Comparing Populist Political Parties in the Baltic States and Western Europe

Paper seeks to answer two questions – which parties in the three Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) can be classified under label populism and do they indicate any similarities with populist parties in Western Europe. Paper starts with setting up indicators that identifies populism, namely reference to the people, anti-establishment rhetoric and introduction of direct democracy instruments. These indicators are then analyzed by their presence or absence in electoral manifestations of all political parties in the Baltic’s that have gained success in last parliamentary elections. Second part starts with brief identification of main reference points of populist parties in Western Europe such as – anti-immigrant, anti-globalization and anti-EU attitudes, law and order, and presence of charismatic leadership. Later these reference points are examined in detail within those parties that, according to analysis, are classified as populists in Baltic countries. Analysis leads to conclusion that there are not only populist parties in the Baltic States, even more – almost every party includes some aspects of populism. There is also a difference within Baltic States themselves, pointing that populism is more widespread in Lithuania than among parties in Estonian and Latvian political systems. Secondly, analysis did not indicated on fundamental similarities among populist parties in Baltic countries and Western Europe.