Grand Duchy of Lithuania: institutional transplantation experience

This paper analyzes the evolution of the institutional matrix of the GDL and establishes two stages in it. The first (pre­federative) is characterized by institutional diffusion, from the Kingdom of Poland in the first place, whereas the second is linked with the formation of the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania. It is shown that, as the formed federation united societies with distinct types of dominating institutions, institutional transplantation occurred from the more economically developed country to the other. Such integration leads not only to positive implications but also to the mutation of the transplanted institutions (strengthening of serfdom during the transition to the more progressive folwark agriculture). Transfer of the Western European system of fideicommissum inheritance turned out to be an institutional pitfall since the indivisible manors – ordynacii – presented a case of a state within a state, with their owners relying on the redistributive institutions at the microlevel (within their estates) and pursuing the market institutions at the macrolevel (within the country as a whole) in order to cement their economic position.

Peculiarities of the political sphere conditioned the transformation of the socio­cultural subsystem of the GDL’s institutional matrix. Roman Catholicism expanded rapidly, undermining the religious tolerance that the Grand Duchy had hitherto been known for. The elements of subsidiary ideology, coming from Poland, were understood as giving exceptional rights only to the szlachta stratum; acquisition of the golden liberties was equated with conversion to Catholicism and the use of the Polish language.

The consequences of these policies were the following: Polonization and mass conversion to Catholicism among the propertied classes; widespread resentment among the worse­off, morphing into popular uprisings in the XVII century; alignment of property, confession, and language groups in the society, which moved the social inequality issue into the ethnic dimension and contributed to interethnic strife in the lands of the former GDL in the centuries to come.

The absence of efficient governmental management of institutional transplantation caused an institutional crisis, which, with the political elites being disunited, was the reason for the entire social system to disintegrate.

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