Lithuanian Political Science Yearbook
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LITHUANIAN POLITICAL SCIENCE YEARBOOK 2008 Published by INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE VILNIUS UNIVERSITY Vokiečių str.10 LT-01130 Vilnius LITHUANIA Tel. (370-5) 251 4130 Fax (370-5) 251 4134 e-mail: [email protected] http://www.tspmi.vu.lt LITHUANIAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION Vokiečių str.10 LT-01130 Vilnius LITHUANIA Tel. (370-5) 251 4133 Fax (370-5) 251 4134 http://www.lpasoc.vu.lt LITHUANIAN POLITICAL SCIENCE YEARBOOK 2008 VILNIUS 2009 TheLithuanian Political Science Yearbook aims to provide a wide picture of the main fields of Political Science in Lithuania – Political Theory, Institutional Design, Electoral Process, Public Policy and Public Administration, International Relations and related disciplines. However, it is by no means limited to publications on Lithuania or by Lithuanian authors. Contributions are welcome both from Lithuania and abroad. Editorial Commitee Jonas Čičinskas (Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University) Leonidas Donskis (Institute of Political Science and Diplomacy, Vytautas Magnus University) Algimantas Jankauskas (Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University) Alvydas Jokubaitis (Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University) Algis Krupavičius (Kaunas University of Technology) Antanas Kulakauskas (Department of Political Science, Mykolas Romeris University) Vaidutis Laurėnas (Klaipėda University) Raimundas Lopata (Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University) Ainė Ramonaitė (Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University) Aušra Rauličkytė (Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University) Gediminas Vitkus (Lithuanian Military Academy) International Advisory Board Gianni Bonvicini, Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), Roma Alyson J.K. Bailes, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Christoph Bertram, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), Berlin Per Carlsen, Danish Institute for International Studies Atis Lejins, Latvian Institute of International Affairs Thierry de Montbrial, IFRI, Paris Martin A.Schain, Center for European Studies, New York University Joaquin Roy, EU Center, University of Miami ISSN 1392–9321 © Institute of International Relations and Political Science Vilnius University, 2009 CONTENTS PREFACE ........................................................................................................... 7 PARLAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN LITHUANIA Ainė Raminaitė, Rūta Žiliukaitė. Explaining partisan loyalities in Lithuania .... 11 POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY Inga Vinogradnaitė. On-line political discussions and politicization of social networks ...................................................................................... 35 Williams Payne. Religiosity within modern discourses of civil disobedience .... 53 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS Vitalis Nakrošis, Žilvinas Martinaitis. Explaining inovations in the Lithuanian public sector: new public management, administrative culture and structural capacities ..................................... 83 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND EURO-ATLANTIC INTEGRATION PROCESS Saulius Kolyta, Darius Žeruolis. An overview of Lithuania’s five year membership in the internal market of the European Union: pre-accession efforts, impact and current trends ................................. 101 Laurynas Kasčiūnas. Why the mutual EU–Russia interdependence doesn’t lead to relations of legal reciprocity ......................................... 156 Mindaugas Jurkynas. Back to the Baltic Sea Region? ................................... 183 ABOUT THE AUTHORS ............................................................................. 209 PREFACE We are happy to present the tenth volume of the Lithuanian Political Science Yearbook. The main topic of this volume is the 2008 Parliamentary Election in Lithuania. Elections are a key moment in the life of all democratic countries when many political processes can be observed and assessed. The Yearbook focuses on the level of partisan loyalty in Lithuania. During the parliamentary election 2008, a considerable share of votes was captured by political newcom- ers, i.e. political parties created several months before the election. According to Ainė Ramonaitė and Rūta Žiliukaitė, in Lithuania more than a half of the electorate are “floating voters” while in the old democracies more than two thirds of the electorate are loyal. In addition, the reader of this year’s Yearbook is invited to get more knowl- edge about the role of new information and communication technologies in the politicization of existing off-line social networks. Inga Vinogradnaitė discusses whether and how new technologies generate access to political conversation and whether such access creates a new experiences of political discussion. Wil- liam Payne from the perspective of political philosophy analyses the liberal and democratic discourse of constitutional civil disobedience and argues that both share a common failure to adequately address religiosity which still affects the theory and practice of modern civil disobedience. TheYearbook continues analysis of the public policy and public administra- tion issues. This time, Žilvinas Martinaitis and Vitalis Nakrošis seek to assess the main factors that explaining innovations in public sector organizations. The results indicate that the structural capacity is the most important reason behind organizational innovations. In addition, the reader of this year’s Yearbook is invited to find three interest- ing contributions on Lithuania’s five-year membership in the internal market of the EU, EU–Russia relations, and patterns and conflicts in the Baltic Sea region. Darius Žeruolis and Saulius Kolyta argue that membership in the in- ternal market of the EU brought an important additional stimulus for growth 8 PREFACE to the relatively small and open economy of Lithuania. Laurynas Kasčiūnas deals with the question why, despite mutual interdependence, the EU–Russia relations remain based on the principle of “barter” exchange. Analysis sug- gests that the EU–Russia relations are heavily affected by the vacuum of the EU internal integration model in the energy sector. Such vacuum impedes the possibilities to apply the principle of legal reciprocity in relation to Russia. Mindaugas Jurkynas discusses the cooperation prospects of the Baltic Sea region, evaluates the EU’s Baltic Sea Strategy from the Lithuanian perspective. The author concludes that the incompatible modern and post-modern visions in the Baltic Sea region and challenges to the Baltic Sea Strategy do not promise easy regional cooperation in the nearest future. PARLAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN LITHUANIA EXPLAINING PARTISAN LOYALTIES IN LITHUANIA Ainė Ramonaitė, Rūta Žiliukaitė Abstract. This article aims at determining the level of partisan loyalty in Lithuania and exploring the differences between loyal and ‘floating’ voters. Three competing explana- tions of the formation of party loyalties are examined in the paper: a social cleavages theory, a social learning model and a political trust model. In the first part of the paper, the theoretical framework of the analysis is introduced: the concepts of partisan loyalty, party identification and partisan attachment are discussed and the main hypotheses are presented. In the second part, partisan loyalties of the Lithuanian electorate are analyzed and problems of voting stability measurement are discussed. Finally, in the third part of the paper, the hypotheses explaining the stability of electorate, based on three theoretical models, are verified using the post-electoral survey data. The data analysis presented in the paper reveals that the Lithuanian “electoral market” is much more open than that of old democracies of Western Europe: the proportion of loyal voters is half as low as that of ‘floating voters’. The data confirm the hypothesis of a relation between political trust and partisan loyalty of Lithuanian electorate. However, the hypothesis of social learning emphasizing the importance of the experience of participation in democratic processes for the development of the partisan loyalty, ��������������������������������������������and the hypothesis of social cleavage high- lighting the impact of communist–anticommunist division are only partially confirmed by the results of analysis. Introduction One of the most apparent characteristics of the political process of the recent decade in Lithuania is emergence of new political parties and a high instability of the party system. During the parliamentary elections of 2000, 2004 and 2008, a considerable share of votes was captured by political newcomers, i.e. political parties created several months before elections. Moreover, the share of votes received by ‘traditional’ parties sometimes decrease drastically from one election to another, causing a dropout of some parties from the political game. Party system stabilisation is usually regarded as one of the main criteria of the quality of democracy. Several reasons why party system stability is important 12 Ainė Ramonaitė, Rūta Žiliukaitė for the performance of democracy can be mentioned. According to Tavits (2005), “constant fluctuations in party support do not allow parties to make long-term policy commitments, which are necessary for the stable develop- ment of a polity.“ Mainwaring and Zoco (2007) argue that programmatic re- presentation is