Regionų valdysenos samprata Lietuvos strateginiuose dokumentuose ; The concept of regional governance in Lithuanian strategic documents
The purpose of the research: to determine the content of regional governance concept and its change in Lithuanian strategic documents. Regional governance is a relatively new phenomenon in both academic and practical public administration activities; therefore the use of this concept is not well-established and causes a lot of debate. Foreign authors who have analysed the concept of regional governance have divided it in three dimensions: • Theoretical, where regional governance is turned into object of research; • Empirical, which includes the practice of public administration processes in the region, public and private sector cooperation, in order to improve policy implementation in the region; • Instrumental, when regional governance becomes an instrument for achieving sustainable development goals and developing participatory governance. The study revealed that regional governance in analysed strategic documents is usually understood as an instrument for implementing principles of sustainable development and participatory governance aimed at increasing social and economic cohesion of the regions and the formation of a positive image. In the course of the research it was noticed that in some of the analysed documents regional governance is understood in two ways: both as an instrument and as an empirical phenomenon. The documents emphasize the need for sustainable regional development and the involvement of citizens in the decision-making process, which turns regional governance into an instrument; however, a need to transfer the functions of central government to local authorities also arises, thus regional governance is brought closer to the interpretation of the empirical phenomenon. Creation and development of a network system is typical in regional governance that is understood as an instrument. Based on the data of the research, it can be stated that the content of regional governance remains similar in all analysed documents.