This article is a case study of the recent impeachment of President Paksas of Lithuania, exploring the heuristic value of Carl Schmitt's extremalist methodology for research on the institutional dimension of democratic consolidation. This methodology considers the performance of the democratic regime under extreme or exceptional conditions as the test of its consolidation. As presidential and semipresidential regimes are predisposed to evolve into authoritarian regimes and delegative democracies, effective use of the impeachment procedure can be considered to be the positive Schmittean test of the state of democratic consolidation for a political system involved in democratic transition.
See Joseph Bendersky , Carl Schmitt: Theorist for the Reich ( Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983); David Dyzenhaus, Legality and Legitimacy: Carl Schmitt, Hans Kelsen, and Hermann Heller in Weimar (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997); Duncan Kelly, The State of the Political. Conceptions of Politics and State in the Thought of Max Weber , Carl Schmitt and Franz Neumann (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003); George Schwab, The Challenge of the Exception: An Introduction to the Political Ideas of Carl Schmitt between 1921 and 1936 (New York: Greenwood Press, 1989).
2.
See Max Weber, "Der Sinn der `Wertfreiheit' der soziologischen und der ökonomischen Wissenschaften," in Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Wissenschaftslehre. 5. Aufl. (Tübingen: J.C.B.Mohr, 1982), 496.
3.
Carl Schmitt, Politische Theologie: Vier Kapitel zur Lehre von der Souverenität. 2. Aufl . (München: Duncker & Humblot , 1934), 22.
4.
Carl Schmitt, The Concept of the Political, trans. and with an introduction by Georg Schwab (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1996), 26.
5.
Schmitt, Politische Theologie, 11.
6.
See Samuel P. Huntington , The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991).
7.
See Guillermo O'Donnell, Philippe C. Schmitter, and Laurence Whitehead , eds., Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies (Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1986).
8.
See, for example, Beverly Crawford and Arend Lijphart, eds., Liberalization and Leninist Legacies: Comparative Perspective on Democratic Transition ( Berkeley: University of California, 1997); Jon Elster et al., Institutional Design in Post-Communist Societies: Rebuilding the Ship at Sea (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998); Graeme Gill, Democracy and Post-Communism. Political Change in the Post-Communist World ( London: Routledge, 2002); Herbert Kitschelt et al., Post-Communist Party Systems. Competition, Representation, and Inter-Party Cooperation, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999); Fritz Plasser, Peter A. Ulram, and Harald Waldrauch, Democratic Consolidation in East-Central Europe (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1998); Geoffrey Pridham and Paul G. Lewis, eds., Stabilising Fragile Democracies. Comparing New Party Systems in Southern and Eastern Europe (London: Routledge , 1996); Geoffrey Pridham and Attila Agh, eds., Prospects for Democratic Consolidation in East-Central Europe ( Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2001); Hubert Tworzecki, Learning to Choose. Electoral Politics in East-Central Europe (Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003); Barbara Wejnert, ed., Transition to Democracy in Eastern Europe and Russia. Impact on Politics, Economy and Culture ( Westport, CT: Prager, 2002).
9.
Huntington, The Third Wave , 266-267.
10.
Adam Przeworski , Democracy and the Market. Political and Economic Reforms in Eastern Europe and Latin America (Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1991 ), 74-79.
11.
See Juan J. Linz and Alfred Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996), 6ff.
12.
On the concept of "delegative democracy" see Guillermo O'Donnell, "Delegative Democracy," Journal of Democracy, 5:1 (1994), 55-69; Ibid., " Illusions About Consolidation," Journal of Democracy, 7:2(1996), 34-51; Larry Diamond, Developing Democracy. Toward Consolidation (Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins University Press, 1999), 31-34.
13.
See Juan J. Linz, "Transitions to Democracy," Washington Quarterly, 13:2 (1990), 156.
14.
I do not assume that that Schmitt's "extremalism" can be useful only for the problems related to the "horizontal accountability" (political institutionalization), or applicable only to the countries involved in democratic transitions. There are many kinds of extreme or exceptional conditions that both consolidated and unconsolidated democracies face. They include war and, most topically, terrorism.
15.
Česlovas Ž Laurinavičius, "'Kito pasirinkimo' paskirtį suprasčiau kaip naują Sąjūdį." [I would like to understand `Other Choice' as new Sajūdis"]. http://www.bernardinai.lt/index.php?s_id=143&exp=1&n_id=3484. 11.25.2004.
16.
See Dainius Urbanavičius, "Lithuania," in Roberr Elgie, ed., Semipresidentialism in Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press1999), 150-169.
17.
The text of the Lithuanian constitution in English is available at http://www.lrkt.lt/konst/eng/ constitution.htm. Accessed 25 November 2004.
18.
For more detail about Lithuanian political parties see Algis Krupavičius and Alvydas Lukošaitis , Lietuvos politinè sistema. Sąranga ir raida [Political System of Lithuania. Structure and Development] (Kaunas: Poligrafija ir informatika, 2004), 297-342; Jūrate Novagrockiene, " The Development and Consolidation of the Lithuanian Political Party System ", Journal of Baltic Studies, 32:2 (2001), 141-155; Giedrius Žvaliauskas, Lietuvos politinių partijų organizacijos sociologinė awalizė Daktaro disertacija [The Sociological Analysis of the Organization of the Lithuanian Political Parties. Ph.D. Dissertation] ( Kaunas: Kauno technologijos universitetas, 2004).
19.
See Jack Bielasiak , "The Institutionalization of Electoral and Party Systems in Postcommunist States," Comparative Politics, 34:1 (2002), 199. Lithuania with 39.2 Pedersen index average electoral volatility points for 1992-2000 is next to Russia with 47.3 points, and is followed by Moldova (36.6), Latvia (29.0), Estonia (25.9), Hungary (27.4), and Poland (24.6). The Czech Republic, with 12.8, had the lowest score.
20.
See Mindaugas Degutis, Rinkiminio elgesio dinamika Lietuvoje 1992-2001. Daktaro disertacija. [The Dynamics of Electoral Behavior in Lithuania 1992-2001. Ph.D. Dissertation] (Vilnius: Vilniaus universitetas, 2002).
21.
For an account of the presidential election of 2002 in detail see Lauras Bielinis, Prezidento rinkimų anatomija. 2002 metų prezidento rinkimai Lietuvoje [The Anatomy of Presidential Election. The President's Election 2002 in Lithuania] (Vilnius: Versus, 2003).
22.
See http://www.sparcavia.com/p/borisov.pdf. Accessed on 19 February 2005.
23.
See "Dėl Lietuvos Respublikos Prezidento Rolando Pakso, kuriam pradeta apkaltos byla, veiksmų atitikties Lietuvos Respublikos konstitucijai " [Concerning the Correspondence of the Actions of Rolandas Paksas, President of the Republic of Lithuania, who is Sued for Impeachment, to the Constitution of the Republic], Valstybės žinios [State News], 2004.04.02, Nr.49-1600, pp. 23-45. The text of the indictment contains also the crucial pieces of evidence. Almost all of them are citations from the transcripts of the wire-tapped phone conversations of Paksas and people from his environment.
24.
Paksas was supported in the Seimas only by his liberal democrats, farmers' and new democracy party, independents, and some dissident social democrats.
25.
"Daugelis šalies rinkėjų-uz Pakso atsistatydinimą " [Many voters of country are for resignment of Paksas], Lietuvos rytas [Lithuanian Morning], 26 March 2004, Nr.70 (4030), 2.
26.
Edmundas Ganusauskas, Taikinys Nr.1. [Target Nr. 1] (Vilnius: Lietuvių tauta, 2004). The author of the book is a journalist who during the Paksas presidency worked on his team.
27.
Raimundas Lopata and Audrius Matonis, Prezidento suktukas [The President's Tailspin ] (Vilnius: Versus Aureus , 2004), 62. Lopata and Matonis's book is the best account of the events leading to the impeachment of Paksas. However, this account covers only the events before Christmas 2003.
28.
Lopata and Matonis, Prezidento suktukas, 56.
29.
See Ramune Sotvariene"Prezidentūra buvo tapusi mafijos priedanga" [The Presidence Office Served as a Cloak for Mafia], Lietuvos rytas [Lithuanian Morning], Nr. 51 ( 2004) 1,3.
30.
Vytautas Radžvilas , "Gyvačių lizdas ar pilietine visuomene? [The Snake's Nest or Civil Society?]," in Vladimiras Laučius, ed., Tarp dviejų Prezidento . rinkimų: 2002-2004 [Between two President's Elections: 2002-2004] (Vilnius: Demokratines politikos institutas, 2004), 100-102.
31.
Leonidas Donskis , Pilietinė visuomenė ir jos priešai: autoritetas, tiesa ir viešoji erdve XXI amžiaus pradžios Lietuvoje [Civil Society and its Enemies: Authority, Truth, and Public Space in Lithuania in the Beginning of 21st Century] (Vilnius : Versus aureus, 2004).
32.
The attempt to discredit the ruling parties and Adamkus' political base and to increase Prunskiene's chances to win failed. Adamkus has won the election and forced Junokas to resign.
33.
See also the website of the SSD at http://www.vsd.lt/ and that of the SIS at http://www.stt.lt/.
34.
Published in Valstybės žinios [State News], 26 May 2004, Nr. 85-3094, 21-39.
35.
See Carl Schmitt , Der Hüter der Verfassung ( Tübingen: J.C.B.Mohr, 1931).
36.
See Hans Kelsen , "Wer soll der Hüter der Verfassung sein?" in René Marcic and Herbert Schambeck, eds., Die Wiener rechtstheoretische Schule (Wien: Europa-Verlag und Universitätsverlag Anton Pustet, 1968), 1873-1922.
37.
See Terry D. Clark, Beyond Post-Communist Studies. Political Science and the New Democracies of Europe (Armonk, NY: M.E.Sharpe, 2002) for defense of such a description with different arguments.
38.
Cp. Bielasiak, "The Institutionalization of Electoral and Party Systems in Postcommunist States." Another Lithuanian paradox may be that electoral volatility can be compatible with government stability. The new coalitional government was created with Algirdas Brazauskas preserving the seat of prime minister, and Viktor Uspaskikh's labour party jointly with farmers' and new democracy party of Kazimiera Prunskienė enlarging the former coalition of social democrats with social liberals that was forged in 2001.
39.
Plasser, Ulram, and Waldrauch, Democratic Consolidation in East-Central Europe, 39.
40.
Sarah Birch, Electoral Systems and Political Transformation in Post-Communist Europe (New York: Palgrave, 2003), 139.
41.
For more detailed analysis of the impact of the international factors of democratic consolidation in post-communist countries see Jan Zielonka and Alex Pravda, eds., Democratic Consolidation in Eastern Europe. Vol. 2. International and Transnational Factors (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001). See also Klaudijus Maniokas, Europos Sajungos plėtra ir europeizacija: Vidurio ir Rytų Europos valstybių isijungimas į Europos Sąjungą [The Enlargement of the European Union and the Europeanization: The Integration of the Central and Eastern Europe into the European Union] (Vilnius: Eugrimas, 2003).
42.
My reference to the "overlapping consensus" describes the following feature of the Lithuanian political landscape: although there are marginal political forces in Lithuania, which are either against the membership in NATO (those which can be described as "extreme leftist" or pro-Russian) or against the membership in EU ("extreme rightist" or nationalist), there are none that would be opposed to both avenues of integration into the Western community. As a matter of course, Paksas and his liberal democrats embraced them both.
43.
See Jody C. Baumgartner and Naoko Kada, eds., Checking Executive Power: Presidential Impeachment in Comparative Perspective (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003).
