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Engl. Zsfassung u.d.T.: Time and stones : conceptions of cultural heritage in modern Lithuania

This article discusses a direction of sociocultural studies – the cultural history of natural resources – and the possibilities of its application in examining the causes of inequality and social exclusion in post-Soviet Lithuania. This theoretical-methodological approach assumes a strong interdependence shared between the extraction of natural resources, a state's political system and institutions as well as certain sociocultural provisions. In exploring the concept of "internal colonization," developed by historian of culture Alexander Etkind and other authors, this article sets guidelines for a comparative analysis of the sociopolitical structure of post-Soviet countries (especially Russia and Lithuania). Some initial hypotheses regarding the trends, differences, and similarities of post-Soviet societies in the long historical perspective, from the 16th century up to our time, are presented for further analysis. This article concludes that this methodological approach could be sufficiently promising in explaining the specifics of the socioeconomic development of independent Lithuania, in particular by applying the hypothesis of a "secondary internal colonization," which has been raised during the course of the investigation.

This article discusses a direction of sociocultural studies– thecultural history of natural resources– and the possibilities of its application in examining the causes of inequality and social exclusion in post-Soviet Lithuania. This theoretical-methodological approach assumes a strong interdependence shared between the extraction of natural resources, a state's political system and institutions as well as certain sociocultural provisions. In exploring the concept of "internal colonization," developed by historian of culture Alexander Etkind and other authors, this article sets guidelines for a comparative analysis of the sociopolitical structure of post-Soviet countries (especially Russia and Lithuania). Some initial hypotheses regarding the trends, differences, and similarities of post-Soviet societies in the long historical perspective, from the 16th century up to our time, are presented for further analysis. This article concludes that this methodological approach could be sufficiently promising in explaining the specifics of the socioeconomic development of independent Lithuania, in particular by applying the hypothesis of a "secondary internal colonization," which has been raised during the course of the investigation. ; Straipsnyje aptariamos naujos sociokultūrinių tyrimų krypties– kultūrinės išteklių istorijos– teorinės ir metodologinės prielaidos bei jų taikymo galimybės nagrinėjant nelygybės ir atskirties priežastis posovietinėje Lietuvoje. Ši tyrimų kryptis akcentuoja poreikį tirti gamtos išteklių gavybos, politinių institucijų ir sociokultūrinių nuostatų giluminius sąryšius. Remiantis kultūros istoriko Aleksandro Etkindo ir kitų autorių plėtojama "vidinės kolonizacijos" koncepcija, tekste formuluojamos posovietinių šalių (ypač Rusijos ir Lietuvos) lyginamųjų sociopolitinės sąrangos tyrimų prielaidos bei pirminės hipotezės, siekiančios užčiuopti jų raidos ypatumus, skirtumus bei panašumus ilgesnėje istorinėje perspektyvoje, nuo XVI a. iki šiol. Daroma išvada, kad šis metodinis vertinimas gali būti pakankamai perspektyvus toliau aiškinantis nepriklausomos Lietuvos socioekonominės raidos ypatumus bei visuomenės kultūrines nuostatas, ypač taikant tyrimo metu iškeltą "antrinės vidinės kolonizacijos" hipotezę.

The article surveys questions related to the situation of the communist elites of allied Soviet republics during and after the collapse of the USSR. The author analizes the questions whether qualitative and quantitative changes happened in the highest layers of the power or the alterations were nominal. What actions had the major significance for the maintenance of the Soviet nomenclature power during the Soviet system's fundamental breakdown – the character and strength of the local nomenclature's social networks, their flexibility and adequacy when reacting to the sudden changes of the sociopolitical situation in the metropoly of the Soviet empire and in the national borderlands, the authority and personal charisma of local political leaders, the character of relationships between them and the political-administrative establishment of the centre, and with the emerging alternative local forces or more general geopolitical circumstances? The role of social groups involved into the processes of the perestroika, democratization in the change or maintenance of the communist elites are also discussed in the article. With reference to the biograms of the "last" first secretaries of the CP of allied republics, their generative, professional, and political experience is analyzed, and the given information allows to label them as "ideological" or "technocracy" wing of the party's high nomenclature. The article shows the number of the "lasts" first secretaries of the CP who managed not only to keep their positions and real influence in the post-Soviet transitional period, but also managed to become high officials, leaders and even presidents of new independent countries. On the basis of the Baltic countries transiting to the liberal democracy, the group of states ruled by so-called "competitive authoritarianism" and the authoritarian Central Asian republics, the article analyzes how and why national elites managed not only to adapt to the ongoing sociopolitical changes, but also had been able to control and direct them to the profitable direction. According to the latest studies of transitology and historiography of this topic, the author seeks to explain why the real scale of changes of the highest power elites of the former Soviet republics was relatively low. ; Straipsnyje analizuojamas SSRS sąjunginių respublikų komunistų partijos elito likimo klausimas Sovietų Sąjungos žlugimo metu ir po jo. Svarstoma, ar nepriklausomybę paskelbusių valstybių aukščiausiuose valdžios sluoksniuose išties įvyko kokybinis ir kiekybinis pokytis, o gal jis buvo tik nominalus? Analizuojama, kokie veiksniai turėjo didesnę įtaką sovietinės nomenklatūros galios išlaikymui fundamentalaus santvarkų lūžio metu: lokalinių nomenklatūrų socialinių tinklų pobūdis bei galia, lankstumas ir adekvatumas reaguojant į staigius sociopolitinius pokyčius sovietinės imperijos metropolijoje bei pačiose sąjunginėse respublikose, vietos lyderių visuomenėje turimas autoritetas ir asmeninė charizma, susiklostę ryšiai tarp jų ir centro politinių administracinių viršūnių ar geopolitinės aplinkybės. Aptariamas ir į perestroikinės demokratizacijos procesus įsitraukusių visuomenės grupių vaidmuo keičiantis ir išliekant elitui.

The article surveys questions related to the situation of the communist elites of allied Soviet republics during and after the collapse of the USSR. The author analizes the questions whether qualitative and quantitative changes happened in the highest layers of the power or the alterations were nominal. What actions had the major significance for the maintenance of the Soviet nomenclature power during the Soviet system's fundamental breakdown – the character and strength of the local nomenclature's social networks, their flexibility and adequacy when reacting to the sudden changes of the sociopolitical situation in the metropoly of the Soviet empire and in the national borderlands, the authority and personal charisma of local political leaders, the character of relationships between them and the political-administrative establishment of the centre, and with the emerging alternative local forces or more general geopolitical circumstances? The role of social groups involved into the processes of the perestroika, democratization in the change or maintenance of the communist elites are also discussed in the article. With reference to the biograms of the "last" first secretaries of the CP of allied republics, their generative, professional, and political experience is analyzed, and the given information allows to label them as "ideological" or "technocracy" wing of the party's high nomenclature. The article shows the number of the "lasts" first secretaries of the CP who managed not only to keep their positions and real influence in the post-Soviet transitional period, but also managed to become high officials, leaders and even presidents of new independent countries. On the basis of the Baltic countries transiting to the liberal democracy, the group of states ruled by so-called "competitive authoritarianism" and the authoritarian Central Asian republics, the article analyzes how and why national elites managed not only to adapt to the ongoing sociopolitical changes, but also had been able to control and direct them to the profitable direction. According to the latest studies of transitology and historiography of this topic, the author seeks to explain why the real scale of changes of the highest power elites of the former Soviet republics was relatively low.