THE BALTIC STATES IN THE CONTEXT OF BREXIT: EURO-OPTIMISM VS EUROSCEPTICISM

The article is devoted to a comparative analysis of the attitude of the political establishment and the societies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to the European Union after Brexit. Being the most “obedient” members of the EU, the Baltic countries were dramatically concerned with the results of the...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: V. V. Vorotnikov
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
RU
Publicado: Ассоциация независимых экспертов «Центр изучения кризисного общества» (in English: Association for independent experts “Center for Crisis Society Studies”) 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/ed282f115cac450c8788f92fd7118cf1
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
id oai:doaj.org-article:ed282f115cac450c8788f92fd7118cf1
record_format dspace
spelling oai:doaj.org-article:ed282f115cac450c8788f92fd7118cf12021-11-07T14:45:00ZTHE BALTIC STATES IN THE CONTEXT OF BREXIT: EURO-OPTIMISM VS EUROSCEPTICISM2542-02402587-932410.23932/2542-0240-2017-10-1-122-140https://doaj.org/article/ed282f115cac450c8788f92fd7118cf12017-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ogt-journal.com/jour/article/view/12https://doaj.org/toc/2542-0240https://doaj.org/toc/2587-9324The article is devoted to a comparative analysis of the attitude of the political establishment and the societies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to the European Union after Brexit. Being the most “obedient” members of the EU, the Baltic countries were dramatically concerned with the results of the eferendum. If NATO is perceived in the Baltic States as a cornerstone of “hard” security, the European Union is traditionally considered as a guarantor of social and economic stability. In this regard, the Baltic countries are trying to assess the future of the EU optimistically, despite the crises of recent years. The article analyzes political platforms of both systemic and marginal political parties, as well as public attitudes towards European integration and specific EU policies. Euroscepticism in the Baltic States is not institutionalized and is rather poorly consolidated within the party system. At the same time, the parliamentary parties use moderately Eurosceptic rhetoric for populist purposes, in practice pursuing state policy of intensifying European and Euro-Atlantic integration. On the contrary, non-parliamentary and marginal parties (both right-wing and left-wing) are distinguished by a more radical Euroscepticism, including appeals to withdraw from the EU and NATO. The grass-root sentiments in the Baltic states can be characterized as unsystematic Euroscepticism. Having a critical stance towards specific EU policies (especially those that threaten the cultural identities of quite conservative Baltic societies), residents of these states actively enjoy freedom of movement and the opportunity to work in any EU country. The Russian and Russian-speaking minorities in Latvia and Estonia is traditionally something specific. Having the opportunity to benefit from the EU membership, they are much more prone to Eurosceptic sentiments, since membership did not justify their hopes to eliminate the “democratic deficit” (restrictions on rights and freedoms related to the use of the Russian language or belonging to a non-title ethnic group).V. V. VorotnikovАссоциация независимых экспертов «Центр изучения кризисного общества» (in English: Association for independent experts “Center for Crisis Society Studies”)articlebaltic stateslatvialithuaniaestoniaeuroscepticismeu-optimismrussian-speaking in the baltic stateseuropean unionnatobrexitInternational relationsJZ2-6530ENRUКонтуры глобальных трансформаций: политика, экономика, право, Vol 10, Iss 1, Pp 122-140 (2017)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
RU
topic baltic states
latvia
lithuania
estonia
euroscepticism
eu-optimism
russian-speaking in the baltic states
european union
nato
brexit
International relations
JZ2-6530
spellingShingle baltic states
latvia
lithuania
estonia
euroscepticism
eu-optimism
russian-speaking in the baltic states
european union
nato
brexit
International relations
JZ2-6530
V. V. Vorotnikov
THE BALTIC STATES IN THE CONTEXT OF BREXIT: EURO-OPTIMISM VS EUROSCEPTICISM
description The article is devoted to a comparative analysis of the attitude of the political establishment and the societies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to the European Union after Brexit. Being the most “obedient” members of the EU, the Baltic countries were dramatically concerned with the results of the eferendum. If NATO is perceived in the Baltic States as a cornerstone of “hard” security, the European Union is traditionally considered as a guarantor of social and economic stability. In this regard, the Baltic countries are trying to assess the future of the EU optimistically, despite the crises of recent years. The article analyzes political platforms of both systemic and marginal political parties, as well as public attitudes towards European integration and specific EU policies. Euroscepticism in the Baltic States is not institutionalized and is rather poorly consolidated within the party system. At the same time, the parliamentary parties use moderately Eurosceptic rhetoric for populist purposes, in practice pursuing state policy of intensifying European and Euro-Atlantic integration. On the contrary, non-parliamentary and marginal parties (both right-wing and left-wing) are distinguished by a more radical Euroscepticism, including appeals to withdraw from the EU and NATO. The grass-root sentiments in the Baltic states can be characterized as unsystematic Euroscepticism. Having a critical stance towards specific EU policies (especially those that threaten the cultural identities of quite conservative Baltic societies), residents of these states actively enjoy freedom of movement and the opportunity to work in any EU country. The Russian and Russian-speaking minorities in Latvia and Estonia is traditionally something specific. Having the opportunity to benefit from the EU membership, they are much more prone to Eurosceptic sentiments, since membership did not justify their hopes to eliminate the “democratic deficit” (restrictions on rights and freedoms related to the use of the Russian language or belonging to a non-title ethnic group).
format article
author V. V. Vorotnikov
author_facet V. V. Vorotnikov
author_sort V. V. Vorotnikov
title THE BALTIC STATES IN THE CONTEXT OF BREXIT: EURO-OPTIMISM VS EUROSCEPTICISM
title_short THE BALTIC STATES IN THE CONTEXT OF BREXIT: EURO-OPTIMISM VS EUROSCEPTICISM
title_full THE BALTIC STATES IN THE CONTEXT OF BREXIT: EURO-OPTIMISM VS EUROSCEPTICISM
title_fullStr THE BALTIC STATES IN THE CONTEXT OF BREXIT: EURO-OPTIMISM VS EUROSCEPTICISM
title_full_unstemmed THE BALTIC STATES IN THE CONTEXT OF BREXIT: EURO-OPTIMISM VS EUROSCEPTICISM
title_sort baltic states in the context of brexit: euro-optimism vs euroscepticism
publisher Ассоциация независимых экспертов «Центр изучения кризисного общества» (in English: Association for independent experts “Center for Crisis Society Studies”)
publishDate 2017
url https://doaj.org/article/ed282f115cac450c8788f92fd7118cf1
work_keys_str_mv AT vvvorotnikov thebalticstatesinthecontextofbrexiteurooptimismvseuroscepticism
AT vvvorotnikov balticstatesinthecontextofbrexiteurooptimismvseuroscepticism
_version_ 1718443456608600064