Moulded by the Regime Forever? The Effects of Soviet Identity on Electoral Behaviour in Post-Communist Lithuania

Lithuania is one of the three former republics of the USSR which have undergone successful democratization and integration into EU. A closer look to the political behavior of Lithuanians, however, reveals two distinct societies coexisting under the surface of liberal country: one part of society feels itself an integral part of Western culture, while another part appears continuing to live in Soviet Lithuania. This cleavage of “soviet” and “non-soviet” Lithuania has a strong impact on electoral behaviur. It is, however, not accounted by current status or other socio-demographic factors. The paper explores the determinants of “soviet” and “non-soviet” cleavage in Lithuania using the data from the Lithuanian 2012 post-electoral survey and a survey on the reception of the Soviet regime. The paper claims that current political attitudes and electoral behaviur of the citizens of soviet generation depend on the level of their integration to the Soviet regime in the past.