Political behaviour, subjectivity and contention

The main focus of our research group is political behaviour, political attitudes and subjectivity with a specific interest in communist and post-communist legacies. Under the communist regime, societies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) underwent a drastic social experiment. Understanding the effects and measuring the longstanding impact of this experiment on current CEE societies are among the main goals of our group. Building on new theoretical approaches (e.g. relational sociology) and advanced methods of social science (quantitative as well as qualitative), and in-depth knowledge of the Lithuanian society, we seek to reveal peculiarities of (post)communist societies.

The group has been working together for more than ten years. It has successfully implemented numerous research projects on a number of salient topics – development of the Lithuanian civil society and national party system, cultural opposition in Soviet Lithuania and roots of civic movement ‘Sąjūdis’ in the late 1980s, among others. The research group is responsible for the Lithuanian National Election Study. We collaborate with researchers of national elections studies in other countries under the framework of the COST action “True European Voter” and inside the network of comparative Studies of Electoral Systems (CSES). The research group has also developed a Voter Advice Application (VAA) for Lithuania, and it collaborates with VAA developers across Europe (EUvox). Besides the socio-political analysis of the current Lithuanian society, we work on the historic-anthropological research on the Lithuanian everyday life, social networking and cultural resistance during the Soviet period, as well as the memory of the Soviet in the present.

We have expertise in analysing political behaviour using different inter-disciplinary methods (survey data, survey experiments, in-depth interviews, oral history, social network analysis). Our team is experienced in carrying out large scale public opinion surveys (Lithuanian post-election surveys, European Values Survey, Lithuanian Civic Empowerment Index, etc.), and qualitative studies of political attitudes. We seek partnership with similar groups in other countries, especially focusing on post-communist societies, to engage in comparative research of political behaviour, social
movements and memory.

Research outcomes: 

• 8 books and numerous articles in peer-review journals
• Lithuanian National Election Study 2012 and 2016
• Voting advice application (VAA) in Lithuania (www.manobalsas.lt) implemented for parliamentary, presidential and EP elections since 2008

Prizes and Awards:

• Lithuanian Academy of Science Prize for Young Researchers in 2006
• Lithuanian Political Science Association Award for the Best Political Science Publication of 2007
• Lithuanian Political Science Association Award for the Best Political Science Publication of 2010
• Lithuanian Political Science Association Award for the Best Political Science Publication of 2012
• Vilnius University Award for the Best 2014 Publication in Social Sciences and Humanities

Resources:

• Database of in-depth interviews collected since 2003 with ordinary citizens of Lithuania and elites
• Oral history archive on Soviet and post-Soviet transformations http://www.memory.tspmi.vu.lt
• An archive of public opinion survey data and political elites surveys (since 2005)