Comparative analysis of permeability of political elite recruitment channels in the Baltic states

The article discusses characteristics of the channels of recruitment of political elites in the post-Soviet Baltic countries. The focus of the study of elites in the Baltic States has been paid to the channels of recruiting power groups, the concept of converting various types of capitals by the representatives of the political elite. Based on extensive empirical material (several hundred cases of political careers in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) typical patterns of accumulation and conversion of capitals by political elite in the Baltic states are identified. In order to analyze the relationship between different types of positions held by political elites before and after political office, the method of multiple correspondence analysis is applied. The article conceptualizes the revolving doors phenomenon expressed in the movement of representatives of power groups between different positions in business, academia, the executive and the legislative branches. The movement takes place through converting the symbolic, administrative, political and economic capitals. In each of the Baltic states, there is a special model of conversion of capital.