After the Referendum: Militant Democracy and Nation-Building in Latvia

During the years 2011–2014, Latvia experienced a significant increase in the adoption and use of militant democracy measures—constitutional amendments, refusals of party registration, restrictions on referendums and popular initiatives. These events, triggered by a widely attended referendum on the introduction of Russian as the second state language, highlighted the problematic relations between democracy and nation-building in Latvia. Despite earlier expectations that the original militancy of Latvian democracy would decrease with the gradual integration of the Russophone minority, recent developments show that the defence of a particular type of nation-building has become an integral part of Latvian democracy. Contrary to earlier attempts to describe Latvia as an example of ethnic democracy, this article argues that the nation-building proceeds on the basis of a not fully consistent combination of elements of ethnic and liberal republican approaches.