Deeds and Days / Darbai ir Dienos

How Andrei Sakharov became a democrat

Benjamin Nathans — 2025-04-17

The article examines the intellectual and political development of Andrei Sakharov from trusted Soviet nuclear physicist to dissident supporter of democracy. It is revealed how Sakharov came to accept and support the idea of democracy, especially taking into account the importance of human rights and the rule of law. The author emphasizes Sakharov’s approach to the free dissemination of information and intellectual competition as essential values of a democratic society. Strongly influenced by his disputes with Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Sakharov eventually abandoned his initial skepticism towards democracy and became a staunch supporter of the multiparty system. Particularly important in this journey was the effort to integrate human rights into the process of political decision-making. Sakharov strongly believed that effective and humane governance was impossible without this integration. The article also discusses the current political situation in Russia, emphasizing the impunity of Vladimir Putin’s activity and the absence of political, institutional and legal constraints, which threatens the development of democracy in the country. The author of the article claims that without a substantial internal desire for democratic political competition within Russian society, Western efforts will not be sufficient for democracy to take hold in Russia.

From black and white to shades of grey: towards a multidimensional perception of history summary and reflections on the 7th international Leonidas Donskis memorial conference

Neringa Gališanskytė — 2025-04-17

Tango takes two: the contribution of Lithuanian state leaders in creating a supportive environment for diaspora engagement – the case of Vytautas Landsbergis

Ilona Strumickienė — 2025-04-17

The restoration of independence in 1990 highlighted the role of Vytautas Landsbergis, the first head of the re-established Lithuanian state. He played a key part in strengthening ties with the Lithuanian diaspora. Under his leadership, transformative initiatives were launched to involve Lithuanians abroad in shaping the nation’s future. Their contributions were recognized as vital to achieving independence. Efforts to develop a diaspora policy also began, aiming to integrate Lithuanians abroad into Lithuania’s political, economic, and cultural life. Landsbergis fostered a partnership with the diaspora, encouraging it not only to support Lithuania’s independence but also to contribute to the development of the newly forming state’s well-being. However, early legal acts related to diaspora sparked debate. Although citizenship and property restoration laws sought to maintain a legal connection with the diaspora, restrictions on dual or multiple citizenship and requirements for permanent residence in Lithuania did not align with the expectations of the diaspora. Nevertheless, Landsbergis’ initiatives laid the groundwork for long-term ties between the diaspora and Lithuania, and his efforts created conditions for the development of these relations, even if the political decisions of the time were limited by the realities of the period. According to researchers like Jennifer M. Brinkerhoff, effective diaspora policy requires institutional capacity and a legal framework designed to foster and enhance emigrants’ active participation in the nation’s life. Landsbergis’ contribution, though somewhat ambiguous due to certain legal restrictions, was significant – he set the directions and foundations of diaspora policy that encouraged the diaspora to contribute to the creation of an independent Lithuania’s future.

The role of student associations in interwar Lithuanian civil society

Martynas Butkus — 2025-04-17

The interwar Lithuanian civil society was characterized by a pronounced ideological fragmentation, wide networks of diverse ideological organizations, and functioning under authoritarianism. Student organizations became an important part of these associational networks, and their involvement provided significant intellectual and administrative support to various associations statewide. The article aims to reveal the main features of student associational life at Vytautas Magnus University and its place in the interwar Lithuanian civil society. To achieve this goal, it first examines how the number of VMU student associations and their membership evolved, how they differed in terms of their purpose and worldview, and how the regulation of university associations differed from the country’s general laws. Finally, the paper attempts to shed light on the reasons behind the high level of student organization, the expectations of society towards students, and the main areas of student civic engagement.

From Jucewicz’s Jurata to Kvapil’s Rusalka: the reflections of the Lithuanian literary plots about the love between a man and a deity in the nineteenth-century Czech culture

Halina Beresnevičiūtė-Nosálová — 2025-04-17

The article explores the reception of nineteenth-century love stories between a goddess and a man, displayed in Polish-Lithuanian romantic literature, in the contemporary Czech cultural press. It also points to a possible influence of those stories on the libretto of Antonin Dvořák’s Rusalka by Jaroslav Kvapil. Ludwik Adam Jucewicz’s Jurata, the Baltic Queen, was published in Czech. Józef Ignacy Kraszewski’s Witolo rauda and his libretto to Stanisław Moniuszko’s cantata Milda were not translated but appreciated and repeatedly remembered in the Czech cultural press. Even though it is not possible to hint at the intertextuality among Polish-Lithuanian and Czech fiction in a stronger than hypothetical manner, the libretto of Rusalka resembles Adam Mickiewicz’s ballad Świtezianka by its means of poetical expression and by the thematization of the different erotic expectations of the male and female heroes. Kraszewski’s influence, most probably mediated by Julius Zeyer’s works, may be seen in the suicidal behavior of the prince.

JOURNEY TO BELONGING AND INTEGRATION

Rūta Petrauskaitė — 2025-04-17

JOURNEY TO BELONGING AND INTEGRATION

Rūta Petrauskaitė — 2025-04-17

Challenges and Integration of National Minorities in Lithuania: Policy Directions and Perspectives of Cooperation

Dainius Genys — 2025-04-17

Return of the Baltic Countries to the Development Status in the Free World

Vylius Leonavičius — 2025-04-17

A case study on the power of global crises to build or divide communities

Rubin Zemon — 2025-04-17

Globalization and migration(s) – a view from Southeast Europe

Petar Atanasov — 2025-04-17

Migration as a quest for better living is a never-ending phenomenon, and millions of migrants, even today, are still on their way to the more developed parts of the world. On the one hand, the question arises whether the phenomenon seems to be slowly changing its former characteristics in the era of the latest globalization processes. On the other hand, migrations for a long time used to be heading from the South to the North and from the East to the West, at least for the last couple of centuries, something that is not the only case anymore. In this paper, the main goal is to analyze: first, the current process and what is new about globalization; second, the latest phenomena of migrations and the individualization of migration; third, the connectedness and interdependence between the two categories, including some of the gains and losses; and fourth, shed more light on migration in Southeast Europe and consequences for the migrant-sending and migrant-receiving countries.

Liberal or mixed democracy? Concepts of citizen group democracy in Lithuania

Jūratė Imbrasaitė — 2025-04-17

Citizens’ satisfaction with democracy and political approval are essential for ensuring the stability and longevity of democracy in a country. The configurations of citizens’ conceptions of democracy shape their expectations and can impact support for democracy. This paper aims to identify which conceptions of democracy are shared by Lithuanian citizens and what factors influence their conceptions. A latent class analysis of the data (European Social Survey, Lithuania 2022) identified four different configurations of democratic conceptions (liberal, mixed, social populist, and minimal). The configurations of citizens’ conceptions of democracy are statistically significantly related to age, education, income, emancipator values, interpersonal trust, religiosity, and interest in politics.

Navigating the socio-cultural junctures: challenges of Ukrainian integration in Lithuania

Dainius Genys — 2025-04-17

This article explores the integration challenges Ukrainian refugees face in Lithuania through the lens of Giddens’ Structuration theory. By analyzing how socio-demographic factors such as age, gender, income, and education influence refugees’ agency and interaction with social structures, the article seeks to identify key barriers to integration and propose insights for improving policy responses and social services to better enable and empower refugees. Anthony Giddens’ Structuration theory allows us to explain the participation of Ukrainian refugees in the life of the Lithuanian state. Ukrainians are seen as social actors performing the agency while creating their lives in Lithuania, which impacts some public service institutions and, at the same time, the social practices of the population. The theory makes it possible to highlight and show Ukrainians as reflective and critical-thinking actors who act purposefully to improve their life conditions. It also shows the extent of change occurring in time and space, acting as individual actors and/or as a mobilized social group.

Analyzing Lithuanian parliamentary discourse on Ukrainian refugees by applying text analysis tools

Aušra Urbanavičiūtė — 2025-04-17

The article examines how members of the Lithuanian Seimas refer to Ukrainian refugees by investigating the linguistic patterns used by Lithuanian politicians in Lithuanian Seimas’ parliamentary sessions. The research applies the Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK), a Python library commonly employed in computational linguistics, and LitLatBERT, complemented by manual analysis. The study explores how Lithuanian politicians frame Ukrainian refugees linguistically by focusing on lexical aspects, mainly definitions of and references to refugees and modality. The article’s broader aim is to showcase how NLTK libraries and the transformer-based deep learning model LitLatBERT can be combined with methods of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to analyze Lithuanian parliamentary discourse.