A quarterly scholarly journal and news magazine. From the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES) Södertörn University, Stockholm
Looking for back issues of Baltic Worlds? Download as PDF here.27 articles tagged with democracy were found.
The presidential elections of October 27th changed the political landscape of Georgia and showed signs of a mature democracy. The elections marked the end of Mikheil Saakashvilli’s ten year presidency. Giorgi Margvelashvili of the Georgian Dream (GD) won the presidential elections. It was a well administrated election, and the transition of power were peaceful.
On October 9 presidential elections were held in Azerbaijan. As a result of the criticized 2009 amendment to the constitution the two-term limit for the presidency was removedand the incumbent, President Ilham Aliyev, could stand as candidate fora third time. Nobody was surprised when he won again.
Perspectives on the past are charged, not least in Romania. In this issue, Vladimir Tismaneanu, who until May 2012 chaired the Scientific Council of the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile (IICCMER) is interviewed about the links between history and politics in Romania.
The impression is that the Armenian politicians are balancing the expectations of the Armenian public and the International Community. Both government and opposition have to show that they are responsible politicians that will not resort to violence and that are ready to accept defeat and continue constructive dialogue with their political opponents.
Earlier this year in Vilnius, the Socialist People’s Front leader Algirdas Paleckis was fined 10,400 litas (about 3,000 euros) for denying and grossly downplaying Soviet aggression against Lithuania the night of January 13, 1991.
The 2012 parliamentary election is an important step towards the presidential election of 2015. Certainly Victor Yanukovych plans to be reelected to a second term. His strategy for the upcoming years will be to neutralize possible competitors. It is therefore unlikely that Julia Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lursenko will be freed from prison before the presidential election.
The results of Georgia’s October 1 parliamentary elections came as a surprise to most observers, the ruling United National Movement party (UNM) and likely to the leaders of the Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia (GD) opposition coalition itself.
A week before elections the head of the Armenian Central Election Committee announced that the Armenian parliamentary election would be monitored by over 30 000 observers, both foreign and domestic. The elections in Armenia 2012 were far from revolutionary, but perhaps it was a sign of a gradual evolution of Armenian democracy towards normality. The election results have not yet being challenged and parliament is better representing the political forces in the country and the party system is more consolidated.
Andreas Johansson, Dissenting Democrats Nation and Democracy in the Republic of Moldova, Stockholm 2012, Södertörn Doctoral Dissertations 62, 263 pages
Next Sunday, on March 4, presidential elections are held in Russia. The likely winner of the elections, Vladimir Putin, has been known already for five months but during these five months Russian political climate has changed significantly.