Sustainable agriculture synthesizes a variety of concepts associated with agricultural practices and their socio-economic impacts. In this article, some-requirements, for the development of sustainable-agriculture in Lithuania are analysed within the ecological economics framework. First, sustainable agriculture is discussed within the context of environmental economics. After this more theoretical part, the Common Agricultural Policy reforms, trends of sustainable agriculture in EU and requirements for the development of sustainable agriculture in Lithuania are elaborated.
Sustainable agriculture synthesizes a variety of concepts associated with agricultural practices and their socio-economic impacts. In this article, some-requirements, for the development of sustainable-agriculture in Lithuania are analysed within the ecological economics framework. First, sustainable agriculture is discussed within the context of environmental economics. After this more theoretical part, the Common Agricultural Policy reforms, trends of sustainable agriculture in EU and requirements for the development of sustainable agriculture in Lithuania are elaborated.
Sustainable agriculture synthesizes a variety of concepts associated with agricultural practices and their socio-economic impacts. In this article, some-requirements, for the development of sustainable-agriculture in Lithuania are analysed within the ecological economics framework. First, sustainable agriculture is discussed within the context of environmental economics. After this more theoretical part, the Common Agricultural Policy reforms, trends of sustainable agriculture in EU and requirements for the development of sustainable agriculture in Lithuania are elaborated.
Sustainable agriculture synthesizes a variety of concepts associated with agricultural practices and their socio-economic impacts. In this article, some-requirements, for the development of sustainable-agriculture in Lithuania are analysed within the ecological economics framework. First, sustainable agriculture is discussed within the context of environmental economics. After this more theoretical part, the Common Agricultural Policy reforms, trends of sustainable agriculture in EU and requirements for the development of sustainable agriculture in Lithuania are elaborated.
Over the years, the various enlargements have transformed the EU into a more and more heterogeneous group of countries with significant economic imbalances. The financial instrument of the EU regional policy – structural support is used to seek for the economic and social cohesion of regions. It is characteristic for small and medium sized enterprises to act at regional, not national or international, level. The aim of this article is to analyse one kind of structural support, – that is support for business development. The object of the article is the priorities of 1 objective and 2 objective regional development programs of 15 Member states for the programming period of 2000-2006 and Lithuanian Single programming document. The review of the results of structural support for business development during the programming period of 1994-1999 enables to analyse the opportunities for business enterprises to get structural support and to evaluate the impact of structural support for business on region's development. The structural support is designated to increase the competitiveness of enterprises. Direct and indirect support is rendered to business enterprises: financial support for enterprises, financial engineering, business consulting services, innovation and new technologies, special training services, improvement of physical infrastructure, and etc. Financial support for business development helped many enterprises to implement planned projects and develop a system of services for their businesses. It also created and saved many jobs. Competitive enterprises are able to stand the competition in the single market. As a result, successful activities of enterprises influence GDP growth, it also provides stable income for workers. This leads to economic and social cohesion of regions.[.].
Over the years, the various enlargements have transformed the EU into a more and more heterogeneous group of countries with significant economic imbalances. The financial instrument of the EU regional policy – structural support is used to seek for the economic and social cohesion of regions. It is characteristic for small and medium sized enterprises to act at regional, not national or international, level. The aim of this article is to analyse one kind of structural support, – that is support for business development. The object of the article is the priorities of 1 objective and 2 objective regional development programs of 15 Member states for the programming period of 2000-2006 and Lithuanian Single programming document. The review of the results of structural support for business development during the programming period of 1994-1999 enables to analyse the opportunities for business enterprises to get structural support and to evaluate the impact of structural support for business on region's development. The structural support is designated to increase the competitiveness of enterprises. Direct and indirect support is rendered to business enterprises: financial support for enterprises, financial engineering, business consulting services, innovation and new technologies, special training services, improvement of physical infrastructure, and etc. Financial support for business development helped many enterprises to implement planned projects and develop a system of services for their businesses. It also created and saved many jobs. Competitive enterprises are able to stand the competition in the single market. As a result, successful activities of enterprises influence GDP growth, it also provides stable income for workers. This leads to economic and social cohesion of regions.[.].
Over the years, the various enlargements have transformed the EU into a more and more heterogeneous group of countries with significant economic imbalances. The financial instrument of the EU regional policy – structural support is used to seek for the economic and social cohesion of regions. It is characteristic for small and medium sized enterprises to act at regional, not national or international, level. The aim of this article is to analyse one kind of structural support, – that is support for business development. The object of the article is the priorities of 1 objective and 2 objective regional development programs of 15 Member states for the programming period of 2000-2006 and Lithuanian Single programming document. The review of the results of structural support for business development during the programming period of 1994-1999 enables to analyse the opportunities for business enterprises to get structural support and to evaluate the impact of structural support for business on region's development. The structural support is designated to increase the competitiveness of enterprises. Direct and indirect support is rendered to business enterprises: financial support for enterprises, financial engineering, business consulting services, innovation and new technologies, special training services, improvement of physical infrastructure, and etc. Financial support for business development helped many enterprises to implement planned projects and develop a system of services for their businesses. It also created and saved many jobs. Competitive enterprises are able to stand the competition in the single market. As a result, successful activities of enterprises influence GDP growth, it also provides stable income for workers. This leads to economic and social cohesion of regions.[.].
The article addresses a range of problems relating to qualifying crimes against economic and financial management. The analysis of the said issues starts with a brief overview of the development of Lithuania's legislation regulating criminal responsibility for crimes against economic and financial management, as well as preconditions for adopting currently existing laws. Further, the article deals with specific aspects of the qualification of crimes against economic and financial management such as separation of crimes from administrative offences, disclosing the content of qualifying characteristics, blanket nature of norms, etc. The author maintains that one of the main reasons leading to problems of qualification is the absence in certain cases of a clear-cut content of legal provisions. While working out the norms of criminal law, the legislator sometimes take no regard of the existing legal provisions in Administrative Law. In addition, there are no well-formulated and clear criminalisation and decriminalisation criteria of the activities qualified as crimes against economic and financial management.
The article addresses a range of problems relating to qualifying crimes against economic and financial management. The analysis of the said issues starts with a brief overview of the development of Lithuania's legislation regulating criminal responsibility for crimes against economic and financial management, as well as preconditions for adopting currently existing laws. Further, the article deals with specific aspects of the qualification of crimes against economic and financial management such as separation of crimes from administrative offences, disclosing the content of qualifying characteristics, blanket nature of norms, etc. The author maintains that one of the main reasons leading to problems of qualification is the absence in certain cases of a clear-cut content of legal provisions. While working out the norms of criminal law, the legislator sometimes take no regard of the existing legal provisions in Administrative Law. In addition, there are no well-formulated and clear criminalisation and decriminalisation criteria of the activities qualified as crimes against economic and financial management.
The paper presents an overview of M. Weber's modelling paradigm assessing it against the opportunities of using the models in modern science of public policy and administration. Two types of research problems requiring modelling of different levels are identified. The paper defines the static and the dialectic methods of modelling, the limits and possibilities of their application are defined. The novelty and relevance of the paper lies in the substantiation of advantages and drawbacks of static modelling and in the proving of the importance of normative character of science, which contradicts the traditional Weber's methodology. In public administration one may not rely only upon formal procedures, forms and rules, because this will not reveal the functions of the State and the interests underlying them. A public administration model must be characterised by normative content. Models of social processes must not necessarily reflect the reality exactly, however, they may serve as a tool for simplifying the mechanisms of social reality and for attempting to understand its mechanisms. Modelling may be static or dialectic. Static modelling is simpler since the number of variables it takes account of is smaller. In certain cases static modelling may be presented or desirable due to value considerations raised by the idealistic world. Idealistic philosophy gives rise to relevant phenomena, which can be neither confirmed nor rejected. Such models may be desirable as the given required by a peculiar belief and as components of the given. As far as social science is a value and "humanitarian" science, to such extent metaphysics, the static given and static modelling may yield results. Philosophical idealism is often presented as a source of political and economic liberalism, or a sign of equality Is placed between them. This is not entirely correct since state and social policy studies in the liberal social sciences are based on formal concepts without any normative content. Liberal sociological definitions designed for a parliamentary-democratic constitutional state usually cover only procedures, forms, rules and state activity instruments, avoiding a definition of the State's functions completely or partially. Not only the functions of the State remain unsubstantiated; possible consequences of manifestation of these functions or the interests of those who defend them or any backstairs interests behind the declared interests arc not explained. The Weberian methodological concept of democracy turns liberal democracy and pluralist theory into a sheer arsenal of technical means, which is unpredictable and incapable of explaining the deep phenomena of public administration and the more so - of social policy. It is not only in the West, but also in Eastern Europe including Lithuania, individual politicians and public administration experts wish to reduce the principle of social welfare to the constitutional and legal level, absolutising the legal aspect. Dialectic modelling is a kind of opposite to static modelling, or modelling that may supplement the latter substantially. And this is not just because it is able to "see the context". Using the dialectic relationship one may examine such historical dichotomies as belief and science, nationality and globalism, central and local government, private and public interest etc. In the most general sense, dialectic modelling is focussed on the determination of the content, form, contradiction between content and form, and finding of the place of this relationship in the world's development process. The methodology of dialectic modelling asserts that the dialectic relationship is a universal means of modelling of qualitative processes and may be used for the modelling of the processes for which sufficient qualitative exceptionality may be determined as compared with the previous qualitative stage. Eastern Europe encounters difficulties in social modelling due to a distinct transformational nature of social systems of these countries as well as due to frequent changes in the laws governing social security and tax policy. The latter factor also poses problems for Eastern European social scientists in processing the material and in modelling socio-economic development on its basis.
The paper presents an overview of M. Weber's modelling paradigm assessing it against the opportunities of using the models in modern science of public policy and administration. Two types of research problems requiring modelling of different levels are identified. The paper defines the static and the dialectic methods of modelling, the limits and possibilities of their application are defined. The novelty and relevance of the paper lies in the substantiation of advantages and drawbacks of static modelling and in the proving of the importance of normative character of science, which contradicts the traditional Weber's methodology. In public administration one may not rely only upon formal procedures, forms and rules, because this will not reveal the functions of the State and the interests underlying them. A public administration model must be characterised by normative content. Models of social processes must not necessarily reflect the reality exactly, however, they may serve as a tool for simplifying the mechanisms of social reality and for attempting to understand its mechanisms. Modelling may be static or dialectic. Static modelling is simpler since the number of variables it takes account of is smaller. In certain cases static modelling may be presented or desirable due to value considerations raised by the idealistic world. Idealistic philosophy gives rise to relevant phenomena, which can be neither confirmed nor rejected. Such models may be desirable as the given required by a peculiar belief and as components of the given. As far as social science is a value and "humanitarian" science, to such extent metaphysics, the static given and static modelling may yield results. Philosophical idealism is often presented as a source of political and economic liberalism, or a sign of equality Is placed between them. This is not entirely correct since state and social policy studies in the liberal social sciences are based on formal concepts without any normative content. Liberal sociological definitions designed for a parliamentary-democratic constitutional state usually cover only procedures, forms, rules and state activity instruments, avoiding a definition of the State's functions completely or partially. Not only the functions of the State remain unsubstantiated; possible consequences of manifestation of these functions or the interests of those who defend them or any backstairs interests behind the declared interests arc not explained. The Weberian methodological concept of democracy turns liberal democracy and pluralist theory into a sheer arsenal of technical means, which is unpredictable and incapable of explaining the deep phenomena of public administration and the more so - of social policy. It is not only in the West, but also in Eastern Europe including Lithuania, individual politicians and public administration experts wish to reduce the principle of social welfare to the constitutional and legal level, absolutising the legal aspect. Dialectic modelling is a kind of opposite to static modelling, or modelling that may supplement the latter substantially. And this is not just because it is able to "see the context". Using the dialectic relationship one may examine such historical dichotomies as belief and science, nationality and globalism, central and local government, private and public interest etc. In the most general sense, dialectic modelling is focussed on the determination of the content, form, contradiction between content and form, and finding of the place of this relationship in the world's development process. The methodology of dialectic modelling asserts that the dialectic relationship is a universal means of modelling of qualitative processes and may be used for the modelling of the processes for which sufficient qualitative exceptionality may be determined as compared with the previous qualitative stage. Eastern Europe encounters difficulties in social modelling due to a distinct transformational nature of social systems of these countries as well as due to frequent changes in the laws governing social security and tax policy. The latter factor also poses problems for Eastern European social scientists in processing the material and in modelling socio-economic development on its basis.
The Republic of Belarus is the most authoritarian state in Central and Central-Eastern Europe. The international security community identifies the threats of Aleksandr Lukashenko's regime at global and regional levels. The article analyses the problem: what are the concrete threats posed to Lithuania by the Belarusian authoritarianism? The profiles of the problem presented here - the origins of authoritarianism in Belarus, the pattern of the dependence in the relations between Belarus and Russia, the international security community and Belarus, the development of the Lithuania-Belarus relationship - make it possible to identify eventual threats to Lithuania arising within political, social, economic and ecological sectors.
The Republic of Belarus is the most authoritarian state in Central and Central-Eastern Europe. The international security community identifies the threats of Aleksandr Lukashenko's regime at global and regional levels. The article analyses the problem: what are the concrete threats posed to Lithuania by the Belarusian authoritarianism? The profiles of the problem presented here - the origins of authoritarianism in Belarus, the pattern of the dependence in the relations between Belarus and Russia, the international security community and Belarus, the development of the Lithuania-Belarus relationship - make it possible to identify eventual threats to Lithuania arising within political, social, economic and ecological sectors.
The Republic of Belarus is the most authoritarian state in Central and Central-Eastern Europe. The international security community identifies the threats of Aleksandr Lukashenko's regime at global and regional levels. The article analyses the problem: what are the concrete threats posed to Lithuania by the Belarusian authoritarianism? The profiles of the problem presented here - the origins of authoritarianism in Belarus, the pattern of the dependence in the relations between Belarus and Russia, the international security community and Belarus, the development of the Lithuania-Belarus relationship - make it possible to identify eventual threats to Lithuania arising within political, social, economic and ecological sectors.
