Political culture in the Baltic states
ENDrawing on an original 2014 public opinion survey, this paper offers a brief overview of contemporary political orientations in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Looking specifically at performace-related system support and attitudes towards democracy, the paper demonstrates significant cross-national as well as ethnic attitudinal differences in the region. Support for democracy does not seem to be overly strong in the Baltic states, but the key finding is that public support for democracy is still comparatively stronger than support for authoritarian rule. This is tentatively good news: as long as support for non-democratic regime alternatives does not exceed support for a democratic polity, democracy may be deemed to have sufficient legitimacy among citizens, and the risk of a democratic breakdown in the Baltic states must be regarded as insignificant. Key words: public opinion, Baltic states, ethnic minority, political culture, democracy. [From the publication]
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