The cultural transformation and political organization of the Ignalina NPP region

The Ignalina NPP region which can be identified with the Visaginas region is rather interesting from the point of view of various scientific investigations. Since long time this land has been in the contact zone of Baltic and Slavonic cultures. Most of the newest phenomena of society development are there rather closely related with the building of NPP. In our opinion the Visaginas region is in the initial stage of development at present by its cultural and political-geographical traits it stands out even in the context of Northeast Lithuania. This is a region distinguished by a particularly high variety of political attitudes and cultural contacts. The political view of the present inhabitants of the region is a result of complicated cultural evolution - the cultural orientation determines the political outlook. Though the political views of the Lithuanian population are still in the stage of development we may assert that the East Lithuanian region already in 1990 stood out as a region of left political views. This view is determined by a mixed national composition. The non-Lithuanians have tradition of supporting the left political forces, their political left-expression is more inert. The fact, that the general activity of voters in Visaginas and its region is relatively low, demonstrates the indifference of some voters to the political development of Lithuania. The status of self-government isolated Visaginas both from the life of its region and Lithuania on the whole - not only politically or culturally but administratively as well. The town is converting into a closed social unit. The problem of the cultural integration of Visaginas region remains of topical importance. In order to prevent the self-isolation it is necessary to faster the sense of civil self-expression, encourage the development programs of the region. (author)