Ekonominio saugumo samprata ir politikos principai Lietuvoje ; The concept of economic security and the principles of economic security policy in Lithuania

Abstract

The main objective of the article is a critical evaluation of the concepts of economic security which are based on the assumptionof the state as a unit of analysis, how these concepts are analysed in scholarship and used to support applied measures of economic security policy. The article also aims at answering the question what is and ought to be the concept of economic security in current Lithuanian politics. The authors do not strive to solve an old and essential problem of social sciences – the methodological choice between individualistic and collectivistic analysis. The goal of the article is just to show the main contradictions in theoretical analysis and political practices between those two approaches when dealing with the problems of economic security. The article admits the wide spread usage of the holistic approach and the fact of policies being based on this approach. However, the use of these measures often causes negative consequences – not only weakening of economic security of individuals, but, in the long run, of states as supra-individual institutions. To expose those measures and inconsistencies is another goal of the article. On the one hand, this makes the analysis more normative, on the other hand, it provides more insights on the topic. The article discusses the concept of economic security, different levels and scope of its analysis. Two different approaches – holistic and individualistic – and their interrelations are presented in more detailed way. The main focus is on how these two different approaches understand and use the concept of threats, as well as the impact of collective measures of economic security and their impact on individuals.