludwig von Mises and grounded in the axiom "man acts", can provide a suitable epistemological foundation for political science. It emphasizes that pure reason can serve as a valid source of knowledge for certain social phenomena, since all social sciences may begin with analysis of the axiom of human action. To substantiate this argument, the article draws on Immanuel Kant's account of a priori reasoning, the distinction between historical and philosophical sciences, and the principle of methodological dualism. It maintains that, when combined with a value-neutral definition of the state and politics, praxeology allows political science to be reconceptualized as a branch of the broader science of human action. The article concludes that such an approach opens the possibility of reinterpreting the unique functions and limits of the state, as well as reflecting on the normative dimension of politics.
What determines the willingness to defend one's country in states that live next to an aggressive neighbor? This article analyzes three countries with similar geopolitical situations-Lithuania, Latvia, and Taiwan. The aim of the article is to assess the level of willingness to defend one's country and the factors influencing it in Lithuania, Latvia, and Taiwan, based on public opinion surveys conducted in all three countries. The article is divided into three parts. The first part discusses the historical, cultural, and sociopolitical similarities of the three countries under examination. The second part evaluates the defense policies of the three countries and the role of society in them. The third part is dedicated to analyzing the survey data. It first presents the data and measurement instruments, then discusses the level of willingness to defend the country according to four indicators, and finally presents the results of a regression analysis that examines the factors influencing the will to defend.
Benjamin Abrams, The Rise of the Masses Spontaneous Mobilization and Contentious Politics (University of Chicago Press, 2023), DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226826820.001.0001
Tyrinėjantieji ideologijas susiduria su neįveikiamomis jų apibrėžimo problemomis. Ideologija yra teiginio forma „x yra ideologija“, kai į kintamąjį galima įrašyti bet kurį objektą. Abejonių kelia pats idėjų mokslą apibūdinti turintis ideologijos terminas. Neįmanomas idėjų mokslas, nes, pasak Immanuelio Kanto, negali būti idėjos idėjos. Pretenzija vienas idėjas aiškinti kitomis idėjomis prieštarauja jų prigimčiai. Dar labiau ideologijų apibūdinimą apsunkina proto idėjoms būdingas adekvataus referento nebuvimas. Ši aplinkybė neleidžia idėjų paversti empirinio pažinimo objektais. Ideologijos atitinka tai, ką Kantas Sprendimo galios kritikoje vadina estetinėmis idėjomis. Jos grindžiamos netiesioginių simbolinių atvaizdų priskyrimu proto principams. Tam, kas gali būti mąstoma vien tik protu, ideologijos suteikia juslinius vaizdinius. Šis estetinio pobūdžio veiksmas bet kurį dalyką gali paversti ideologinio mąstymo objektu.
This article explores the potential of applying a priori deductive reasoning within political science. Contemporary social science methodology relies heavily on empirical research, which is often insufficient for uncovering the universal structure of human action. The article argues that praxeology, the method developed by Ludwig von Mises and grounded in the axiom “man acts”, can provide a suitable epistemological foundation for political science. It emphasizes that pure reason can serve as a valid source of knowledge for certain social phenomena, since all social sciences may begin with analysis of the axiom of human action.To substantiate this argument, the article draws on Immanuel Kant’s account of a priori reasoning, the distinction between historical and philosophical sciences, and the principle of methodological dualism. It maintains that, when combined with a value-neutral definition of the state and politics, praxeology allows political science to be reconceptualized as a branch of the broader science of human action. The article concludes that such an approach opens the possibility of reinterpreting the unique functions and limits of the state, as well as reflecting on the normative dimension of politics.
What determines the willingness to defend one’s country in states that live next to an aggressive neighbor? This article analyzes three countries with similar geopolitical situations – Lithuania, Latvia, and Taiwan. The aim of the article is to assess the level of willingness to defend one’s country and the factors influencing it in Lithuania, Latvia, and Taiwan, based on public opinion surveys conducted in all three countries. The article is divided into three parts. The first part discusses the historical, cultural, and sociopolitical similarities of the three countries under examination. The second part evaluates the defense policies of the three countries and the role of society in them. The third part is dedicated to analyzing the survey data. It first presents the data and measurement instruments, then discusses the level of willingness to defend the country according to four indicators, and finally presents the results of a regression analysis that examines the factors influencing the will to defend.
The paper utilizes a reconstruction of Robert Spaemann’s arguments to critique Alexandre Kojève’s personalism, which is based on a dualistic ontology, and its political implications. Spaemann’s positions are used to prove that the French philosopher’s attempt to interpret the concept of person in a dualistic ontology establishes the dialectic of naturalism and spiritualism, in which the idea of person disappears. This allows us to clarify the fundamental disagreement between Kojève and Leo Strauss: reflections on human nature are inseparable from a teleological understanding of life. Spaemann’s philosophical project presents an opportunity to open up a new perspective on Kojève’s political theory, which is structured by a dialectic in which anthropological spiritualistic personalism in the political sphere transforms into a naturalistic universalism. Spaemann’s arguments allow us to conclude that Kojève’s political philosophy, which is based on the concept of recognition, and in which there is no place for the idea of human nature, leads to the position of totalitarian naturalistic universalism.
