Domestic contestations in Lithuania's foreign and security policy

Abstract

Our focus is on how Lithuania's foreign and security policy was impacted by domestic contestations and external pressures during the 2014–2019 period. We argue that Lithuania's foreign and security policy has been heavily influenced by personal preferences of political elites, especially President Grybauskaitė, whose decisions and actions defied the often-expected small state behavioural norms and policy choices. We begin with a brief overview of research on domestic contestations, and its relevance in examining Lithuania's foreign and security policy. We then analyse three selected micro-cases – Lithuania's position regarding the European Union refugee relocation mechanism adopted in 2015; Lithuania's vote supporting the 2017 UN resolution on “The status of Jerusalem”; and, Lithuania's 2015 decision to reintroduce conscription – to show how Lithuanian policymakers and the President have navigated between the pressures from international organisations and various domestic actors. Our findings indicate that domestic constraints, both vertical and horizontal, often had little impact on Lithuania's foreign and security policy decision-making process because President Grybauskaitė and her personal preferences were the crucial determinants in shaping Lithuania's foreign and security policy in the three micro-cases examined. We also conclude that due to Grybauskaitė’s strong personality, she succeeded in establishing the presidential office as the most important institution in Lithuania's foreign and security policy, thus emerging as an uncontested winner from various domestic power struggles.