Ethnocracy

טיעונינו העיקריים מתמקדים בשתי תכונות מרכזיות, שלא
הובלטו עד היום בניתוח הזהות והתרבות הישראלית: ראשית,
גמישות גיאוגרפית יוצאת דופן העולה מדימויי הזמר העברי
בתיאורי ה”ארץ” וה”מולדת”. גמישות זו מרחיבה ומסיגה את
גבולותיה של המולדת על–פי מיקומו של הלוחם או המתנחל
היהודי האחרון, ומבדילה בין הארץ והנוף האמיתיים,
הקונקרטיים והמסוכסכים, לבין הנוף המדומיין והנכסף של
גיאוגרפיה יהודית–בלעדית. תופעה זו עומדת בניגוד ללאומיות
המדינית המקובלת ברבות מארצות העולם המתבססת על שטח
קבוע יחסית, עליו מובנית הטריטוריאליות הלאומית. שנית,
המימד המנרמל הטמון בזמר המושר, המושמע והמוצג יום–
יום במרחבים הציבוריים והפרטיים. הזמר הופך גיאוגרפיה
מעוותת זו למצב טבעי, נתון, נחשק ורב–יופי. הנרמול מובנה
באמצעות שיח תרבותי עקבי ופרקטיקות חומריות של תכנון,
פיתוח והתיישבות. אלה מוצגות כ"כיבוש השממה" ו"גאולת
האדמה", אך למעשה עוסקות בייהוד הנוף ודחיקתו והעלמתו
של הערבי.

Andrzej Kozicki - książka "Instytucjonalizacja symboliczna w Izraelu" (2019). Ściana Płaczu, Jad wa-Szem, gwiazda Dawida czy wzięte z Biblii hebrajskie nazwy - to wszystko symbole, które organizują współczesny Izrael. To książka o zarządzaniu symbolami. Książka zawiera opis klockowej budowy instytucji Państwa Izrael (konstytucji i systemu prawnego), instytucjonalizacji pamięci narodowej w postaci Jad wa-Szem, delegacji młodzieży i wojska do miejsc Zagłady w Polsce oraz nadawania honorowego obywatelstwa Sprawiedliwym Wśród Narodów, instytucjonalizacji przestrzeni narodowej przez zarządzanie miejscami świętymi oraz hebraizację nazw miejscowych, wreszcie instytucjonalizację żydowskiego i demokratycznego charakteru państwa przez odgórne narzucanie tożsamości oraz odgórne decydowanie kto jest Żydem. Ponadto zawarto artykuły o prezydencjalizacji premiera w Izraelu, o kibucach, o procesie pokojowym oraz zapis wykładu, pytań i odpowiedzi o tym jak się robi politykę w Izraelu. Dołączono teksty źródłowe podstawowych aktów prawnych, konstytuujących Izrael w tłumaczeniu autora książki. Przedmowę do książki napisał Szewach Weiss.

This chapter examines the dynamics of ethnopolitics in Manipur particularly how the state fallsinto 'ethnocracy trap' and thus perpetuate ethnocratic regimes. Rather than looking into thedemand for internal autonomy within the sub-national state by minority groups, the ethnocratic state has been trying to achieve instrumental ends. The denial of 'delimitation' and the SixthSchedule demand in the state has sharpened divisions. The future of the state depends on howethnic aspirations are negotiated and accommodated, and the management of diversity.

Israel has a unique place for the field of constitutional law. Since the founding of the State of Israel, the constitution-making process is still continuing. It can be easily observed that the religion occupies a significant and controversial space in the constitution-making process, creating the Israeli citizen identity, defining Jewishness which obviously forms one of the bases of the state and also in state-citizen relations. It is hard to place the State of Israel in conventional state-religion relation typologies. In this research, State of Israel’s relationship with religion is presented, compatibility of Jewishness and democracy which have their roots in Israeli Declaration of Independence and basic laws are discussed and also concepts of ethnocracy and ethnic democracy are evaluated in order to identify the characteristics of the State of Israel in its relationship with religion.

The present study examines the contemporary Bangladesh–India relationship analyzing the dynamics of geopolitics centring the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA)-2019 in Assam, India. On the basis of secondary data, this paper explores the historical and geopolitical roots of volatile present and uncertain future of the non-registered people, often termed as ‘illegal Bangladeshi migrants’ living in Assam, portrayed by the Indian ethnocratic state sidelining India’s longstanding pluralist traditions and exercises. The central argument of the study is that peddling the issue of ‘illegal Bangladeshi migrants’ by Indian political elites is destined to transcend the boundary infusing hostility in future into Bangladesh–India relationship.

המאמר בוחן את השפעתו של היסוד האתני-הדתי על תפיסת הטריטוריה הריבונית ועל עיצובה, במשטר המנכס את 'המולדת' לאומת הרוב. היסוד הדתי המגויס ללאומיות אתנית של הקבוצה הדומיננטית תוך ביצור הדדי בין דת לבין המדינה בעתות משבר, נוטה למופע פונדמנטליסטי המאופיין בקידוש קנאי בלעדי של הטריטוריה. לכן אטען, כי בהעדר חפיפה בין תפיסת המולדת
של האומה לבין הטריטוריה הריבונית בה חיה יותר מאומה אחת, הקשרים ויחסי הכוח שבין היסוד הדתי הפוליטי לבין הלאומיות האתנית מבנים במדינה התעלמות מריבונות; התנועה הדתית מנצלת את הנגישות הפוליטית ומרחיבה את עוצמתה; וזו מאיצה את שחיקת המבנים הדמוקרטיים. הטיעונים יתבססו
על השוואה בין חקרי המקרה של ישראל וסרי–לנקה, שתי מדינות בעלות מבנים משטריים העונים להגדרה של אתנוקרטיה ויחסי דת-מדינה בשתיהן מתנהלים תוך ביצור הדדי כשהטריטוריה במאבק זה היא מקור הסמכות

This study aims to analyse the nature of the power struggles in the
modern political history of Burundi and the connection of those struggles with the factor of ethnicity. The disruption of traditional systematics of relationships between the social groups with a turbulent transition from the idiosyncratic feudality to a modern nation-state gave rise to a fragmented political structure in the country. Not only the colonialist divide-et-impera strategies of Germany and Belgium but also the exclusivist policies of the post-independence governments fertilised the ethno-politicisation of Burundi. Political domination of an ethnic group (ethnocracy) was reduced to the domination of a clan (clanocracy) during Micombero, Bagaza and Buyoya military regimes. In consequence, both inter- and intra-group power struggles have taken place in Burundian politics, which is manifested again by the failed coup of May 2015. This fact indicates that Burundian politics cannot be explained by stereotypical ethnic identities.

Translation is a form of resistance, but also "the original mother tongue of humankind". With a broad interpretation of the concept of translation, Rada Iveković looks at the principles, concepts and symbolic values of borders and boundaries, at the link between language and national identity (especially in the former Yugoslavia), at the (national) politics of language and of translation, at the role of translation and language politics in transition, at communalism’s and ethnocracy’s attempts at homogenization through language.
http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2005-01-14-ivekovic-en.html

This paper aims to demystify the multi-ethnic model of the democratic form of government, which has been strongly promoted in the international political discourse toward Third World countries. In political science, this concept is actually so controversial and paradoxical, that its (pseudo) scientific use can be interpreted only as an instrument of geopolitical strategies. The author renames it "multi/ethnic democracy" to reveal that its ethnocratic and destabilizing potential overpowers its cooperative intentions. Recent empirical studies have proven the unreliability of this model, but the case study of the Republic of Macedonia has not been included yet. The combined qualitative and quantitative research in this paper shows that in the last 17 years (2001-2018) this inconsistent cross between ethnocracy and democracy in the Republic of Macedonia resulted in a series of conflicting social, political, religious, and cultural circumstances. Instead of improving the civil (trans-ethnical) concept of the state, the ethnic concept grew stronger. In a short time and with hasty constitutional revisions, the former stable national and civil structure was transformed into an entropic structure full of divisions and tensions on ethnic grounds and of fragmentations and isolations on territorial, institutional, linguistic, and cultural grounds, while the existence of the Macedonian ethnos, nation, and state was brought into question.

​تتناول هذه الدراسة طبيعة إسرائيل بوصفها دولة نشأت عن مشروع استعمار استيطاني، وتبيّن أن هذه النشأة ليست مسألة تاريخية فقط، بل هي أيضًا مكوّن رئيس في بنية الدولة وطبيعة المواطنة فيها. وتوضح أيضًا أن إسرائيل تختلف عن الدول الأخرى التي نشأت عن استعمار استيطاني في عرقلة تطبيعها وتحوّلها إلى محلانية؛ لأنّ الفلسطينيين، أولًا، تبلوروا قوميًّا قبل نشوئها، ومن ثمّ لم يتحولوا إلى "سكان أصلانيين" يطالبون بتعويضات وحقوق ثقافية كما في تلك الدول، ولأن احتلال عام 1967، ثانيًا، ليس احتلالًا كلاسيكيًا تمارسه "دولة طبيعية"، بل يشكل استمرارًا للاستعمار الاستيطاني نفسه، وثالثًا لأن إسرائيل، التي أنشأت إثنوقراطية بعد طرد غالبية السكان عام 1948 ومنح الأقلية التي تبقت المواطنة الإسرائيلية، تحولت إلى دولة أبارتهايد بعد احتلال عام 1967 وفرض حكمها على الفلسطينيين الذين لم تطرد غالبيتهم في هذه الحالة، كما لم يمنحوا المواطنة، بل أخضعوا لاحتلال مباشر تحول تدريجيًّا بفعل الاستيطان إلى نظام فصل عنصري.

Individual political rights and civic national identity lie at the core of American democracy, and spreading democracy is a crucial component of American grand strategy. However, American policymakers have often supported the construction of rigid, group-rights-based institutions in ethno-religious conflicts even when the parties were not demanding such institutions. The pursuit of "ethnocratic" solutions not only runs contrary to American ideals, but it is also not pragmatic, in that it enables the creation of regimes that are fragile, divided, and often dependent on outside assistance to maintain peace. This article weighs hypotheses about the sources of foreign policy decision making stemming from three contending Weberian logics of social action: instrumental rationality, normative appropriateness, and habit. Drawing on causal-process observations during crucial decision moments in Bosnia and Iraq, I argue in favor of the plausibility of habit as a driver of U.S. foreign policy. This work furthers the theoretical development of the concept of habit, offers a means of studying social habits empirically, and suggests improvements for American foreign policy in ethnic conflict.

Настоящая справка раскрывает историю преступления против человечности, совершенном членами латышской национал-радикальной части правящей элиты в отношении русского населения Латвийской Республики.
Справка часть иска, поданного 14.06 2017 в Международный уголовный суд

The relationship between religion itself and planning has been explored, but not extensively. Therefore the aim of this study is to illustrate and analyse the role and power of planning in a society divided by religion, using Israel/Palestine as a case study.

Individual political rights and civic national identity lie at the core of American democracy, and spreading democracy is a crucial component of American grand strategy. However, American policymakers have often supported the construction of rigid, group-rights-based institutions in ethno-religious conflicts even when the parties were not demanding such institutions. The pursuit of " ethnocratic " solutions not only runs contrary to American ideals, but it is also not pragmatic , in that it enables the creation of regimes that are fragile, divided, and often dependent on outside assistance to maintain peace. This article weighs hypotheses about the sources of foreign policy decision making stemming from three contending Weberian logics of social action: instrumental rationality, normative appropriateness, and habit. Drawing on causal-process observations during crucial decision moments in Bosnia and Iraq, I argue in favor of the plausibil-ity of habit as a driver of U.S. foreign policy. This work furthers the theoretical development of the concept of habit, offers a means of studying social habits empirically, and suggests improvements for American foreign policy in ethnic conflict.

Radziecki internacjonalizm jako forma realizacji komunistycznego projektu imperialnego na Ukrainie W książce znanego ukraińskiego dysydenta Iwana Dziuby Internacjonalizm czy rusykacja po raz pierwszy poddano kompleksowej analizie zjawisko radzieckiego internacjonalizmu, ukazując polityczne i etniczne podłoże tej koncepcji ideologicz-nej (dzisiaj w większości mitologizowanej) i polityki, jak również cel jej utworzenia i wdrożenia 1. Niestety, musimy stwierdzić, że dzisiaj na Ukrainie problemy podnie-sione przez ukraińskiego uczonego nie tylko nie straciły na znaczeniu, ale nawet stały się jeszcze bardziej aktualne. Ukraińska rewolucja narodowa w latach 1917–1921 była pierwszą w XX w. próbą odbudowania państwowości na ziemiach ukraińskich. Jednak w związku z uwarun-kowaniami geopolitycznymi i słabością sił narodowych (co zdaniem Richarda Pipesa było decydującym czynnikiem) niezawisłości i niepodzielności Ukrainy nie udało się obronić przed bolszewicką agresją wojenną. Ukraina weszła w skład ZSRR, którego ustrój opierał się na przemocy oraz na demagogii społecznej i narodowej. W kraju zaprowadzono totalitarny reżim komunistyczny, przyniesiony tu na rosyjskich bag-netach 2. Tak jak za czasów imperium rosyjskiego, Ukraińcy w ZSRR mieli status mniej-szości etnicznej. Mimo formalnych oznak państwowości (istnienie granic, symboli państwowych, organów władzy państwowej, odrębnej konstytucji itp.) w tym okresie Ukraińcy nawet na własnych terytoriach byli " podporządkowaną większością ". Przyjęty i rozpropagowany jako podstawa narodowego budownictwa w ZSRR, internacjonalizm stał się narzędziem i formą realizacji radzieckiego komunistyczne-go projektu imperialnego. Dzisiaj większość badaczy nazywa ZSRR imperium radzie-ckim, które w znacznej mierze odziedziczyło nie tylko terytorium byłego imperium

On April 30, 2021 during the biggest pilgrimage in Israel no less than 45 people were crushed to death and hundreds were wounded. This catastrophe found me while I am working on a book on the politics of the sacred and part of a research group (urbanity and religion) at the Max Weber Kolleg at Erfurt University. Prof. Susanne Rau challenged me with some astute questions about this event and this is the outcome of our Q&A - in this short essay I make the connections among pilgrimage, religion, infrastructures against the logic of ethnocracy and current political situation in Israel

Öz
Bu çalışmanın amacı İsrail'de uygulanmakta olan mevcut demokrasi modelini demokrasinin tarihsel süreç içerisinde geçirdiği evreler ışığında çözümlemek, bu demokrasi uygulamalarının neden olduğu toplumsal sonuçları tespit ve tahlil edebilmek, bu sayede etnik demokrasi modelinin tetikleyebileceği ya da etki edebileceği bölgesel/ uluslararası düzeydeki muhtemel gelişmeleri öngörebilmektir. Demokrasinin günümüze kadar geçirdiği değişimlere yer verilen çalışmada uluslararası ilişkiler literatüründe fazla bir geçmişi olmayan etnik demokrasi kavramı, diğer demokrasi modelleri ile karşılaştırılarak ulus-devlet, azınlık hakları, sivil haklar, vatandaşlık statüsü, etnisite, izolasyon gibi hususlar çerçevesinde incelenmiş ve eksik yanları ortaya konulmaya çalışılmıştır. İsrail'deki mevcut demokrasi modelinin gelişiminde ülkenin içinde bulunduğu güvenlik sorununun önemli etkilerde bulunduğu düşüncesinden hareket edilmiş ve kaynak taraması bu varsayım temelinde yapılmıştır. Çalışma İsrail Devleti'nin kurulduğu 1948 yılından günümüze kadar olan bölümü kapsamaktadır. Ancak bu tarihler arasındaki uygulamaların anlaşılabilmesi için Yahudi ve Filistinli kimliklerinin oluşumuna etki eden tarihsel süreç de incelenmiş ve çalışmada buna yer verilmiştir. "Aynı devlet çatısı altında farklı vatandaşlık statüsü"nden yola çıkılarak; İsrail Devleti'nin bu uygulamasının Batılı anlamda bir liberal ya da oydaşmacı demokrasi olamayacağı düşünülmüştür. Bu bağlamda, İsrail Devleti'nin demokrasi adına yürütmekte olduğu politikaların demokrasinin antik çağdaki en ilkel haline benzediğine ve bunun da tarihin seyrine zıt olarak ülkeyi geriye doğru götürdüğü kanaatine varılmıştır. Bu seyir devam ettiği takdirde tıpkı 1700'lü yılların sonundaki aydınlanma döneminde olduğu gibi, ayrılıkçı politikaların tetikleyeceği özgürlükçü hareketin, İsrail Devleti'nin mevcudiyetine zarar verebilecek bir noktaya götürebileceği sonucuna ulaşılmıştır.
Abstract
The aim of this article is to analyse the current democracy model in Israel in light of the historical phases of democracy; determine and dissect the social outcomes of these democracy applications; and, by this way, foresee the possible developments that ethnic democracy model could lever and effect at regional and international levels. In this study, where democracy's revolution is handled; ethnic democracy, as a recent concept in international relations literature, is argued out within the framework of nation-state, minority rights, civil rights, citizenship status, ethnicity and isolation concepts by comparing with other democracy models and its deficiencies are studied. The literature view has been built on the idea of existing model of democracy development in Israel in the effects of national security problems perspective. The study covers the period from the year 1948, when the Israeli State is declared, up to day. However, to make the applications clear between these dates, the historical process shaping the Jewish and Palestinian identities is also reviewed and included in the study. The image of “different citizenship status in the same country” made us think that this practice of the Israeli State could not be of a Western style liberal democracy or a consociational democracy. In this context, the opinion is that the Israel’s policies carried out in the name of democracy resembles the most primitive form of democracy in ancient times and in contrast with the historical flow, it takes the country backwards. It is concluded that if this reverse flow continues, like in the enlightenment period during the ends of 1700s, libertarian movement grew out of separatist policies could end up with a threat to Israeli State’s existence.

With its independence in 1948, Sri Lanka enshrined the sole human rights protection in its first post-colonial constitution. Art. 29.2 aimed to safeguard minority rights in this multi-religious and multi-cultural country. This approach, however, never translated into actual protection of the country’s minorities. Minorities’ rights were deliberately targeted to expand public space for the ethnic majority, the Sinhala. Sri Lanka shifted from parliamentary democracy to a militarised ethnocracy, perpetuating the Sinhala-Buddhist approach to nation-building, while alienating and isolating minorities – such as the largest minority group, the Tamils. The two autochthonous constitutions from 1972 and 1978 were, as renowned human rights scholar Dr. Neelan Thiruchelvam formulated, instrumental to further foment the ethnocratic state order. Against this background, the conflict/civil war between the Sri Lankan government and Tamils/Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam can be seen as an illustration of Foucault’s theory of biopolitics where the social body must ensure the maintenance of its survival, is entitled to kill others and wars are carried out to ensure its own existence. This leads to the following questions, which the paper aims to answer: was post-colonial nation-building in Sri Lanka based on ethnocidal politics to either assimilate or annihilate minorities within Sri Lankan ethnocracy? In consequence, if ethnocidal politics drove ethnocratic nation-building in Sri Lanka, isn’t the failure to accommodate the right to internal self-determination opening the gates to the right to external self-determination of the Tamils, giving effect to art. 1.2 of the United Nations Charter and being a precursor for a remedial right to secession?

The existence and role of the Palestinian parties in Israel highlight the contradictions of the Israeli political system. These contradictions have been accentuated after seventy years of state experience and with the non-resolution of the conflict. Israel is presented as a competitive liberal democracy but its operation is certainly anomalous because it systematically excludes a part of the actors due to the fact that they are not considered legitimate actors because they are not part of the nation and are alien to the founding ethos of the State. In recent years Palestinian parties in Israel have gained particular prominence in the political debate and on the parliamentary scene, and the latest electoral cycle has made them the main opposition force in the Knesset. This represents a new phase of sharpening the contradictions of the system and a illustrative expression of the Israeli ethnic democracy or ethnocracy

יישוב הנגב לאחר הקמת המדינה התבסס בעיקרו על הגירות כפויות. האחת, העברת הבדווים שנותרו ברחבי הנגב לאזור הסייג, שבין דימונה, באר שבע וערד. - . השנייה, אכלוס ערי הפיתוח ביהודים מצפון אפריקה, שהיגרו לישראל בשנות ה 00
מאמר זה מבקש לטעון, כי תשתית חברתית של אזור השעונה על מדיניות של הגירות כפויות ) Tarton, 2008 ( כאמצעי מרכזי לעיצוב המרחב החברתי, תהפוך את האזור לשולי ומוחלש.
הטיעון יבוסס באמצעות ההתבוננות בתהליכי הבנייה של חברה פריפריאלית, כפי שעוצבה בספר הנגב. כמו כן, יתבונן המאמר בהשלכות של הגירות אלה על המשך המדיניות ליישוב הנגב וידגים זאת בשני חקרי מקרה: האחד ידגים שימוש באסטרטגיית הניוד במקרה של ביטול ההכרה בשני יישובים בדוויים, עתיר/אום-
אלחירן ותל ערד; והשני, ידגים אסטרטגיה "עוקפת ערים" על רעיון הקמתו של חבל - "מבואות ערד" בנגב.

This article questions the notion of 'consociational democracy'. It argues that it rests on shaky ground, empirically and conceptually. As an empirical matter, a consociation is inherently unstable because it tends either to collapse into ethnoicracy (where the power is shared by the main ethnic groups so that citizens who do not belong to them are politically marginalized) or to become a non-consociational, liberal democracy. At the conceptual level 'consociational democracy' is an impossibility because a polity cannot be both consociational and democratic. This article argues that consociations can be at best demoicracies-that is, polities composed not of a single demos but of multiple demoi. Yet the problem of stability remains. The article concludes with the suggestion that the stability problem can be addressed by adopting a weak form of demoicracy-the 'demoi-within-demos' constellation-where a thin demos coexists with multiple demoi.

Автор рассматривает институциональные процессы формирования региональных этнократий и предлагает использовать современные институциональные технологии и методы социальной вакцинации для дерадикализации социально-политических процессов на Юге России.

This is an abstract for a paper that will be presented at the RC 21 conference 'Ideal City' on August, 2015 in Urbino, Italy.
The presentation will discuss specific aspects of a local housing crisis in Israel - its definition and attempted solution by the state according to ethnoclass divisions - as state strategy for sustaining its ethnocratic-capitalist regime.
A final version will be uploaded here after the conference.

With its independence in 1948, Sri Lanka enshrined the sole human rights protection in its first post-colonial constitution. Art. 29.2 aimed to safeguard minority rights in this multi-religious and multi-cultural country. This approach, however, never translated into actual protection of the country’s minorities. Minorities’ rights were deliberately targeted to expand public space for the ethnic majority, the Sinhala. Sri Lanka shifted from parliamentary democracy to a militarised ethnocracy, perpetuating the Sinhala-Buddhist approach to nation-building, while alienating and isolating minorities – such as the largest minority group, the Tamils. The two autochthonous constitutions from 1972 and 1978 were, as renowned human rights scholar Dr. Neelan Thiruchelvam formulated, instrumental to further foment the ethnocratic state order. Against this background, the conflict/civil war between the Sri Lankan government and Tamils/Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam can be seen as an illustrati...

Экономический кризис обострил межпартийные противоречия и ослабил общественную поддержку проводимого внутриполитического и внешнеполитического курсов в странах Балтии (Литве, Латвии, Эстонии). Наиболее значимым вопросом в сфере внешней политики, по которому возникли расхождения между основными политическими партиями (правящими, оппозиционными парламентскими,  так называемыми «русскими»), стала естественная необходимость отказа от прежней односторонней евро-атлантической внешнеполитической и внешнеэкономической ориентации. В центре политической дискуссии стала  потребность в  переходе к более сбалансированным отношениям с Россией и другими восточными соседями. Отношение к этой проблеме стало определяющим в ходе недавнего политического кризиса в Латвии, а в Литве и Эстонии привело к изменению внешнеполитической риторики оппозиционных партий. Если в Литве о наличии партийного консенсуса говорить с определенной долей условности представляется возможным, то в Латвии и Эстонии внешнеполитическая стратегия, осложняемая нерешенностью внутриполитических национальных и языковых проблем, является предметом столкновения позиций правящей правоконсервативной коалиции и социал-демократической оппозиции. Таким образом, перед основными общественными и политическими силами стран Балтии встала задача поиска нового консенсуса по внешнеполитическим вопросам с целью эффективного развития национальных экономик в условиях роста финансово-экономической нестабильности в ЕС и в мире и поддержания общественного единства.
The economic crisis fueled contradictions among the parties and weakened public support of internal and external policies of the Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia). Natural necessity to abandon previous one-sided Euro-Atlantic foreign political and foreign economic orientation in favor of more balanced approach towards relations with Eastern neighbours (primarily with Russia) has become the issue of key importance that turned out to be a stumbling block for main political parties (ruling parties, opposition, so called ‚Russian‘ parties) in the Baltic states. The attitude to this problem became crucial during recent political crisis in Latvia, whereas in Lithuania and Estonia it led to changing rhetoric on foreign political issues by opposition parties. It is possible to nominally define the political situation in Lithuania as partisan consensus, whereas in Latvia and Estonia foreign political strategies complicated by unresolved domestic ethnic and language minorities problems are a battlegroud for ruling right-wing conservative coalitions and social-democratic oppositions. So, main social and political forces in the Baltic states faced the task to find a new consensus on foreign political issues in order to efficiently develop national economies under the conditions of financial economic turbulence in the EU and worldwide as well as to support social unity.