Post-Soviet Transitions of the Planned Socialist Towns: Visaginas, Lithuania

"Visaginas, formerly Sniečkus, (Lithuania) was built as a planned socialist town and a satellite settlement to the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. Both the plant and the town were established in order to integrate Lithuania into the All-Union economic structures via the energy supply system,. The specific characteristics of the town were a particular mono industry, high living standards, ethnic composition (mostly Russian speaking migrants, Lithuanians as minority), absence of any history prior to 1973 and strong pro-Soviet attitudes. For years, it was a success story and the vanguard site of the socialism. After the declaration of Lithuanian Independency in 1990, the town became the site of tensions and uncertainties. The aim of this research study is to illuminate how post-Soviet transition has been experienced by this particular type of community shaped by socialism. Community experiences are retrospectively reconstructed via content analysis of the local media. The particular characteristics of the town (ethnic composition, employment structure, etc.) made the process of transition extremely complicated. While other planned socialist towns established new identities and new trajectories of development, in the case of Visaginas, not the future, but the past played a crucial role in shaping the town’s identity." (author's abstract

Post-Soviet Transitions of the Planned Socialist Towns: Visaginas, Lithuania

Visaginas, formerly Sniečkus, (Lithuania) was built as a planned socialist town and a satellite settlement to the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. Both the plant and the town were established in order to integrate Lithuania into the All-Union economic structures via the energy supply system,. The specific characteristics of the town were a particular mono industry, high living standards, ethnic composition (mostly Russian speaking migrants, Lithuanians as minority), absence of any history prior to 1973 and strong pro-Soviet attitudes. For years, it was a success story and the vanguard site of the socialism. After the declaration of Lithuanian Independency in 1990, the town became the site of tensions and uncertainties. The aim of this research study is to illuminate how post-Soviet transition has been experienced by this particular type of community shaped by socialism. Community experiences are retrospectively reconstructed via content analysis of the local media. The particular characteristics of the town (ethnic composition, employment structure, etc.) made the process of transition extremely complicated. While other planned socialist towns established new identities and new trajectories of development, in the case of Visaginas, not the future, but the past played a crucial role in shaping the town’s identit

Sovietinio laikotarpio kasdienybės – išgyvenimo strategijos ideologijų sankirtose

Here in this paper, theoretical premises of subaltern studies, post-colonialism and pop-culture studies are applied for analysing Soviet popular consciousness and Soviet subjectivities. The research is based on the theoretical principles of subaltern studies, i.e., the ability of human consciousness to transform, appropriate and “consume” the dominant structures of meaning for individual purposes. The primary focus of this research is the “silent majority”, people who have not been either political activists or opponents of the regime. It is explored, on the basis of multiple interviews, how ideologies operate at the level of everyday life, how people perceive and interpret both official Soviet ideology and traditional pro-catholic upbringing. Particular aspects addressed in this article are the official Soviet and traditional religious holidays, church attendance and membership in official Soviet organisations, memories of the independence period, oral histories about deportations and informal knowledge about better living in the “West” as opposed to official Soviet propaganda and historiography.Šiame straipsnyje siekiama pritaikyti subaltern, postkolonializmo ir popkultūros teorijas analizuojant sovietinio subjekto santykį su oficialia sovietine ideologija ir tradicine, prokatalikiška morale. Čia remiamasi pamatiniu subaltern studijų principu – kad subjekto sąmonė nėra tabula rasa, į kurią dominuojantis režimas „įrašo“ pageidaujamas reikšmes, o subjektas geba aktyviai dalyvauti kuriant prasmes. Straipsnyje, remiantis atliktais interviu, analizuojama, kaip ideologijos funkcionuoja kasdienio gyvenimo situacijose ikiteorinio žinojimo lygmeniu vėlyvuoju sovietmečiu Lietuvoje

Postmodernioji galios epistema ir jos raiška Lietuvos viešajame diskurse

The aim of this article is to analyze the postmodern episteme of power and its outlines in Lithuania. Postmodern concept of power and discursive regime of truth is analyzed following the theoretical premises of poststructuralist theories by J.–F. Lyotard and J. Baudrillard. Credibility of postmodern discourse in Lithuania is being proved by illuminating and developing the concept of double modernization of Lithuania and devaluation of two projects of modernity, the soviet one and the national one. The model of national modernity replaced the devaluated model of soviet modernity in Lithuania after 1990. The national modern system of signs and symbols, inherited partly from early twentieth century, experienced a deep crisis in approximately 1993: credibility and implied self evidence of the meta language of national rebirth has been destroyed; systematic exploitation of remains of the meta language, its signs and symbols, turned out to normative and commercially successful activity; and finally parody, former shadow of reality, overshadowed the reality itself. The postmodern discursive regime of truth and power emerged in Lithuania from the crisis of modern meta language of national rebirth.Straipsnyje, remiantis poststruktūralistinėmis J.–F. Lyotard’o bei J. Baudrillard’o teorijomis, analizuojama diskursyvi galios raiška Lietuvoje; plėtojama Lietuvos visuomenės dvigubos modernizacijos koncepcija; nagrinėjamas dviejų modernybės modelių nuvertėjimas; aptariama moderniosios ženklų ir simbolių sistemos krizė Lietuvoje ir susiformavęs postmodernus viešasis diskursas, kurį apibūdina referentinio principo atsisakymas, nepasitikėjimas ženklų ir simbolių sistemomis bei simuliacinė retorika

Sovietinės modernybės virsmas: nuo Černobylio bei Ignalinos iki Žaliųjų judėjimo ir Sąjūdžio

The modern governments are conceived as to draw their legitimacy based on universal rational knowledge and the concept of controllable and calculable risks as a tool for ensuring progress and welfare of society. The multiple risks and uncertainties of modernisation that the governments were incapable to deal with caused a deficit of legitimacy and institutional ambiguity (or the institutional void as Hajer suggested calling it). Consequently, new actors and new political arenas or spaces have emerged and are expected to lead to institutional innovation. The Soviet system represents the version of the modern state which based its legitimacy on the principle of rationalism applicable towards external nature and was challenged by multiple risks and side effects of its industrial development that led to the deficit or even absence of legitimacy. The crisis of legitimacy of the Soviet state and institutional void, this paper argues, was a key premise for the former Soviet republics such as Lithuania to restore its’ statehood and indepe­ndence in search of new democratic participatory modes of governance. The theoretical perspective based on governance transformations induced by the crisis of legitimacy, uncertainties of modernisation and institutional void in the former Soviet system of governance is illuminated by two empirical cases rooted in the nuclear energy sector, namely the accident at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine in 1986, and public controversy around the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant in Lithuania.Modernios valdžios institucijos grindžia savo institucinius pamatus bei legitimaciją universaliu racionaliu žinojimu, o šis žinojimas neatsiejamas nuo kontroliuotinos ir apskaičiuotinos rizikos, – neatsiejamo visuomenės pažangos atributo. Iš Apšvietos laikotarpio kildinama racionalaus pažinimo, objektyvaus, racionalaus mokslo ir progreso samprata buvo pasitelkiama modernių valstybių, siekiant pateisinti jų vykdomą politiką, sprendimus bei prievartą individo atžvilgiu. Vėlyvuoju modernybės laikotarpiu sparti mokslo raida ir intensyvi industrinė plėtra sąlygojo naujų rizikų atsiradimą, kurių modernusis mokslas nepajėgė išspręsti. Daugialypė modernybės rizika ir neapibrėžtumai, su kuriais susidūrė šiuolaikinių valstybių valdžia, ėmė ilgainiui kelti jų legitimumo stoką bei tam tikrą institucinę krizę, kurią kai kurie autoriai (Hajer 1995) pavadino instituciniu vakuumu (tuštuma). Savo ruožtu, į politinės viešosios raiškos erdvę ėmė kilti nauji veikėjai, naujos politinės terpės, kuriose per naujas legitimacijos paieškas, naują socialinių veikėjų raišką, ėmė rastis naujo pobūdžio socialinių arba institucinių naujovių – inovacijų – prielaidos ir galimybės. Dėl daugialypių modernizacijos rizikų ir neapibrėžtumų, iš esmės keičiasi politinis landšaftas: galia jau nebėra sukoncentruota formaliose valdžios institucijose, o plėtojama pilietiniu įvairių suinteresuotų grupių dalyvavimu grindžiamais sprendimų priėmimo procesais. Šiame straipsnyje nagrinėjami du sovietinio laikotarpio paskutiniųjų metų atvejai: Černobylio katastrofos bei Ignalinos atominės elektrinės dilemos, atspindinčios tiek institucinės tuštumos (ar bent neįgalumo) tezę, taip pat naujo pobūdžio socialinių bei institucinių erdvių, kuriose galima įžvelgti naujo pobūdžio pilietines naujotvaras, užuomazgas. Straipsnyje Černobylio ir Ignalinos atvejai nagrinėjami remiantis moderniomis bei postmoderniomis socialinėmis teorijomis, kurių interpretacijai pasitelkiama gana gausi, ypač lietuviškosios realybės, empirinė medžiaga

Rusijos energetinis imperializmas: pasaulis, nužymėtas dujotiekio vamzdžiais

Energy imperialism refers to the use of natural resources for political purposes, i.e. weaponization of energy. At the state level, it means specific institutional structure, as the state building is predetermined by oil led developments. At the international level, it means international nets of energy dependency, centered around the mother state possessing oil, gas and other natural resources. In a paradox way, the so called Western world (Western Europe and North America) becomes increasingly dependent on the former colonies and Russia on energy supply. The paper examines issues of Russian energy imperialism in Central and Eastern Europe

Paldiski : archeology of imperial and post­imperial consciousness

New Eastern Europe Online edition: ISSN 2084-400XVytauto Didžiojo universiteta

[Review]: Our lady of the nations

Vytauto Didžiojo universiteta