Suchergebnisse

Although the correlation of welfare and democracy is not direct, it is possible to sustain that the problems related with democracy satisfaction could be solved by public policy measures. Lithuanian's who reflect themselves as the losers of the transition reforms are unsatisfied with their socio-economic status and their anticipation of the prompt life improvement is rather high. If such tendencies start to dominate in the society of Lithuania, the question of political stability arises. Therefore social security, welfare network and infrastructure development as well as the increase of the redistribution amounts look like inevitable reforms in nowadays Lithuania. All appropriate compensatory measures could be related to the development of the welfare state in Lithuania. The liberal model of the welfare state should be the most suitable option for Lithuania at first sight. The Lisbon Strategy is implicitly based on this kind of welfare state model. Lithuania was trying to apply active labour market policy nevertheless the efforts were restrained by the small resources. The structural policy of the EU, mainly the measures financed by the European Social Fund, should increase the amount of funds allocated to the active labour market policy. Considering public policy in Lithuania an exclusive attention should be paid to the reduction of regional inequalities, establishment of the workplaces and social security infrastructure. Due to the Lithuanian budget restrictions it's necessary to develop a tax base and to improve tax administration. The second important component is partial decentralisation of programming and implementation of the EU funds by means of the EU Cohesion policy reform. The third component is the implementation of horizontal regional policy in Lithuania. Legal and organisational premises for the aforementioned steps are already established.

(such draft laws are submitted to by the President). In practice, however, citizens' legislative initiatives are related to politicians' rather than citizens' initiatives. Citizens' legislative initiative most often used to be employed not so much for the sake of promoting the idea of lawmaking but for making use of citizens' signatures for exerting political pressure on the Seimas ruling majority by opposition powers and communicating a certain message to the electorate. Out of seven initiatives, one brought some results. Exercising the right of petition at the Seimas is in fact an indirect legislative initiative. It diminishes the significance of the Constitutional right of 50.000 citizens' initiative. This right does not make any practical influence: so far only two laws have been passed on the basis of the problems addressed in petitions.

(such draft laws are submitted to by the President). In practice, however, citizens' legislative initiatives are related to politicians' rather than citizens' initiatives. Citizens' legislative initiative most often used to be employed not so much for the sake of promoting the idea of lawmaking but for making use of citizens' signatures for exerting political pressure on the Seimas ruling majority by opposition powers and communicating a certain message to the electorate. Out of seven initiatives, one brought some results. Exercising the right of petition at the Seimas is in fact an indirect legislative initiative. It diminishes the significance of the Constitutional right of 50.000 citizens' initiative. This right does not make any practical influence: so far only two laws have been passed on the basis of the problems addressed in petitions.

The article explores the effect of personal economic conditions and economic evaluations on the support for political regime. First, the relationship between different economic indicators and the support for democracy is examined using public opinion survey data. Further, the qualitative data are used to analyze the impact of socio-economic status on the regime support of an individual. Finally, the article explores how the evaluations of the national economic situation are formed. The qualitative research was carried out in July 2004 in four Lithuanian districts: Vilnius, Joniškis, Klaipėda and Tauragė. Vilnius and Klaipėda were selected as the most prosperous regions, and Joniškis and Tauragė were selected as the poorest regions of Lithuania. During the research, 40 in-depth interviews were made. The respondents were selected using the criteria of age, education and profession. The quantitative data are drawn from the 2001 Baltic Barometer survey. The results of the research reveal that support for democracy is mostly influenced by the evaluation of the national economic situation. The dissatisfaction with the economic performance of the political system, however, is only weakly related with the personal economic situation of an individual. Deprivation appears to be the strongest objective economic factor of political support. The other factors influencing the formation of the negative assessment of the economic development of Lithuania includes the economic situation of the region and neighborhood and the opinion of experts. The decisive criterion conditioning the attitudes toward the current economic situation in Lithuania is the comparison of the current life quality with that of Soviet times.

(such draft laws are submitted to by the President). In practice, however, citizens' legislative initiatives are related to politicians' rather than citizens' initiatives. Citizens' legislative initiative most often used to be employed not so much for the sake of promoting the idea of lawmaking but for making use of citizens' signatures for exerting political pressure on the Seimas ruling majority by opposition powers and communicating a certain message to the electorate. Out of seven initiatives, one brought some results. Exercising the right of petition at the Seimas is in fact an indirect legislative initiative. It diminishes the significance of the Constitutional right of 50.000 citizens' initiative. This right does not make any practical influence: so far only two laws have been passed on the basis of the problems addressed in petitions.

The article explores the effect of personal economic conditions and economic evaluations on the support for political regime. First, the relationship between different economic indicators and the support for democracy is examined using public opinion survey data. Further, the qualitative data are used to analyze the impact of socio-economic status on the regime support of an individual. Finally, the article explores how the evaluations of the national economic situation are formed. The qualitative research was carried out in July 2004 in four Lithuanian districts: Vilnius, Joniškis, Klaipėda and Tauragė. Vilnius and Klaipėda were selected as the most prosperous regions, and Joniškis and Tauragė were selected as the poorest regions of Lithuania. During the research, 40 in-depth interviews were made. The respondents were selected using the criteria of age, education and profession. The quantitative data are drawn from the 2001 Baltic Barometer survey. The results of the research reveal that support for democracy is mostly influenced by the evaluation of the national economic situation. The dissatisfaction with the economic performance of the political system, however, is only weakly related with the personal economic situation of an individual. Deprivation appears to be the strongest objective economic factor of political support. The other factors influencing the formation of the negative assessment of the economic development of Lithuania includes the economic situation of the region and neighborhood and the opinion of experts. The decisive criterion conditioning the attitudes toward the current economic situation in Lithuania is the comparison of the current life quality with that of Soviet times.

Regardless of the popular wisdom to make predictions in negotiations as if they always reflect the right according to the Bible– that "to every one who has will more be given" – this article starts with observation that weaker parties can and do sometimes successfully negotiate with stronger parties. Naturally this provokes questions: "Why can weak parties successfully negotiate with the stronger parties in asymmetric negotiations? How to explain this structural paradox?". The article argues that these questions would be old and answered if not for the long lasting tendency in the international relations discipline to analyze international negotiations from the point of view of the traditional power understanding, as well as systemic international relations theories. On another hand, difficulties objectively arise due to the fact that analysis of the structural paradox is connected to the problem of power – one of the most complex and difficult to define categories of the social science. And although much has been done recently in the social science to improve our understanding of the concept of power, it is still unclear what is the best way to conceptualise it.

Although the correlation of welfare and democracy is not direct, it is possible to sustain that the problems related with democracy satisfaction could be solved by public policy measures. Lithuanian's who reflect themselves as the losers of the transition reforms are unsatisfied with their socio-economic status and their anticipation of the prompt life improvement is rather high. If such tendencies start to dominate in the society of Lithuania, the question of political stability arises. Therefore social security, welfare network and infrastructure development as well as the increase of the redistribution amounts look like inevitable reforms in nowadays Lithuania. All appropriate compensatory measures could be related to the development of the welfare state in Lithuania. The liberal model of the welfare state should be the most suitable option for Lithuania at first sight. The Lisbon Strategy is implicitly based on this kind of welfare state model. Lithuania was trying to apply active labour market policy nevertheless the efforts were restrained by the small resources. The structural policy of the EU, mainly the measures financed by the European Social Fund, should increase the amount of funds allocated to the active labour market policy. Considering public policy in Lithuania an exclusive attention should be paid to the reduction of regional inequalities, establishment of the workplaces and social security infrastructure. Due to the Lithuanian budget restrictions it's necessary to develop a tax base and to improve tax administration. The second important component is partial decentralisation of programming and implementation of the EU funds by means of the EU Cohesion policy reform. The third component is the implementation of horizontal regional policy in Lithuania. Legal and organisational premises for the aforementioned steps are already established.

Regardless of the popular wisdom to make predictions in negotiations as if they always reflect the right according to the Bible– that "to every one who has will more be given" – this article starts with observation that weaker parties can and do sometimes successfully negotiate with stronger parties. Naturally this provokes questions: "Why can weak parties successfully negotiate with the stronger parties in asymmetric negotiations? How to explain this structural paradox?". The article argues that these questions would be old and answered if not for the long lasting tendency in the international relations discipline to analyze international negotiations from the point of view of the traditional power understanding, as well as systemic international relations theories. On another hand, difficulties objectively arise due to the fact that analysis of the structural paradox is connected to the problem of power – one of the most complex and difficult to define categories of the social science. And although much has been done recently in the social science to improve our understanding of the concept of power, it is still unclear what is the best way to conceptualise it.

Although the correlation of welfare and democracy is not direct, it is possible to sustain that the problems related with democracy satisfaction could be solved by public policy measures. Lithuanian's who reflect themselves as the losers of the transition reforms are unsatisfied with their socio-economic status and their anticipation of the prompt life improvement is rather high. If such tendencies start to dominate in the society of Lithuania, the question of political stability arises. Therefore social security, welfare network and infrastructure development as well as the increase of the redistribution amounts look like inevitable reforms in nowadays Lithuania. All appropriate compensatory measures could be related to the development of the welfare state in Lithuania. The liberal model of the welfare state should be the most suitable option for Lithuania at first sight. The Lisbon Strategy is implicitly based on this kind of welfare state model. Lithuania was trying to apply active labour market policy nevertheless the efforts were restrained by the small resources. The structural policy of the EU, mainly the measures financed by the European Social Fund, should increase the amount of funds allocated to the active labour market policy. Considering public policy in Lithuania an exclusive attention should be paid to the reduction of regional inequalities, establishment of the workplaces and social security infrastructure. Due to the Lithuanian budget restrictions it's necessary to develop a tax base and to improve tax administration. The second important component is partial decentralisation of programming and implementation of the EU funds by means of the EU Cohesion policy reform. The third component is the implementation of horizontal regional policy in Lithuania. Legal and organisational premises for the aforementioned steps are already established.

The article explores the effect of personal economic conditions and economic evaluations on the support for political regime. First, the relationship between different economic indicators and the support for democracy is examined using public opinion survey data. Further, the qualitative data are used to analyze the impact of socio-economic status on the regime support of an individual. Finally, the article explores how the evaluations of the national economic situation are formed. The qualitative research was carried out in July 2004 in four Lithuanian districts: Vilnius, Joniškis, Klaipėda and Tauragė. Vilnius and Klaipėda were selected as the most prosperous regions, and Joniškis and Tauragė were selected as the poorest regions of Lithuania. During the research, 40 in-depth interviews were made. The respondents were selected using the criteria of age, education and profession. The quantitative data are drawn from the 2001 Baltic Barometer survey. The results of the research reveal that support for democracy is mostly influenced by the evaluation of the national economic situation. The dissatisfaction with the economic performance of the political system, however, is only weakly related with the personal economic situation of an individual. Deprivation appears to be the strongest objective economic factor of political support. The other factors influencing the formation of the negative assessment of the economic development of Lithuania includes the economic situation of the region and neighborhood and the opinion of experts. The decisive criterion conditioning the attitudes toward the current economic situation in Lithuania is the comparison of the current life quality with that of Soviet times.

(such draft laws are submitted to by the President). In practice, however, citizens' legislative initiatives are related to politicians' rather than citizens' initiatives. Citizens' legislative initiative most often used to be employed not so much for the sake of promoting the idea of lawmaking but for making use of citizens' signatures for exerting political pressure on the Seimas ruling majority by opposition powers and communicating a certain message to the electorate. Out of seven initiatives, one brought some results. Exercising the right of petition at the Seimas is in fact an indirect legislative initiative. It diminishes the significance of the Constitutional right of 50.000 citizens' initiative. This right does not make any practical influence: so far only two laws have been passed on the basis of the problems addressed in petitions.

After the end of the Cold war the unipolar international system was established and during recent decade it was transformated from strickt unipolarity (1990-2000) to modified unipolarity (2001-2010). Exceptional and multidimensional power with the global reach of the USA was the reason for naming structure of international system as strict unipolar till terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in the USA. After September 11th the USA started to act less unilaterally than before temporary changing the unilateralism to multilateralism for collective actions against terrorism in Afghanistan. The multilateral response to September 11th terrorist attacks became the first stage of transformation of strict unipolarity based on Article 5 of Washington Treaty. Years of 2001-2003 could be named as the beginning of modified unipolarity: sole superpower acted multilaterally in war against terrorism and at the same time it promoted the enlargement of its influence with NATO enlargement to the post soviet area. Formation of transformed unipolar structure allows speaking about the necessity of defining a new type of unipolarity – modified unipolarity which is theoretically balancing on the dividing lines of unipolarity, multipolarity and nonpolarity concepts. This article consists of broad definition of modified unipolarity, theoretical analysis of polarity and its transformation, also, some preliminary conclusions and insights are made concerning possible transformation of modified unipolarity in the foreseen future.

After the end of the Cold war the unipolar international system was established and during recent decade it was transformated from strickt unipolarity (1990-2000) to modified unipolarity (2001-2010). Exceptional and multidimensional power with the global reach of the USA was the reason for naming structure of international system as strict unipolar till terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in the USA. After September 11th the USA started to act less unilaterally than before temporary changing the unilateralism to multilateralism for collective actions against terrorism in Afghanistan. The multilateral response to September 11th terrorist attacks became the first stage of transformation of strict unipolarity based on Article 5 of Washington Treaty. Years of 2001-2003 could be named as the beginning of modified unipolarity: sole superpower acted multilaterally in war against terrorism and at the same time it promoted the enlargement of its influence with NATO enlargement to the post soviet area. Formation of transformed unipolar structure allows speaking about the necessity of defining a new type of unipolarity – modified unipolarity which is theoretically balancing on the dividing lines of unipolarity, multipolarity and nonpolarity concepts. This article consists of broad definition of modified unipolarity, theoretical analysis of polarity and its transformation, also, some preliminary conclusions and insights are made concerning possible transformation of modified unipolarity in the foreseen future.

This article presents an analysis of the main challenges that the paradigm of realism experiences in its security approach and introduces a theoretical basis for deepening and widening the security studies. The article also touches upon a significant impact that globalization has on changing security concept, especially in distinguishing transnational security threats. The changes in security studies have occurred in 20th century 70's and 80's, when realism theory comes to lose the dominant position. The state centric approach, exclusively based on external military threats was challenged by various post-structural, post-postmodern, and pluralist approaches that suggested to widen and to deepen security concept. Realism was not capable anymore to explain a range of security processes, and later, to predict the end of the Cold War. The other approaches that discussed new security threats, paid more attention to other analysis levels than national. Gradually non military security threats were included into security agendas of different states. Very soon security studies faced the problem that deepening and widening security concept can lead to an empty idea, that contains everything and at the same time nothing, and which can make security concept impossible for analysis. Transnational security threats are defined as non military threats that cross borders and either threatens the political and social integrity of a nation or the health of that nation's inhabitants.[.]