ABSTRACT
Latvia's economy boomed much as Estonia's. It likewise crashed terribly because of the global recession and socialist excesses of its politicians. All in all, Latvia's political system shares many of its features with those of Estonia and, to a lesser extent, Lithuania. The circumstances for Lithuania then may be a bit different than for Estonia and Latvia. Initially, Lithuania was forced to implement the Polish "Solidarity" way under much more adversarial circumstances. Since 1992, Lithuania has experienced fifteen governments; eleven chiefs of cabinet, including two who served twice and three interim; and seven heads of state, one of them acting president. Some of the most notable facts about Lithuania's presidents highlight the concerns about the nefarious influence of the Soviet legacy. They also reflect what can be termed as the neutral cruelties of democracy in the post-Communist context, where neither de-Communization nor lustration occurred.
