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Community Building In Ethically Restructured States: The Baltics, Dovile Budryte

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Drawing on democratic theory, this dissertation explores a thesis that the experience of ethnic restructuring significantly effects the ability of a democratizing state to successfully consolidate its emerging democracy. Ethnically restructured states, it is hypothesized, have an especially hard time creating inclusive democratic political communities, which is a necessary prerequisite for a consolidated democracy.

To test the thesis, the comparative case study method is applied to the ethnically restructured states of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. The goal of the case studies is to examine the approaches that the Baltic states used to reduce polarization. The historical background to the case …