Political Crisis in Lithuania, 2003-2004 Cover Image

Politinė krizė Lietuvoje 2003-2004 metais
Political Crisis in Lithuania, 2003-2004

Author(s): Vaidutis Laurėnas
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences
Published by: Vilniaus universiteto leidykla & VU Tarptautinių santykių ir politikos mokslų institutas
Keywords: Lithuania - the President; Seimas; the Government; populism; radicalism; democracy;

Summary/Abstract: Article treats a 2003-2004 political crisis in Lithuania as not confined to the Presidential institution. This is the crisis of an entire political system that had been maturing since long before. Four groups of factors are identified: 1) exhaustion of the intellectual resources f the political process and the lack of regularity, characteristic to the newly emerging political forces, first of all; 2) political anomy, which spans all the levels of the political system; 3) entropy of the presidential institution, stimulating the redistribution of authority among separate state structures; and 4) populism and radicalism. The first three groups of factors may conventionally be called “prepaksist”, whereas the fourth was particularly activated during the Paksas’ Presidential tenure.

  • Issue Year: 2004
  • Issue No: 3 (35)
  • Page Count: 34
  • Language: Lithuanian