‘Keep the Tongue Behind Seven Seals’: The Impact of Latvia’s Ethnocratic Democracy on Russian-Speaking Youth

Drawing on Mouffe’s concept of agonistic pluralism, this article seeks to explain the political apathy observed among young Russian speakers in Latvia. It focuses on how Russophone high school students interact with the state, which serves as a significant ‘constitutive outside’ in the formation of their political subject positions. The article argues that political apathy can be a conscious political act and suggests that Latvia’s ethnocentric approach to nation-building, adopted since independence in 1991, has led to disillusionment and marginalisation among young Russophone citizens, who refrain from open criticism of the state, instead performing a ‘good Russian’ identity.