Politicians and History: Conceptions of History by Algirdas Brazauskas and Vytautas Landsbergis

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Lithuanian title: Politikai ir istorija: Algirdo Brazausko ir Vytauto Landsbergio istorijos sampratos

Publishing date: 2010

Publisher: Vilniaus universiteto leidykla

Language: Lithuanian, English

Pages: 143

 

Description:

The aim of the study is to reveal the relations between A. Brazauskas and V. Landsbergis’ historical and political views. The author notes that A. Brazauskas’ and V. Landsbergis’ dilemma identified during the period of the revival has transformed into a symbol of the bipolar scheme of the Lithuanian politics and a historic metaphor. The author claims that the opinion that A. Brazauskas is a political pragmatic and realist while V. Landsbergis is an idealist, is superficial. The author claims that A. Brazauskas’ concept of Lithuanian cultural identity and politics corresponds to standards of the romantic idealism of the 19th century, whereas, V. Landsbergis’ attitudes towards Lithuanian cultural identity are more of a nominalist nature. It is emphasised in the article that A. Brazauskas’ attitudes are more nationalistic than those of V. Landsbergis. In addition, A. Brazauskas cannot imagine Lithuania’s integration into the western civilisation without the Catholicism and he is a more coherent follower of the idea of a national state than V. Landsbergis, who is primarily interested in Lithuania as a political reality. The author claims that V. Landsbergis is a more creative geopolitical thinker than A. Brazauskas, who offers to adjust to the current political situation. V. Landsbergis supports political activity, provocation and geopolitical experiments. A. Brazauskas is usually described as a representative of a technocratic attitude towards politics. However, the research indicates that the technocratic attitude towards politics is more a characteristic of V. Landsbergis, who offers various geopolitical systems and attempts to use changes in the international environment.

 

Cite as: Lopata, R. (2010) Politikai ir istorija: Algirdo Brazausko ir Vytauto Landsbergio istorijos sampratos = Politicians and history: conceptions of history by Algirdas Brazauskas and Vytautas Landsbergis. Vilnius: Vilniaus universiteto leidykla.