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‘Selling’ a small state to the world: Lithuania's struggle in building its national image

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Abstract

How can a small, unknown country market and ‘sell’ itself to the world? What are the national images that it may seek to convey and project? And what are the roles that government plays in the process of national image salesmanship? This study examines Lithuania's national image-building during the years of 1991–2007, analysing the aims, strategies and flaws of the national image campaign in the country. The research suggests that up to this point, the government institutions and prime ministers have been holding and continue to hold all decision and funding power regarding Lithuania's image-building. This project specifically aims to fill in the existing void in post-communist small-state image scholarship, and contributes to the ongoing debates on states’ image-cultivation in international relations discipline.

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Notes

  1. The author resided in the country during 1995–1996, 1998, 2000, 2003–2004 and 2007.

  2. Among states that applied nation-branding were Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia, Ireland, Spain, Liechtenstein, South Africa and New Zealand.

  3. A detailed review is provided by Szondi (2007).

  4. The most sought-after membership was that in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

  5. For instance, in the early to mid-1990s, Estonian policymakers presented Lithuania as a regional laggard in international events, claiming that their country's economic reforms were advancing much better than those in Lithuania (see the then Prime Minister Mart Laar's speeches during the years 1992–1994). Lithuania's top leadership did not believe that such claims reflected a reality.

  6. President Brazauskas expressed this view when meeting with the foreign journalists accredited to Lithuania in May 1994.

  7. As remarked by President Brazauskas, ‘They [the world] know less about Lithuania than Estonia’ (TBT, 24–30 October 1996).

  8. Lithuanian government institutions were criticised numerous times for placing too much emphasis on the country's history. Some even argued that such continuous overstressing of the past was counterproductive, and was even driving business and tourists away (Atgimimas, 5 January 2007).

  9. Lithuania, together with another 10 Eastern European countries, became a member of NATO in 2004.

  10. Among the institutions were the Lithuanian Information Institute, the Information Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ELTA (state-owned national news agency) and the Information Service of the government (Lithuanian Weekly, 15–28 November 1996).

  11. For instance, during the period 1989–1996, Estonia attracted $503 per capita of foreign investment, Latvia $234, whereas Lithuania only $83 (Journal of Commerce, 5 March 1998). Another survey conducted in 2006 found that foreigners poorly evaluated Lithuania as a country for making investments (see http://www.zebra.lt/english/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=1062&forum=10).

  12. See, for instance, ‘Only a Few Months Left to Improve [Lithuania's] Image’ (Lietuvos rytas, 2 April 1997). Also refer to ‘Lithuania's Image in Belgium: A Fairy-Tale Country of Self-Hypnotizing Catholics’ (Lietuvos rytas, 15 March 1997) and ‘Lithuania's Image in Estonia: A Country Lagging in Economic Reforms But Full of Happy People’ (Lietuvos rytas, 26 April 1997).

  13. Referring to his membership in the Lithuanian Communist Party.

  14. In power from 1992–1996.

  15. Among such government-related agencies, one would find the Lithuanian Economic Development Agency (LEPA), the State Tourism Department, the Sports and Culture Department, the Lithuanian Institute, the Association of Lithuanian Municipalities, and so on.

  16. Declining population numbers shown in a table at http://www.stat.gov.lt/en/pages/view/?id=1665 are largely attributed to emigration. Some claim that the numbers should be increased at least threefold, as many Lithuanians did not report their departure to the EU countries, working there illegally. Only in 2004, when Lithuania joined the EU, was work in the EU not considered illegal.

  17. For instance, one parliamentarian described the Lithuanian parliament as an institution full of ‘morons’ in a public speech given abroad (Lietuvos rytas, 18 July 2002).

  18. Former President Brazauskas became Lithuania's Prime Minister in 2001.

  19. For details, see http://www.stat.gov.lt/en/pages/view/?id=1665 (in Lithuanian) (accessed 28 July 2006).

  20. These were the Ministry of Education and Sciences, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

  21. Between 16 and 30 April 2007 this agency together with the Tourism Department at the Ministry of Economics and Vilnius Municipality launched an advertisement campaign, which involved running a 30-second long video ad on the BBC TV and CNN International networks, inviting people to visit Lithuania. The ad ended with the slogan ‘We win, then You win. LITHUANIA join the Feeling’. Allegedly, the cost of the ad campaign was estimated to be 200 000 litas (around $80 000) (ELTA, 17 April 2007; Vakaru ekspresas, 17 April 2007; Vakaru zinios, http://vz.lt/Default2.aspx?ArticleID=c5e8ce23-d5d3-4079-a540-aeaf417db92a; also see http://www.londonozinios.com/a-news-5961).

  22. This commission has never become operational, and exists only on paper (Atgimimas, 5 January 2007).

  23. For Lithuania's GDP growth rates, see graphs on http://www.stat.gov.lt/en/pages/view/?id=1665 (in Lithuanian, accessed 28 July 2006).

  24. Most of these instances were reported in the Lithuanian press (see Atgimimas, 1 December 2006, 5 January 2007; Lietuvos rytas, 5 October 2007; Veidas, 10 November 2008).

  25. Data based on a collection of publications compiled by PR agency ‘MEDIA Baltic Business’ established in 2001. (http://www.mediabv.lt/, accessed 15 November 2008).

  26. Allegedly, a clover used by some government agencies was considered old fashioned and inappropriate by the majority of Lithuanians.

  27. Implies stereotypical association with any failing African state that has ineffective government, absence of order and no respect for state institutions. In the minds of the majority of Lithuanians, bananas grow primarily in Africa. Hence, a connotation with the African continent.

  28. The latest scandal broke out in March 2007, when the local media reported unconstitutional practices of the State Security Department against members of parliament and other state officials.

  29. The first-ever ad in this publication showed the country's contours on a dark European continent background with the sign ‘Shines Brighter on the Investment Map’ (The Economist, May 2008 edition).

  30. For instance, the Ministry of Economics supports Lithuanian companies’ participation in 76 international exhibitions, and has eight commercial attachés residing in Lithuanian embassies abroad. The State Tourism Department organises about 20 exhibitions, publishes 16 publications in eight foreign languages and organises tours for foreign journalists in Lithuania. The Ministry of Agriculture presents Lithuania as a modern agricultural state, and organised six agricultural exhibitions in the first 9 months of 2005 (Vakaru ekspresas, 26 September 2005). Most recently, in Expo-2008, taking place in Zaragoza, Spain, the Ministry of Environment decided to present Lithuania as a country with high precipitation rates (in informal discourse often referred to as a ‘rain’ country).

  31. For a more detailed discussion on who needs to be involved in nation-branding, see Dinnie (2008).

  32. The most recent example when a government institution, the Lithuanian State Department of Tourism, ignored the views of public opinion was during the competition to create Lithuania's trade logo (Lietuvos rytas, 9 June 2007; www.delfi.lt).

  33. This new image campaign was launched in 2008, and received critical evaluation in the local media (www.delfi.lt,; Lietuvos rytas, 26 January 2008, 4 September 2008).

  34. For instance, nearly 90 per cent of Lithuanians believe that corruption is widespread in the country, whereas the Corruption Index, after surveying 101 countries, placed Lithuania in the last place (Kauno diena, 17 September 2007).

  35. See opinion piece in www.delfi.lt (accessed on 28 January 2008).

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks Simmons College for partial funding for this study provided through the Fund for Research grant to conduct fieldwork in Vilnius, Lithuania in July–August 2007. The author also would like to thank those who commented on the early drafts of this paper at the International Studies Association-Northeast conference in Philadelphia, USA, and two anonymous reviewers.

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    Ausra Park

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Park, A. ‘Selling’ a small state to the world: Lithuania's struggle in building its national image. Place Brand Public Dipl 5, 67–84 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1057/pb.2008.25

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