ABSTRACT Title: RETURNED DIASPORA, NATIONAL IDENTITY AND POLITICAL LEADERSHIP IN LATVIA AND LITHUANIA Jennifer Annemarie Skulte, Doctor of Philosophy, 2005 Directed by: Professor Vladimir Tismaneanu Department of Government and Politics The dis sertation looks at the phenomenon of diaspora political participation in their homelands through focusing on one aspect of diaspora homeland political action: holding political leadership positions in the homeland. Specifically, the research asks: When are returned diasporans able to enter into political leadership in their homelands and how do they act as political leaders ? Furthermore, does this hold across countries or are the factors allowing for returned diaspora to become political leaders country - specific ? The research focuses on two of the three Baltic states, Latvia and Lithuania. Each country has witnessed significant returned diaspora participation in national political leadership as well as share a number of characteristics . In the research, when and how returned diaspora enter political leadership and how they act as political leaders in the countries is investigated through intensive field work and other research, analyzed , and then compared across countries. Characteristics that differentiate returned diaspora individuals from non-returned dias pora, here, “natives,” are highlighted and analyzed. Overall, the research and analysis yields three important findings. Return diaspora enter homeland political leadership when there ar e political opportunities to do so. These opportunities are created by regime change, how political institutions and proce sses are structured and how national identity is formally and informally defined. Furthermore, returned diaspora political leaders display characteristics and actions that seem to be rooted in both their experience and time abroad as well as rooted in their identity as members of diasporas with strong ties to specific homelands. They also act in the political realm in different ways r elative to natives and draw support and information from different national and international networks. This research adds to the body of knowledge on the institutional and cultural legacies of Sovietization. The research also highlights the importance of how national identity is defined in creating political opportunities for returned diasporans to enter homeland politics. While the case of diaspora impact on postcommunist Baltic politics may be rooted in a specific historical context, the more genera l impact of diasporas on politics in their homelands is a phenomenon with which not only academia but real politics will need to contend. RETURNED DIASPORA, NATIONAL IDENTITY AND POLITICAL LEADERSHIP IN LATVIA AND LITHUANIA By Jennifer Annemarie Skulte Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park , in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2005 Advisory Committee: Professor Vladimir Tismaneanu, Chair Professor Michael David -Fox Professor Bartlomiej Kaminski Professor George Quester Professor Karol Soltan ©Copyright by Jennifer Annemarie Skulte 2005 To Elias – Whateve r you can dream, you can do. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want to extend my sincerest thanks to professors, students and staff with whom I have worked at the University of Connecticut and then at the University of Maryland. In particular, my time at College Park would have been filled with infinitely more bureaucracy had it not been for the professionalism, efficiency and warmth of Ann Marie Clark of the Department of Government and Politics. I also want to thank Shibley Telhami for teaching me so much about international relations though the lens of Middle East politics. I particularly appreciate Karen Dawisha’s commitment to the development of young scholars, her keen intellect and her wonderful sense of humor. I would like to thank Vel lo Pettai, a returned diasporan who is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Tartu in Estonia, and who gave me the idea to focus on political elites as a means of analyzing diaspora and homeland relations. The staff of ALA and JBANC as wel l as individuals at the Embassy of Lithuania here in Washington were incredibly helpful in sharing their thoughts on returned diaspora political leadership as well as names of individuals they thought I should interview. Terry Clark and Edward Rhodes were instrumental in getting me started on the ground in Lithuania and Latvia with contacts at the universities and among the native political analysts. The East European Studies program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, especially its director, Marty Sletzinger, provided me with crucial support through the Junior Scholars Training Seminar and the Short -Term Grant program (both Title VIII funded programs), allowing me to focus for a time solely on the writing of this dissertation. CIES/ IIE was and my current employer AED has been supportive of my professional and intellectual development outside of my day -to -day work – something that I have deeply appreciated. iii Particular thanks go the returned diaspora political leaders who spent considerable time talking with me about my research. I hope that my work does their words, thoughts and experiences justice. The support and constructive criticism of my Dissertation Support Group was invaluable. I would also like to particularly thank Beat a Czajkowska, a Ph.D. of this department, and Professor Terry Clark of Creighton University, who read the entire manuscript and provided crucial comments and recommendations. I greatly appreciate the time and intellectual energy of my Ph.D. committee memb ers: Karol Soltan, Bart Kaminski, George Quester and Michael David -Fox as well as the chair of the committee, Vladimir Tismaneanu. I consider myself very lucky to have had the opportunity to work directly with Vladimir, a leader in his field as well as an individual highly committed to the pursuit of individual freedom. He also provided an excellent role model for intellectual inquiry, kindling an excitement of learning about both the broad sweep and minute details of communist and postcommunist realities and myths in Central and Eastern Europe. He also has been highly supportive of my professional development beyond the dissertation. I greatly appreciate the support and encouragement of my parents, Edmund and Jackie, as well as the rest of my family. My brother, Erik, was always good for keeping me fed early in my grad school years. My sister, Gillian, was particularly helpful in spending time with Elias while I finished up writing. My sister, Bambi, was a constant source of encouragement and support. My sincerest thanks go to my husband, Makram, who read and critiqued countless drafts, took over household duties so that I could get in extra work on the dissertation and who made it clear that he had utmost faith in me to finish the project I had sta rted. Last, while many rightly note that becoming a parent iv means having to find innovative and more efficient ways to do scholarly work, I also feel that becoming a parent has made me see the importance of dedication to a long-term and challenging goal mo re clearly than ever before. Therefore, I dedicate this to my son, Elias. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication………………………………………………………………………………...ii Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………….…...iii Chapter 1: Introduction……………………………………………………………………1 The Baltic Di asporas – Uniquely Common……………………………………….4 Life in the Diaspora and Return to the Homeland………………………………...9 The Importance of the Story………………………………………..……………10 The Research Agenda……………………………………………………………13 Chapter 2: Laying the Theoretical and Definitional Foundations………………………19 Introduction………………………………………………………………………19 The Literature on Diaspora – Myths, Realities and Debate……………………...23 Tying National Identity and Diaspora Together Theoretically…………………..27 Political Leadership in Postcommunist Space ………………………………… 30 Returned Diaspora, Elites and the Postcommunist Landscape – Bringing It Together………………………………………………………………………….36 Chapter 3: Methodology ………………………………………………………………...41 Overview…………………………………………………………………………41 Genesis of Topic…………………………………………………………………42 Research Design………………………………………………………………….46 Case Choice……………………………………………………………………...48 Similar but not the same…………………………………………………50 Data Collection…………………………………………………………………..53 Possible Critiques and Responses to Them……………………………………...62 Conclusions……………………………………………………………………....66 Chapter 4: Brief Country Review ……………………………………………………….67 The Pre -Independence Period……………………………………………………68 The Triumph of the Nation………………………………………………………72 Regime Change Means Elite Change……………………………………………79 Baltic Identity in the Face of Repression………………………………………...82 The Movement Toward Independence…………………………………………..84 Nation-states Reborn…………………………………………………………….92 Diaspora Involvement in the Homeland…………………………………………95 The Nations Reunited? Diaspora Return to the Homeland……………………...97 Conclusions……………………………………………………………………..100 Chapter 5: Return Diaspora, Political Leadership and Postcommunist Latvia and Lithuania …………………………………………………………………...102 A Few Notes……………………………………………………………………102 De ciding to “Return”…………………………………………………………...105 Shared Returned Diaspora Characteristics……………………………………...107 Characteristics of Returned Diaspora Political Leaders………………………..110 Homeland “Reaction” to Returned Diaspora…………………………………...118 The Contradict ions of Homecoming……………………………………119 “An American in America and an American