Influence of Ethno-Territorial Factors on Electoral Practices in the Baltic States

Abstract

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.