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The monograph is devoted to topical problems of socio-economic, demographic and political development of Poland and the Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia). The main features and tendencies of development of military-political situation in the Baltic region are considered. It is intended for specialists engaged in studying the economic, political and geopolitical aspects of the development of the Baltic region, teachers and university students.

This article investigates the Popular Front of Latvia, a public ethnopolitical movement that substantially contributed to the independence of the modern Republic of Latvia. The study aims to identify how much the movement influenced the development of ethnic nationalism, which has become essential to statehood and the identification of politics. It continues to reinforce group inequality in this multiethnic country. The article describes the background and main landmarks of the movement. Content analysis of manifestos has been carried out to trace changes in the Popular Front’s ideological vision. It is shown that the shift in priorities that took place during the 1988—1991 struggle for Latvia’s political and economic independence led to a non-democratic political regime. Particular attention is paid to the movement’s proposals concerning the principles of statehood restoration and citizenship acquisition as well as to approaches to solving ethnic problems. The focus is on why and under what circumstances the Popular Front dissolved itself and the supra-ethnic opposition, its main rivals, left the political scene. It is argued that the Popular Front of Latvia created conditions both for the titular nation taking precedence over other ethnic groups and for the exclusion of one-third of the country’s resident population from political life. It is concluded that, as the movement transformed and gradually abandoned its democratic principles, it became the main vehicle for the institutionalisation of ethnic nationalism in Latvia.

The article reveals the problems of the influence of ethno-territorial factors on electoral behavior in the Baltic states. Particular attention is paid to the issues of settlement, the formation of local ethnicities and the related effects of ethnic voting, changes, and sustainability of electoral preferences. The article analyzes a vast array of statistical data on the ethnic structure of individual administrative units of the Baltic states, on the results of elections and the development of ethno-political processes in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Based on formalized criteria, an initial working typology of ethnicities is proposed with their division into perfect, imperfect and areas of relative ethnic parity. Considerable attention is paid to revealing the assumption about the uneven manifestation of ethnic voting, even in ethnic groups close in their ethno-demographic characteristics. As the analysis deepens and checks the initial provisions on the longevity of ethnicities, the stability and volatility of electoral preferences, the correlation between ethnic settlement and ethnic voting, the authors come to clarify the working typology by ranking the Baltic ethnicities according to the influence of ethno-territorial factors on electoral processes. Based on the study of individual practices of political subjects in the development of ethnic localities, an attempt was made to schematize the foundations of the ethno-territorial differentiation of the Baltic states. In conclusion, the essence of the uneven influence of ethno-territorial factors is revealed, a refined typology of ethnicities in the Baltic states is proposed, considering several indicators.