Lithuania
Country in N Europe, bounded N by Latvia, E by Belarus, S by Poland
and the Kaliningrad area of Russia, and W by the Baltic Sea.
Government
Under the 1992 constitution, which is modelled on that of 1938, Lithuania
is a democratic-pluralist state, with a predominantly parliamentary
form of executive, although the president retains considerable
power in the selection of a prime minister. There is a 141- member
parliament, the Seimas, directly elected for a four-year term.
The president, who must be at least 40 years old, is similarly
elected for a maximum of two consecutive five- year terms. With
the approval of parliament, the president appoints a prime minister,
who shares executive power with a council of ministers.
History
Lithuania became a single nation at the end of the 12th century. The
Teutonic Knights (German crusaders) who attempted to invade in
the 13th century were successfully driven back, and Lithuania
extended its boundaries in the 14th century to reach almost as
far as Moscow and the Black Sea. In 1386 Lithuania was joined
with Poland in a mutually beneficial confederation. The two eventually
became a single state 1569, and came under the control of the
Russian tsar 1795. Revolts 1831 and 1863 failed to win independence
for the state, and a more organized movement for the independence
of Lithuania emerged in the 1880s. When self-government was demanded
1905, this was refused by the Russians.
Struggle for independence
During World War I Lithuania was occupied by German troops. After the
war, it declared independence but the USSR claimed Lithuania as
a Soviet republic 1918. Soviet forces were overthrown by the Germans,
Poles, and nationalist Lithuanians 1919, and a democratic republic
was established. This was in turn overthrown by a coup 1926 and
the new president, Antanas Smetona, assumed increasing authority.
In 1939 Germany took control of part of Lithuania, handing it
to the USSR later the same year. In 1940 Lithuania was incorporated
as a constituent republic of the USSR, designated the Lithuanian
Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1941, after German troops had invaded
the USSR, Lithuania's nationalists returned briefly to power and
assisted the Nazis in the swift systematic slaughter of more than
130,000 Lithuanian Jews, communists, and other `undesirables´
. The Germans occupied Lithuania 1941-44, after which Soviet rule
was restored. Fierce guerrilla resistance to the `sovietization´
policies of forcible agricultural collectivization and persecution
of the Roman Catholic Church continued until the 1950s.
An intelligentsia- and Roman Catholic Church-led dissident movement
was in place during the 1960s and 1970s, and this grew in strength
during the 1980s, influenced by the Polish example and the glasnost
(`political openness´) and perestroika (` economic restructuring´)
policies espoused by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. A popular
front, the Sajudis (Lithuanian Restructuring Movement), was formed
Oct 1988 to campaign for increased autonomy, and in the same month
the republic's supreme soviet (state assembly), to the chagrin
of Russian immigrants, decreed Lithuanian the state language and
readopted the flag of the independent interwar republic. In Dec
1989 the republic's Communist Party split into two, with the majority
wing formally breaking away from the Communist Party of the USSR
and establishing itself as a social- democratic, Lithuanian-nationalist
body. A multiparty system was established and the Sadjudis-backed
proseparatist candidates secured a majority in the Feb-March 1990
elections. In March 1990 Vytautas Landsbergis became president
and Lithuania unilaterally declared its independence. The USSR
responded by imposing an economic blockade, which was lifted July
1990 after the supreme council agreed to suspend the independence
declaration.
In Jan 1991, Soviet paratroopers briefly seized political and
communications buildings in Vilnius that had been nationalized
by the Lithuanian government after it had rescinded its declaration
of independence. Thirteen civilians were killed in the attack,
which increased ethnic Lithuanian support for independence, and
in a national referendum Feb 1991 90% of voters backed re-establishment
of an independent Lithuania.
Independence achieved
After the failure of the Aug 1991 attempted anti-Gorbachev coup in
the USSR, Lithuania's declaration of independence was recognized
by the Soviet government and Western nations Sept 1991. The new
state was granted membership of the United Nations, and the Communist
Party outlawed. The nationalists, who had been accused of mismanaging
economic reform, enduring a crushing defeat in elections Oct-Nov
1992 to a new legislature, the Seimas. The ex- communist Democratic
Labour Party (LDLP), now a social-democratic force, won a parliamentary
majority, and in Feb 1993 its leader Algirdas Brazauskas was directly
elected president, pledging more gradual and less painful free-market
reforms. Adolfas Slezevicius became prime minister. The Sajudis
was replaced by a new party, the Homeland Union -Lithuanian Conservatives
(Tevynes Santara), led by former president Landsbergis.
The last Russian troops departed in Aug 1993, and in Sept Lithuania
entered into a free-trade agreement with the other Baltic States,
Estonia and Latvia. A friendship and cooperation treaty was signed
with Poland April 1994, and in the same year Lithuania applied
for NATO membership. In June 1995 Lithuania signed a trade and
cooperation agreement with the European Union. In March 1996 Slezevicius
was forced to resign over his involvement in a banking scandal
and was replaced as prime minister by Laurynas Stankevicius. Ceslovas
Jursenas became head of the LDLP. Following elections Nov 1996,
a new conservative coalition was formed, led by Gediminas Vagnorius,
a reform-minded economist, and dominated by the Homeland Union,
in alliance with the Lithuanian Christian Democratic Party (LKDP)
and Lithuanian Centre Union.
In the presidential election in Jan 1998 Valdas Adamkus was
elected president of the country. He pledged to develop Lithuania's
integration with Western Europe and to deepen its links with the
USA.
Economy
During 1993 the Lithuanian economy remained in severe recession. By
1996, although the bulk of the economy was in private hands, the
rate of growth of the economy was very slow and Lithuania lagged
behind its Baltic partners, Estonia and Latvia, in terms of economic
reform. The rate of unemployment was 8% and inflation stood at
25%.
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