Traditional Active or Postmodern Citizens? Citizenship Practices Among Young People in Lithuania

Democracy is rather fragile, when it is based on formal democratical institutions. Support for govermental institutions and citizen participation in the process of political governance is an essential condition for the functioning of democracy and ensuring the stability of society.

The focus of this paper is to identify and to investigate citizenship practices among youth in Lithuania. What groups of young people in Lithuania may be distinguished in accordance with their level of interest in politics, political efficacy and participation in political acts? What are the factors that determine the differences between youth groups? What are the causes and explanations of different patterns of citizenship practices between youth groups?

Based on the survey conducted in Lithuania in 2010 and 40 semi-structured interviews, the paper draws conclusions that three groups of young citizens (trustful voters, distrusful active, distrustful non-active) may be indentified and they significantly differ by age, membership in nongovernmental organizations, self-expression, satisfaction with life and evaluations of procedural justice. From theoretical perspectives of active traditional and postmodern citizenship, the characteristics of identified groups are mixed, because of socioeconomic and cultural conditions in Lithuania.