Baltic values and corruption in comparative context

Abstract

The Balts may have been pulled mentally into the Soviet cauldron more deeply than they thought it possible, according to the World Values Surveys. These surveys find that opinions can be mapped in two dimensions: traditional/secular and survival/self-expression. Third-world countries are near the traditional-survival corner and Protestant Europe near the opposite secular-self-expression corner. The cases most deviant from this main diagonal are the United States in the traditional yet self-expressive direction and, in the opposite corner, all three Baltic states in the secular yet survival-oriented direction, rather close to the Orthodox societies. The present study also ties the Perceived Corruption Index scores to World Values locations. The conclusion is that in merely adopting Western institutions and other external forms the Balts have reached a stage of diminishing returns. If they wish to join northwestern Europe in a cultural sense, they would have to revise their hard but uncooperative work habits, their attitudes toward foreigners, and the relations between women and men.