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This article addresses intersections of migration and economic development as one of the most topical contemporary challenges inthe Baltic states. It uses empirical approach to compare governmental responses to recent economic crisis starting in 2008. Articleanalyses, how these responses were reflected in statistics revealing socio economic dynamic...
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The financial crisis (2008–2009) resulted in significant deterioration of the youth labor market in the Baltic states. In 2017, however, the Baltic states were among the countries with the highest employment-to-population ratio in Europe (the ‘Baltic Miracle’). This article shows that the observed progress is mostly due to the demographic changes i...
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... Although, research reveals that before the economic crisis, family members and informal social networks had a considerable influence on the emigration decision (Maslauskaite and Stankuniene 2007). Other studies point to the decisive role of social policy and austerity impacts during the economic crisis as reasons (Aidukaite and Genelyte 2012;Lulle 2013), ramifying from the global financial to the national fiscal, and finally to a crisis of welfare (Gough 2011). ...
This article connects micro and macro scales of inequality to Lithuanians’ decisions to depart to Sweden during the economic crisis with austerity measures and its aftermath (2008–2013). This period revealed unequal opportunities regarding the quality of life that were largely created by the gradual re-commodification of labor as well as unaddressed income and social inequalities which had existed since the 1990s. Nevertheless, macro inequalities did not directly lead to the exit decision. Rather, this was bound to the individual’s perception of the leaving opportunity and (possible) quality of life for oneself and one’s family across time and space.
... Some recent studies ( Juska and Woolfson 2014;Lazutka et al. 2017;Nowak 2011;Ubareviciene 2017) point to the income, wealth, and social inequalities in Lithuania -not only unemployment and wage gaps between the CEE and the OMS as indicated previously -as drivers of mass emigration. Others (Aidukaite and Genelyte 2012;Lulle 2013) call for an account of the role of social policies in shaping emigration decisions. Despite the broad research on the migration-welfare nexus in the EU context, there is agreement among scholars that it is biased by the countries of destination (Kurekova 2011;Lendvai 2010); the role of social policies in shaping the forms and patterns of emigration remains highly under-researched. ...
This thesis seeks to make both theoretical and empirical contributions to the understanding of intra-EU mobility, with a focus on labour migration from Lithuania to Sweden. Inspired by a critical realist perspective, the thesis aims to help to explain the dynamics and individual decision-making behind mass labour emigration from the Baltic states, its socioeconomic consequences and policy responses. Theoretically, the thesis proposes a model that synthesizes a social transformation approach with an extended version of Hirschman’s analytical framework of exit, voice and loyalty. The three empirical articles, based mainly on semi-structured interviews, are situated within this framework. Two of the articles seek to explain the migrants’ decision-making process of stay-exit-entrance in the context of the structural-institutional social changes that followed (1) independence from the Soviet Union in 1990; (2) EU accession in 2004; and (3) the 2008/2009 economic crisis with austerity. The third article brings into the debate the perspective of the sending Baltic countries, in a broader context of the East-West migration debate.
The dissertation shows that the consequences of the neoliberal policies of the post-communist and post-crisis transformations, together with the construction of formal migration channels after EU accession, constitute various migrant categories. Individual strategies of actively looking for channels to exit and enter, combining them in different ways at various points of the migratory process and establishing informal social networks are re-constituting who can be and who is a migrant. Furthermore, following the economic crisis and austerity measures, the decision to emigrate extends beyond individual survival strategies, instead becoming bound to an individual’s perception of the (ine)quality of life and pursuit of a better quality of life for oneself and one’s family across time and in different places. Finally, as the interviewed Baltic experts agree, the EU’s policy of the free movement is socially and economically problematic, although the official Baltic states’ policy responses focus primarily on ‘talented’ and ‘needed’ diaspora members’ return or engagement. These policies have proved to be inadequate to address demographic and socioeconomic challenges in part brought about by emigration.
The structural-institutional conditions, states’ and migrants’ strategies engender mobility as a social norm in the sending countries and promote and constitute the perpetuation of migration of both ‘precarious labour migrants’ and ‘active talented EU mobile citizens’.
... This led to the situation that a large proportion of the population (particularly young people) did not see a future for themselves in these countries. That is why many people chose to leave their country to seek work, especially in West European countries (Gruzevskis & Blaziene 2013, Lulle 2013, Aidukaite 2011. ...
... [2] As a result, the innovative creations of white-collar specialists in "Economics, Finance, and Insurance & Risk Management" that, at least until 2008, had been called by some "the best and brightest", [3] have caused inter alia: Italian musicians and opera singers to have their annual season curtailed or their contracts annulled;[4] low-income Portuguese pensioners to have their monthly income further reduced; [5] life-saving and serving Greek nurses to lose their jobs; [6] and young Latvian people of working age to emigrate en masse at an unprecedented rate. [7] ...
In this paper, we aim to survey representative constitutional amendments in the European Union’s (EU) area, whether attempted or accomplished, as well as significant adjudications by constitutional bodies. Then, we proceed to assess these legal phenomena in light of human rights jurisprudence. Pivotal reference in our work is the recently released 7th volume of the Annuaire international des droits de l’homme (Athens: Sakkoulas, December 2014), edited by G. Katrougalos, M. Figueiredo and P. Pararas under the aegis of the International Association of Constitutional Law. Not only does this volume comprise the work of some of Europe’s noted constitutionalists, it also addresses the constitutional matters central to this paper in light of human rights jurisprudence, which is the area of expertise of one of the paper’s authors, i.e. Ágúst Þór Árnason, and the area that the other author, Giorgio Baruchello, has construed axiologically as a pivotal instantiation of civil commons, i.e. “all social constructs which enable universal access to life goods”. Have European constitutions continued to function qua civil commons in the crisis years? That, at the deepest level of value scrutiny, is the question that our joint survey and analysis aim to answer.
... [2] As a result, the innovative creations of white-collar specialists in "Economics, Finance, and Insurance & Risk Management" that, at least until 2008, had been called by some "the best and brightest", [3] have caused inter alia: Italian musicians and opera singers to have their annual season curtailed or their contracts annulled;[4] low-income Portuguese pensioners to have their monthly income further reduced; [5] life-saving and serving Greek nurses to lose their jobs; [6] and young Latvian people of working age to emigrate en masse at an unprecedented rate. [7] ...
In this paper, we aim to survey representative constitutional amendments in the European Union’s area, whether attempted or accomplished, as well as significant adjudications by constitutional bodies, since the outset of the ongoing international economic crisis, 2008-2015. We assess these legal phenomena in light of human rights jurisprudence. Pivotal reference in our work is the recently released 7th volume of the Annuaire international des droits de l’homme, edited by G. Katrougalos, M. Figueiredo and P. Pararas under the aegis of the International Association of Constitutional Law. Have European constitutions continued to function qua civil commons in the crisis years? That, at the deepest level of value scrutiny, is the question that our joint survey and analysis aim to answer.
This chapter extends the previous knowledge on the effects of migrants’ transnational lifestyle by studying residential patterns and life preferences of Latvian return migrants and arriving foreigners. We aim to explore the geographies and narratives from interviews with migrants who had shifted to more dynamic and prosperous urban/suburban locations. The contribution sends forward the interplay between immigration and return migration experiences by questioning: (1) What are the migratory flows’ geographical contexts? (2) How do they overlap and illuminate the process of ‘urban drift’? (3) How do the ‘urban drifters’ value their current life preferences and migratory experiences? Using secondary data sources, primary quantitative and qualitative data, the authors illustrate the main migratory flows and groups of transnational migrants.
As the Baltic states commemorated the centenary of their first appearance as independent states in 2018, their celebrations were mixed with feelings of ambiguity about the road travelled since then. Although today we often see Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as 'post-communist' countries, their experience with communism was actually much harsher than in Central Europe, since, for nearly fifty years, the three countries were forcibly a part of the Soviet Union. This has made their journey back into the European community all that more remarkable, and it has also served to keep these countries somewhat more resistant to the dangers of democratic backsliding. After all, their continued independence and well-being are intricately dependent on keeping the European liberal order intact. Nevertheless, the winds of populism have also begun to buffet these three countries, meaning that they have been struggling to keep their balancing act going. This article reviews the development of the Baltic states over the last 20 years, both in terms of domestic politics and EU accession and membership. It profiles the way in which the three countries have been trying to keep their faith in democracy and liberalism alive amidst ever more turbulent political and economic times.
This study investigates the split of national income between labour and capital in Lithuania and its distributional implications. It shows that the neoliberal economic development model embraced by Lithuania since regaining independence in 1991 produced significant economic growth. However, this growth was based on suppressing wages, keeping taxes on capital low and exporting cheap labour to the core EU countries. This resulted in high inequalities in income and wealth that have contributed to a deep socio-demographic crisis in the country. It is argued that in order to make Lithuanian capitalism socially sustainable, the neoliberal model of development needs to be reconsidered and modified.
This article tries to outline the social consequences of neoliberal economic crisis and the domestic austerity policies in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, commonly known as the Baltic states. In order to recover from the shock of global and Eurozone economic crises, since 2008, the Baltic states adopted severe austerity policy comprised of enormous cutbacks of government expenditure in social welfare, health care and education, and labour market reforms that made employment relationships more insecure. Baltic political leaders highlighted their austerity model as the right policy for economic recovery and claimed that it can be emulated by other crisis-stricken countries in Europe. However, the austerity policy’s success claims contradict with its revealing social consequences such as increased national debt, unemployment, out-migration, negative demographic change, poverty, inequality, social exclusion, deterioration in health security and misery to the common people. Moreover, the austerity policy contradicts with the principles of the European Union’s (EU’s) ‘social Europe’ model and representative democracy which prioritize the role of state to guarantee well-being of its citizens. Hence, the social cost of economic crisis and austerity and its implications for sustainable development in the long run in the Baltic states are examined here.
This paper argues that the deep bust and strong recovery of the Baltics were to large extent the result of the sharp adjustment the private sector was forced to go through between 2007 and 2009. When private capital flows suddenly stopped, firms were forced to quickly reduce their net lending gap. They slashed investment and cut costs, including by shedding labor. This led to a deep recession, but also to a sharp improvement in profitability and competitiveness, which set the stage for a subsequent export boom.
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