Vlad Mihail GHINEA[1]
Abstract. The situation of non-citizens within the Latvian state is a sensitive point in the country’s legal system. The legal framework formed around it dictates the inability of the constitutional system to reach all the inhabitants of the Latvian territory. As justification, a community that at one time numbered a third of the entire population of Latvia is classified as neither citizens nor foreigners. Latvia finds itself in a situation where a significant proportion of its population has all the obligations characteristic of citizens, but not all their rights. The situation in Latvia and the answer to the idea “is the Russian minority part of the Latvian people?” is found in the study of the early history of the Latvian state. The present study raises questions both regarding the sovereignty of the people within a democratic state, and regarding the role of Latvia’s internal situation for the political future of Europe.
Keywords: constitutionalism, non-citizens, Russophones, minority rights, sovereignty.
DOI 10.56082/annalsarsciphil.2024.1.27
[1] Bachelor student, Faculty of Law, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies; Faculty of History, University of Bucharest