Perceptions of democracy and conspiracy theories in Latvia

Over the past few years, the European Union has coped with far-reaching political, economic and social changes and a string of successive and sometimes overlapping crises. The financial and economic crisis, refugee and migration flows and the Covid-19 pandemic all underscore both the extent to which our world is interconnected and the vulnerabilities of modern societies. Globalization, digitalization and an all-encompassing information age are indeed providing an unending challenge to all.

GLOBSEC’s report, Voices of Central and Eastern Europe: Perceptions of democracy & governance in 10 EU countries, provides unique insight into public satisfaction with the functioning of democracy and governance in ten Central and Eastern European countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

This study focuses specifically on Latvia. As the Latvian partner within the project, the Centre for East European Policy Studies (Austrumeiropas politikas pētījumu centrs / APPC / CEEPS) has helped to examine the existing trends in the Latvian society.

The key findings of this study are: 

• Latvians are overall satisfied with their life but remain sceptical about functioning of democracy in the country.
• There is a notable sense of media censorship and distrust in mainstream media in Latvia.
• Latvians are more prone to believe in anti-EU conspiracies than to believe in global conspiracy theories.
• European Union is seen as the biggest threat to the Latvian identity and values.

 

Read more in the fact-sheets below (both in English and Latvian).

For more information about Latvia, please visit CEEPS’ website.