Suchergebnisse

Relevance of the research. Recognition and education of children and teenagers gifted in sporting activity is an important part of the attainment of particular results in sports. Identification of children and teenagers gifted for sports is a process, when athletes are recognised at the early stage of their development and have a possibility to attain high results in adulthood (Williams, Reilly, 2000; Vaeyens, Lenoir, Williams, Philippaerts, 2008). It means that individually or in combination, their physical, physiological, psychological and social features, as well as technical capabilities can help to predict their potential in the future (Williams, Reilly, 2000). Some scientists maintain that aiming to achieve high results in sports gifted athletes should be selected by appropriate methods at an early age and involved into a long and systematically planned training (Sevim, 2007; Bompa, Haff, 2009). However, recognition of young gifted athletes is a complex process, since the results of teenagers' physical development, as well as their value-based provisions, attitudes and motives change in the process of growing and development (Callender, 2010; Gonçalves, Rama, Figueriredo, 2012). According to some scientists (Byrne, Davenport, Mazanov, 2007), adolescence is a specific and rather complicated age period, when rapid and big changes occur not only in physical development, but also in psycho-social maturity. Therefore, recognition and selection of children and teenagers gifted for sports is a multi-faceted process, when it is important not only to evaluate an athlete's present appearance considering their physical, physiological, psychological, cognitive and sociological features, and technical capacities, but also evacuating such important aspects as social, emotional, motivational and temperamental factors (Pruna, Tribaldos, Bahdur, 2018). Whether the talents will be disclosed depends not only on an athlete's innate capabilities, but also on the educational factors affecting them. A great influence is made by the coach and educational environment created by the school, which allows developing and growing an athlete's personality (Williams, Reilly, 2000; Pensgaard, Roberts, 2002). However, it is not the school that affects the educational environment and motivational climate. The attitude of family members towards physical activity, their support for an athlete, the coach and his/her ability to appropriately plan the training content, teammates, facilities, attention from the media and other people, as well as values and social provisions also contribute to this process (Hassandra, Goudas, Chroni, 2003; Lenzen, Brouwers, Dejardin et al., 2004). An effective programme of the identification of children and teenagers gifted for sports can help to recognize talents at an early stage, which can become a vitally important element when trying to enhance successful competitiveness of the country (Vaeyens, Gullich, Warr, Philippaerts, 2009). The programmes of the identification of children and teenagers gifted for sports facilitate the process of athlete selection, which maximizes the number of gifted persons (Anshel, Lidor, 2012). Early recognition of gifted athletes can attract funding and training opportunities for athletes having the greatest potential for success (Durand-Bush, Salmela, 2001). Countries are concerned with creating research-based methods to select the most gifted athletes that could successfully compete on the international sports arena. Over the past two decades, the increasing number of studies have been accomplished trying to understand the issues concerning experience in the identification and education of children and teenagers gifted for sports (Williams, Reilly, 2000; Abbott, Button, Pepping et al., 2005; De Bosscher, De Knop, Van Bottenburg, Shibli, 2006; Pearson, Naughton, Torode, 2006; Lidor, Cote, Hackfort, 2009; Anshel, Lidor, 2012; Roth, 2012; Brouwers, De Bosscher, Sotiriadou, 2012; Nijs, Gallardo-Gallardo, Dries, Sels, 2014; Swann, Moran, Piggott, 2015). However, despite considerable achievements in the process of identification of children and teenagers gifted for sports, a universally recognized model of the identification of children and teenagers gifted for sports does not exist Hohmann, 2001; Abbott, Collins, 2004; Vaeyens, Lenoir, Williams, Philippaerts, 2008; Davids, Araujo, Vilar, Pinder, 2013; Louzada, Maiorano, Ara, 2016). There are cases when decisions concerning the selection of athletes are made subjectively, without scientific validation (Regnier, Salmela, Russell, 1993; Williams, Franks, 1998; Abbott, Button, Pepping, Collins, 2005), whereas a lot of potentially gifted athletes are not selected due to inappropriate selection criteria or applying no selection criteria at all, as well as due to athletes changing a sports branch or a large number of drop-outs from sports (Abbott, Collins, 2004; MacNamara, Collins, 2011; Tranckle, Cushion, 2006; Winfried, 2001). It is important that children and teenagers get interested in sports, are selected to appropriate sport branches, as well as attempts are made so that they do not break their sporting career too early (Schiffer, 2013); every year approximately 35% of young athletes quit sports and it is not clear if they ever resume their sporting activity again (Purcell, 2005; Breunner, 2012). Therefore, the application of these selection criteria and a large drop-out of athletes from sports can be partly justified in countries with high population. The principle of natural selection can have a greater influence. In the case of a small country (for instance, Lithuania), such a selection is not suitable. Trying to avoid subjectivity, the majority of the latest scientific studies in sports science are related to the investigation of the influence of innate (natural) and acquired (educated) features on sporting results (Baker, Bagats, Büsch, Schorer, 2012; Coutinho, Mesquita, Fonseca, De Martin-Silva, 2014; Davids, Baker, 2007). With the increasing competition among athletes over the past period (De Bosscher et al., 2006) and sports becoming a political and commercial phenomenon (Green, Oakley, 2001), there appears a necessity for timely and appropriate choice of a specific branch of sports, which would help to achieve good results in the future. Different methods and programmes of selecting the most capable athletes are applied all over the world. In the majority of countries, selection models consisting of several stages are applied, which rely on a coach's competence, test results and analysis of competition results, whereas the selected athletes are invited to learn and do sports in specialised schools. Similarly to some other countries, in Lithuania concern about (self-) education of children gifted for sports has led to the emergence of sports gymnasiums. Panevėžys Raimundas Sargūnas Sports Gymnasium is one of the three general education schools of Lithuania that implement basic and general education alongside with sports education, and in which a part of sports education in the field of specialized education aims at training students that have special educational needs due to their giftedness in sports for high excellence and results (Order No. V-1010 of the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania, 24 October 2014). The programme outlines the knowledge, abilities and attitudes that athletes should acquire to comply with physical, technical, tactical requirements, as well as requirements for fitness and achievements. The purpose of Panevėžys Raimundas Sargūnas Sports Gymnasium gives a possibility to analyse the gymnasium as a case revealing the aspects of the selection of teenagers gifted for sports, which can help to better understand what educational preconditions are created and how to select teenagers gifted for sports and to disclose their talents, as well as to help create and improve practical models for schools educating teenagers gifted for sports. Therefore, the research question was formulated: how does the selection of teenagers gifted for sports occur and how are the educational preconditions for the selection of teenagers gifted for sports created? The problem-based question and the fact that a universal and effective model of the selection of children and teenagers gifted for sports does not exist, highlight the research object, i. e. the selection of teenagers gifted for sports. The aim of the research is to reveal the educational preconditions for the selection of teenagers gifted for sports. The research objectives: 1. To theoretically validate the educational preconditions for the selection of teenagers gifted for sports. 2. To identify the educational factors and notice of the choice of sporting activity by athletes. 3. To explore the physical and functional fitness of athletes and its dynamics. 4. To determine the attitudes of athletes as educational preconditions for the selection of teenagers gifted for sports. 5. To determine the attitudes of coaches as educational preconditions for the selection of teenagers gifted for sports. Scientific novelty and practical significance of the doctoral research ● The validated educational factors that influence the selection of teenagers gifted for sports allow better understanding of the factors of choosing a sporting activity and survival in sports as educational preconditions for the development of capabilities. ● The determined dynamics of physical and functional fitness of teenage athletes in an educational environment beneficial to the development of their innate capabilities for sports helps to understand the dynamics and multi-dimensionality of the selection of teenagers gifted for sports as a process, as well as problematic control of its components when identifying and developing their capabilities. The case of one of the three sports gymnasiums of Lithuania has been explored in terms of the selection of teenagers gifted for sports – such studies have not been performed in Lithuania so far. ● The results of the theoretical and empirical research complement the theory of sports science with innovative and original data on the expression of the educational preconditions affecting the selection of teenagers gifted for sports. Practical significance. The educational preconditions for the selection of teenagers gifted for sports that affect athletes' decision to choose a sporting activity from other spheres of supplementary education have been analysed and generalised. The determined peculiarities of motivation will help coaches to select appropriate pedagogical and psychological tools to motivate athletes to seek for high results in sports. The educational factors stimulating and aggravating athletes' selection and motivation to seek for high results in sports have been distinguished during the research, the role of a coach as one of educational factors has been revealed in the process of selecting and training athletes – these findings will allow a more purposeful planning of the (self-) development of coaches' competences and provision of all the necessary support concerning the selection of athletes to them. The analysis of the changes in the results of athletes' physical and functional fitness will give a possibility to make a more thorough selection of teenagers gifted for sports to 12 sports branches, as well as to train them more purposefully and effectively for national and international competitions. The research data can be applied in compiling model characteristics of different age periods and different sports branches by specifying training programmes and evaluating the changes in athletes' individual fitness. The research results can be used by the administration, coaches and other employees of athletes' educational centres, federations and sports schools. CONCLUSIONS 1. The search and selection of gifted children is a complex, dynamic, long-lasting, and special educational process that depends on a variety of factors interacting and constantly changing in the process. The factors influencing the selection and results in the sporting activity can be divided into four groups: genetic-physiological, psychological, social, and educational factors. The genetic potential, anthropometric data and physical abilities are essential indicators for the identification and selection of teenagers gifted for sports. Psychological features, such as perseverance, self-confidence, positive attitude, devotion, dedication, strong intrinsic motivation, concentration, attentiveness, and emotional control, are important in selecting gifted teenagers. Social factors include sports policy, culture, natural conditions, geographical location of the country, various opportunities, specific tendencies in the development of modern sports, and support rendered to the participants of the educational process. Educational factors – educational environments, parent support, practice, the coach and teammates, have an educational impact on athletes and can influence their decision making, motivation, habits, training and skills.Therefore, the selection of gifted teenagers should be specific to each sports branch and include a multi-disciplinary approach when clearing out athletes' motives, the attitudes of athletes and coaches, as well as implementing the monitoring athletes. 2. Regardless of gender and a group of sports branches, the main factors that motivate the choice of sports activities include educational (motivation of the coach, parents and friends) and internal cognitive motives (desire to master a sports technique). The least important motives involve material (possession of own inventory, good facilities for training), geographical (a sports school close to home), not being admitted into another sports branch, or lack of other choices. The choice of a sport from other areas of supplementary education is determined by a desire to be physically fit and a desire to engage in leisure activities. The least important motives are the desire to become famous and the desire to be attractive. Intrinsic motivation is more pronounced than extrinsic.The boys' external motivation is stronger than that of girls. Amotivation is more characteristic of the girls. The internal and external motivation is more expressed by the athletes of team sports; external motivation in individual sports appears to be the weakest, whereas the weakest intrinsic motivation and the strongest amotivation is revealed in duelling sports. 3. The results of physical development, physical fitness and functional capacity of stronger athletes are not always statistically significantly different from those of other athletes or control group athletes. A part of the indicators of stronger athletes are better, which leads to an assumption that alongside with psychosocial abilities, social factors, educational factors, and high motivation, they are essential to achieve high results. The correlation study reveals which indicators need to be taken into account and developed when selecting teenagers gifted for sports and achieving high results. 4. The most important factors for teenagers' decision to start doing sports and choose a sports branch include the surrounding environment, where the most important roles are ascribed to the coach, family members and friends. The genetic-physiological and psychological factors that are affected by the coaching and environmental factors are considered as the main factors determining success in sports. The coach is identified as the most important educational factor in the selection of gifted teenagers, whereas a favourable climate, motivating influence of the coach, his/her competence and ideal conditions help to disclose the athletes' talents and achieve high results. While choosing a sport and training, the self-educational factor is distinguished seeking to change oneself, as well as to change own or others' future relating it to sports. The factors that reduce the motivation of athletes and thus prevent the full potential of talented athletes, as well as leading them to end their sporting careers are highlighted: stabilisation of their progress in the results, injuries and high loads of physical activity. 5. The coaches distinguish the importance of psychological and physiological factors in selecting teenagers gifted for sports. The coaches consider the teenagers to be prospective athletes who have a strong internal and external motivation to train, innate capabilities, and physical abilities that are influenced by environmental factors, coaching competence, and practice. The role of the coach as the most important educational factor is highlighted in the search for gifted athletes among those already in the sport or referring to the competence of other coaches, recommending athletes who can achieve higher results in other sports branches. Identifying gifted teenagers-athletes, the coaches look for dedicated, hardworking and goal-seeking athletes with strong motivation. Family members and peers are recognised as educational factors that have a significant impact on athlete selection. The research also highlights the problems faced by coaches in the selection process. These are physiological and psychological changes in the body and the priorities of teenage athletes, which are influenced by their surrounding environment.

Relevance of the research. Recognition and education of children and teenagers gifted in sporting activity is an important part of the attainment of particular results in sports. Identification of children and teenagers gifted for sports is a process, when athletes are recognised at the early stage of their development and have a possibility to attain high results in adulthood (Williams, Reilly, 2000; Vaeyens, Lenoir, Williams, Philippaerts, 2008). It means that individually or in combination, their physical, physiological, psychological and social features, as well as technical capabilities can help to predict their potential in the future (Williams, Reilly, 2000). Some scientists maintain that aiming to achieve high results in sports gifted athletes should be selected by appropriate methods at an early age and involved into a long and systematically planned training (Sevim, 2007; Bompa, Haff, 2009). However, recognition of young gifted athletes is a complex process, since the results of teenagers' physical development, as well as their value-based provisions, attitudes and motives change in the process of growing and development (Callender, 2010; Gonçalves, Rama, Figueriredo, 2012). According to some scientists (Byrne, Davenport, Mazanov, 2007), adolescence is a specific and rather complicated age period, when rapid and big changes occur not only in physical development, but also in psycho-social maturity. Therefore, recognition and selection of children and teenagers gifted for sports is a multi-faceted process, when it is important not only to evaluate an athlete's present appearance considering their physical, physiological, psychological, cognitive and sociological features, and technical capacities, but also evacuating such important aspects as social, emotional, motivational and temperamental factors (Pruna, Tribaldos, Bahdur, 2018). Whether the talents will be disclosed depends not only on an athlete's innate capabilities, but also on the educational factors affecting them. A great influence is made by the coach and educational environment created by the school, which allows developing and growing an athlete's personality (Williams, Reilly, 2000; Pensgaard, Roberts, 2002). However, it is not the school that affects the educational environment and motivational climate. The attitude of family members towards physical activity, their support for an athlete, the coach and his/her ability to appropriately plan the training content, teammates, facilities, attention from the media and other people, as well as values and social provisions also contribute to this process (Hassandra, Goudas, Chroni, 2003; Lenzen, Brouwers, Dejardin et al., 2004). An effective programme of the identification of children and teenagers gifted for sports can help to recognize talents at an early stage, which can become a vitally important element when trying to enhance successful competitiveness of the country (Vaeyens, Gullich, Warr, Philippaerts, 2009). The programmes of the identification of children and teenagers gifted for sports facilitate the process of athlete selection, which maximizes the number of gifted persons (Anshel, Lidor, 2012). Early recognition of gifted athletes can attract funding and training opportunities for athletes having the greatest potential for success (Durand-Bush, Salmela, 2001). Countries are concerned with creating research-based methods to select the most gifted athletes that could successfully compete on the international sports arena. Over the past two decades, the increasing number of studies have been accomplished trying to understand the issues concerning experience in the identification and education of children and teenagers gifted for sports (Williams, Reilly, 2000; Abbott, Button, Pepping et al., 2005; De Bosscher, De Knop, Van Bottenburg, Shibli, 2006; Pearson, Naughton, Torode, 2006; Lidor, Cote, Hackfort, 2009; Anshel, Lidor, 2012; Roth, 2012; Brouwers, De Bosscher, Sotiriadou, 2012; Nijs, Gallardo-Gallardo, Dries, Sels, 2014; Swann, Moran, Piggott, 2015). However, despite considerable achievements in the process of identification of children and teenagers gifted for sports, a universally recognized model of the identification of children and teenagers gifted for sports does not exist Hohmann, 2001; Abbott, Collins, 2004; Vaeyens, Lenoir, Williams, Philippaerts, 2008; Davids, Araujo, Vilar, Pinder, 2013; Louzada, Maiorano, Ara, 2016). There are cases when decisions concerning the selection of athletes are made subjectively, without scientific validation (Regnier, Salmela, Russell, 1993; Williams, Franks, 1998; Abbott, Button, Pepping, Collins, 2005), whereas a lot of potentially gifted athletes are not selected due to inappropriate selection criteria or applying no selection criteria at all, as well as due to athletes changing a sports branch or a large number of drop-outs from sports (Abbott, Collins, 2004; MacNamara, Collins, 2011; Tranckle, Cushion, 2006; Winfried, 2001). It is important that children and teenagers get interested in sports, are selected to appropriate sport branches, as well as attempts are made so that they do not break their sporting career too early (Schiffer, 2013); every year approximately 35% of young athletes quit sports and it is not clear if they ever resume their sporting activity again (Purcell, 2005; Breunner, 2012). Therefore, the application of these selection criteria and a large drop-out of athletes from sports can be partly justified in countries with high population. The principle of natural selection can have a greater influence. In the case of a small country (for instance, Lithuania), such a selection is not suitable. Trying to avoid subjectivity, the majority of the latest scientific studies in sports science are related to the investigation of the influence of innate (natural) and acquired (educated) features on sporting results (Baker, Bagats, Büsch, Schorer, 2012; Coutinho, Mesquita, Fonseca, De Martin-Silva, 2014; Davids, Baker, 2007). With the increasing competition among athletes over the past period (De Bosscher et al., 2006) and sports becoming a political and commercial phenomenon (Green, Oakley, 2001), there appears a necessity for timely and appropriate choice of a specific branch of sports, which would help to achieve good results in the future. Different methods and programmes of selecting the most capable athletes are applied all over the world. In the majority of countries, selection models consisting of several stages are applied, which rely on a coach's competence, test results and analysis of competition results, whereas the selected athletes are invited to learn and do sports in specialised schools. Similarly to some other countries, in Lithuania concern about (self-) education of children gifted for sports has led to the emergence of sports gymnasiums. Panevėžys Raimundas Sargūnas Sports Gymnasium is one of the three general education schools of Lithuania that implement basic and general education alongside with sports education, and in which a part of sports education in the field of specialized education aims at training students that have special educational needs due to their giftedness in sports for high excellence and results (Order No. V-1010 of the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania, 24 October 2014). The programme outlines the knowledge, abilities and attitudes that athletes should acquire to comply with physical, technical, tactical requirements, as well as requirements for fitness and achievements. The purpose of Panevėžys Raimundas Sargūnas Sports Gymnasium gives a possibility to analyse the gymnasium as a case revealing the aspects of the selection of teenagers gifted for sports, which can help to better understand what educational preconditions are created and how to select teenagers gifted for sports and to disclose their talents, as well as to help create and improve practical models for schools educating teenagers gifted for sports. Therefore, the research question was formulated: how does the selection of teenagers gifted for sports occur and how are the educational preconditions for the selection of teenagers gifted for sports created? The problem-based question and the fact that a universal and effective model of the selection of children and teenagers gifted for sports does not exist, highlight the research object, i. e. the selection of teenagers gifted for sports. The aim of the research is to reveal the educational preconditions for the selection of teenagers gifted for sports. The research objectives: 1. To theoretically validate the educational preconditions for the selection of teenagers gifted for sports. 2. To identify the educational factors and notice of the choice of sporting activity by athletes. 3. To explore the physical and functional fitness of athletes and its dynamics. 4. To determine the attitudes of athletes as educational preconditions for the selection of teenagers gifted for sports. 5. To determine the attitudes of coaches as educational preconditions for the selection of teenagers gifted for sports. Scientific novelty and practical significance of the doctoral research ● The validated educational factors that influence the selection of teenagers gifted for sports allow better understanding of the factors of choosing a sporting activity and survival in sports as educational preconditions for the development of capabilities. ● The determined dynamics of physical and functional fitness of teenage athletes in an educational environment beneficial to the development of their innate capabilities for sports helps to understand the dynamics and multi-dimensionality of the selection of teenagers gifted for sports as a process, as well as problematic control of its components when identifying and developing their capabilities. The case of one of the three sports gymnasiums of Lithuania has been explored in terms of the selection of teenagers gifted for sports – such studies have not been performed in Lithuania so far. ● The results of the theoretical and empirical research complement the theory of sports science with innovative and original data on the expression of the educational preconditions affecting the selection of teenagers gifted for sports. Practical significance. The educational preconditions for the selection of teenagers gifted for sports that affect athletes' decision to choose a sporting activity from other spheres of supplementary education have been analysed and generalised. The determined peculiarities of motivation will help coaches to select appropriate pedagogical and psychological tools to motivate athletes to seek for high results in sports. The educational factors stimulating and aggravating athletes' selection and motivation to seek for high results in sports have been distinguished during the research, the role of a coach as one of educational factors has been revealed in the process of selecting and training athletes – these findings will allow a more purposeful planning of the (self-) development of coaches' competences and provision of all the necessary support concerning the selection of athletes to them. The analysis of the changes in the results of athletes' physical and functional fitness will give a possibility to make a more thorough selection of teenagers gifted for sports to 12 sports branches, as well as to train them more purposefully and effectively for national and international competitions. The research data can be applied in compiling model characteristics of different age periods and different sports branches by specifying training programmes and evaluating the changes in athletes' individual fitness. The research results can be used by the administration, coaches and other employees of athletes' educational centres, federations and sports schools. CONCLUSIONS 1. The search and selection of gifted children is a complex, dynamic, long-lasting, and special educational process that depends on a variety of factors interacting and constantly changing in the process. The factors influencing the selection and results in the sporting activity can be divided into four groups: genetic-physiological, psychological, social, and educational factors. The genetic potential, anthropometric data and physical abilities are essential indicators for the identification and selection of teenagers gifted for sports. Psychological features, such as perseverance, self-confidence, positive attitude, devotion, dedication, strong intrinsic motivation, concentration, attentiveness, and emotional control, are important in selecting gifted teenagers. Social factors include sports policy, culture, natural conditions, geographical location of the country, various opportunities, specific tendencies in the development of modern sports, and support rendered to the participants of the educational process. Educational factors – educational environments, parent support, practice, the coach and teammates, have an educational impact on athletes and can influence their decision making, motivation, habits, training and skills.Therefore, the selection of gifted teenagers should be specific to each sports branch and include a multi-disciplinary approach when clearing out athletes' motives, the attitudes of athletes and coaches, as well as implementing the monitoring athletes. 2. Regardless of gender and a group of sports branches, the main factors that motivate the choice of sports activities include educational (motivation of the coach, parents and friends) and internal cognitive motives (desire to master a sports technique). The least important motives involve material (possession of own inventory, good facilities for training), geographical (a sports school close to home), not being admitted into another sports branch, or lack of other choices. The choice of a sport from other areas of supplementary education is determined by a desire to be physically fit and a desire to engage in leisure activities. The least important motives are the desire to become famous and the desire to be attractive. Intrinsic motivation is more pronounced than extrinsic.The boys' external motivation is stronger than that of girls. Amotivation is more characteristic of the girls. The internal and external motivation is more expressed by the athletes of team sports; external motivation in individual sports appears to be the weakest, whereas the weakest intrinsic motivation and the strongest amotivation is revealed in duelling sports. 3. The results of physical development, physical fitness and functional capacity of stronger athletes are not always statistically significantly different from those of other athletes or control group athletes. A part of the indicators of stronger athletes are better, which leads to an assumption that alongside with psychosocial abilities, social factors, educational factors, and high motivation, they are essential to achieve high results. The correlation study reveals which indicators need to be taken into account and developed when selecting teenagers gifted for sports and achieving high results. 4. The most important factors for teenagers' decision to start doing sports and choose a sports branch include the surrounding environment, where the most important roles are ascribed to the coach, family members and friends. The genetic-physiological and psychological factors that are affected by the coaching and environmental factors are considered as the main factors determining success in sports. The coach is identified as the most important educational factor in the selection of gifted teenagers, whereas a favourable climate, motivating influence of the coach, his/her competence and ideal conditions help to disclose the athletes' talents and achieve high results. While choosing a sport and training, the self-educational factor is distinguished seeking to change oneself, as well as to change own or others' future relating it to sports. The factors that reduce the motivation of athletes and thus prevent the full potential of talented athletes, as well as leading them to end their sporting careers are highlighted: stabilisation of their progress in the results, injuries and high loads of physical activity. 5. The coaches distinguish the importance of psychological and physiological factors in selecting teenagers gifted for sports. The coaches consider the teenagers to be prospective athletes who have a strong internal and external motivation to train, innate capabilities, and physical abilities that are influenced by environmental factors, coaching competence, and practice. The role of the coach as the most important educational factor is highlighted in the search for gifted athletes among those already in the sport or referring to the competence of other coaches, recommending athletes who can achieve higher results in other sports branches. Identifying gifted teenagers-athletes, the coaches look for dedicated, hardworking and goal-seeking athletes with strong motivation. Family members and peers are recognised as educational factors that have a significant impact on athlete selection. The research also highlights the problems faced by coaches in the selection process. These are physiological and psychological changes in the body and the priorities of teenage athletes, which are influenced by their surrounding environment.

In Lithuania like in the majority of other countries around the globe the need of investments and their improvement regarding public infrastructure and public services is growing at a fast pace. Limitations of the public sector concerning the possibilities to fund these objectives promote the search for new tools and opportunities to achieve these purposes. The co-operation of the public and private sectors is defined as any kind of agreement that involves both sectors, which allows private organizations to function within the field that previously was only governed by the public sector. In the international practice one of the co-operation types is the partnership of private and public sector (PPS) that creates opportunities to attract private funds in order to meet the needs of the public sector. Broadly this partnership can be defined as a co-operation of both public and private sectors in order to accomplish various projects involving infrastructure or public services. Thus, the co-operation between these two sectors is inevitable. As an alternative to traditional ways of supplementing public services, the partnership of public and private sector encompasses a wide spectrum of various forms and mechanisms. It could vary from agreements made by county with a private communal office in order to create a system for trash extermination to an establishment of a joint company, which would govern the building and exploitation of a new atomic power plant. These contracts are usually distinguished by establishing a clear partnership type regarding PPS terms; thus, it could be an agreement implemented on a contractual basis or an agreement based on an institutional basis. The European Commission distinguish two types of co-operation of the public and private sector: (1) institutional – when a company of mixed funds is required to be established in order to accomplish a goal; (2) contractual – when a certain goal is achieved by constructing agreements (consensuses, contracts based on a public purchases, joint practises, and other various agreements that are determined by the law). It has to be noted that certain concepts such as consensus, PPS projects, long-term lease, public purchases and others because they denote different ways of partnership of government and public sectors; in other words these concepts could be ineligible. Even though the contracts of purchases and consensuses are regulated by different laws, they in their essence involve similar legal correlations, which have similar aims of regulation. Consensus a try way agreement between the granting instruction, the provider of the service, and the customer. A public purchase is a two way agreement between a service provider and the organization that buys the service, which in consequence pays for the bought service and takes the economic risk of the purchase. The correlation of a consensus and a public purchase are different in the way and process of creating a contract. In case of a consensus provider of the service receives a right to use the service it provides as part of the payment. The concessionaire recognizes the risks of the purchase while the pay is usually arranged by the services user. Although, there is no singular definition of consensus there are certain attributes that allows to distinguish it from other partnerships or public and private sectors; these attributes involves such signs as a long time-span of arranging the contract, a clear allocation of possible liabilities to all the parties, a clear allocation of possible risk, while the majority of these risks are moved upon the private buyer, financial commitments. A major matter for the public sector regarding the co-operation of private and public sector is a selection of private party in a fair competition manner. Before making any kind of partnership contract it is essential to establish an effective and clear competition within the contestant participants within the market. This kind of competition allows the public sector to choose the most effective private partner. The competition allows the governmental institutions to select a partner in a most rational way; due to this information, it is possible to choose such a partner that would meet all the requirements and would fulfil the goal in question. In order to ensure the best selection of the partner it is important to oblige the principles of transparency and non-discrimination. It is important to act according to these principles in order to avoid violating the public and private interests, which are quintessentially different. The public sector seeks to receive the best possible service, while the private sector seeks profit. The equality of rights is important to every legal form that involves the co-operation of public and private sector. According to this principle the procedures of selection of a private party must be determined in an objective and clear way as well as they have to oblige to the rules and requirements. If certain predetermined rules do not exist the participating private parties must be selected according to objective criteria. The principal of non-discrimination defined the object of purchase; the technical specifications cannot defy the concrete process of making, the trade mark, patent, country of origin or production because these specifications might provide extra help for the participating parties or could even rule out some of the participants. The transparency principal is a principal that requires for the conditions of the contest to be clear and understandable; also, it requires that all the conditions that were set could not be changed. By obliging to the transparency principal allows to foresee the decision that should be made during the contest. It is quite natural to agree that the principal of partnership between the public and private sector is the essential part of the partnership concept because without clearly stating them it would be impossible to accomplish any kind of goal regarding such co-operation. The implementation of projects regarding co-operation between the public and private sector is a difficult and lengthily process, which is formed not only by the configuration of partnership but by the selection of partners, negotiations regarding the requirements of the contract, risk management, project management, and the surveillance of the project management. Taking into account the difficult specifics of the co-operation between public and private sector, often there is no singular way to formulate the technical requirements of an object, which would fulfil the public subject's needs and aims, or would defy the objects legal status or its financial consent. Whatever the form of co-operation regarding the partnership of private and public sector is employed, for the successful contest, some sort of negotiations will be required. Each form of such co-operation has a different kind of way to regulate the negotiation. For instance, according to the Public procurement law the negotiations are not mandatory during the public purchase. However, in the contest regarding the grant of the consensus once of the mandatory stages is the negotiation, which's aim is to come to a compromise between the participant of the contest and the institution that grants the consensus. It needs to be noted that the negotiation cannot be used as a tool to distort the technical, financial, or commercial criteria. While appointing the contractual conditions of the consensus, the conditions of the agreement and its main requirements cannot be an object of the negotiation. However this means that the initial agreement will be changed in a slight way. If negotiation takes place it is quite natural that the primary draft of the project changes. A change is fundamental if its implementation within the agreement would quintessentially change the outcomes that the participants would provide. It such change takes place a new contest must be organized. The legal provisions concerning public purchases and consensuses foresees such changes only if the principals of equal right, non-discrimination and transparency are taken into account.

In Lithuania like in the majority of other countries around the globe the need of investments and their improvement regarding public infrastructure and public services is growing at a fast pace. Limitations of the public sector concerning the possibilities to fund these objectives promote the search for new tools and opportunities to achieve these purposes. The co-operation of the public and private sectors is defined as any kind of agreement that involves both sectors, which allows private organizations to function within the field that previously was only governed by the public sector. In the international practice one of the co-operation types is the partnership of private and public sector (PPS) that creates opportunities to attract private funds in order to meet the needs of the public sector. Broadly this partnership can be defined as a co-operation of both public and private sectors in order to accomplish various projects involving infrastructure or public services. Thus, the co-operation between these two sectors is inevitable. As an alternative to traditional ways of supplementing public services, the partnership of public and private sector encompasses a wide spectrum of various forms and mechanisms. It could vary from agreements made by county with a private communal office in order to create a system for trash extermination to an establishment of a joint company, which would govern the building and exploitation of a new atomic power plant. These contracts are usually distinguished by establishing a clear partnership type regarding PPS terms; thus, it could be an agreement implemented on a contractual basis or an agreement based on an institutional basis. The European Commission distinguish two types of co-operation of the public and private sector: (1) institutional – when a company of mixed funds is required to be established in order to accomplish a goal; (2) contractual – when a certain goal is achieved by constructing agreements (consensuses, contracts based on a public purchases, joint practises, and other various agreements that are determined by the law). It has to be noted that certain concepts such as consensus, PPS projects, long-term lease, public purchases and others because they denote different ways of partnership of government and public sectors; in other words these concepts could be ineligible. Even though the contracts of purchases and consensuses are regulated by different laws, they in their essence involve similar legal correlations, which have similar aims of regulation. Consensus a try way agreement between the granting instruction, the provider of the service, and the customer. A public purchase is a two way agreement between a service provider and the organization that buys the service, which in consequence pays for the bought service and takes the economic risk of the purchase. The correlation of a consensus and a public purchase are different in the way and process of creating a contract. In case of a consensus provider of the service receives a right to use the service it provides as part of the payment. The concessionaire recognizes the risks of the purchase while the pay is usually arranged by the services user. Although, there is no singular definition of consensus there are certain attributes that allows to distinguish it from other partnerships or public and private sectors; these attributes involves such signs as a long time-span of arranging the contract, a clear allocation of possible liabilities to all the parties, a clear allocation of possible risk, while the majority of these risks are moved upon the private buyer, financial commitments. A major matter for the public sector regarding the co-operation of private and public sector is a selection of private party in a fair competition manner. Before making any kind of partnership contract it is essential to establish an effective and clear competition within the contestant participants within the market. This kind of competition allows the public sector to choose the most effective private partner. The competition allows the governmental institutions to select a partner in a most rational way; due to this information, it is possible to choose such a partner that would meet all the requirements and would fulfil the goal in question. In order to ensure the best selection of the partner it is important to oblige the principles of transparency and non-discrimination. It is important to act according to these principles in order to avoid violating the public and private interests, which are quintessentially different. The public sector seeks to receive the best possible service, while the private sector seeks profit. The equality of rights is important to every legal form that involves the co-operation of public and private sector. According to this principle the procedures of selection of a private party must be determined in an objective and clear way as well as they have to oblige to the rules and requirements. If certain predetermined rules do not exist the participating private parties must be selected according to objective criteria. The principal of non-discrimination defined the object of purchase; the technical specifications cannot defy the concrete process of making, the trade mark, patent, country of origin or production because these specifications might provide extra help for the participating parties or could even rule out some of the participants. The transparency principal is a principal that requires for the conditions of the contest to be clear and understandable; also, it requires that all the conditions that were set could not be changed. By obliging to the transparency principal allows to foresee the decision that should be made during the contest. It is quite natural to agree that the principal of partnership between the public and private sector is the essential part of the partnership concept because without clearly stating them it would be impossible to accomplish any kind of goal regarding such co-operation. The implementation of projects regarding co-operation between the public and private sector is a difficult and lengthily process, which is formed not only by the configuration of partnership but by the selection of partners, negotiations regarding the requirements of the contract, risk management, project management, and the surveillance of the project management. Taking into account the difficult specifics of the co-operation between public and private sector, often there is no singular way to formulate the technical requirements of an object, which would fulfil the public subject's needs and aims, or would defy the objects legal status or its financial consent. Whatever the form of co-operation regarding the partnership of private and public sector is employed, for the successful contest, some sort of negotiations will be required. Each form of such co-operation has a different kind of way to regulate the negotiation. For instance, according to the Public procurement law the negotiations are not mandatory during the public purchase. However, in the contest regarding the grant of the consensus once of the mandatory stages is the negotiation, which's aim is to come to a compromise between the participant of the contest and the institution that grants the consensus. It needs to be noted that the negotiation cannot be used as a tool to distort the technical, financial, or commercial criteria. While appointing the contractual conditions of the consensus, the conditions of the agreement and its main requirements cannot be an object of the negotiation. However this means that the initial agreement will be changed in a slight way. If negotiation takes place it is quite natural that the primary draft of the project changes. A change is fundamental if its implementation within the agreement would quintessentially change the outcomes that the participants would provide. It such change takes place a new contest must be organized. The legal provisions concerning public purchases and consensuses foresees such changes only if the principals of equal right, non-discrimination and transparency are taken into account.

In Lithuania like in the majority of other countries around the globe the need of investments and their improvement regarding public infrastructure and public services is growing at a fast pace. Limitations of the public sector concerning the possibilities to fund these objectives promote the search for new tools and opportunities to achieve these purposes. The co-operation of the public and private sectors is defined as any kind of agreement that involves both sectors, which allows private organizations to function within the field that previously was only governed by the public sector. In the international practice one of the co-operation types is the partnership of private and public sector (PPS) that creates opportunities to attract private funds in order to meet the needs of the public sector. Broadly this partnership can be defined as a co-operation of both public and private sectors in order to accomplish various projects involving infrastructure or public services. Thus, the co-operation between these two sectors is inevitable. As an alternative to traditional ways of supplementing public services, the partnership of public and private sector encompasses a wide spectrum of various forms and mechanisms. It could vary from agreements made by county with a private communal office in order to create a system for trash extermination to an establishment of a joint company, which would govern the building and exploitation of a new atomic power plant. These contracts are usually distinguished by establishing a clear partnership type regarding PPS terms; thus, it could be an agreement implemented on a contractual basis or an agreement based on an institutional basis. The European Commission distinguish two types of co-operation of the public and private sector: (1) institutional – when a company of mixed funds is required to be established in order to accomplish a goal; (2) contractual – when a certain goal is achieved by constructing agreements (consensuses, contracts based on a public purchases, joint practises, and other various agreements that are determined by the law). It has to be noted that certain concepts such as consensus, PPS projects, long-term lease, public purchases and others because they denote different ways of partnership of government and public sectors; in other words these concepts could be ineligible. Even though the contracts of purchases and consensuses are regulated by different laws, they in their essence involve similar legal correlations, which have similar aims of regulation. Consensus a try way agreement between the granting instruction, the provider of the service, and the customer. A public purchase is a two way agreement between a service provider and the organization that buys the service, which in consequence pays for the bought service and takes the economic risk of the purchase. The correlation of a consensus and a public purchase are different in the way and process of creating a contract. In case of a consensus provider of the service receives a right to use the service it provides as part of the payment. The concessionaire recognizes the risks of the purchase while the pay is usually arranged by the services user. Although, there is no singular definition of consensus there are certain attributes that allows to distinguish it from other partnerships or public and private sectors; these attributes involves such signs as a long time-span of arranging the contract, a clear allocation of possible liabilities to all the parties, a clear allocation of possible risk, while the majority of these risks are moved upon the private buyer, financial commitments. A major matter for the public sector regarding the co-operation of private and public sector is a selection of private party in a fair competition manner. Before making any kind of partnership contract it is essential to establish an effective and clear competition within the contestant participants within the market. This kind of competition allows the public sector to choose the most effective private partner. The competition allows the governmental institutions to select a partner in a most rational way; due to this information, it is possible to choose such a partner that would meet all the requirements and would fulfil the goal in question. In order to ensure the best selection of the partner it is important to oblige the principles of transparency and non-discrimination. It is important to act according to these principles in order to avoid violating the public and private interests, which are quintessentially different. The public sector seeks to receive the best possible service, while the private sector seeks profit. The equality of rights is important to every legal form that involves the co-operation of public and private sector. According to this principle the procedures of selection of a private party must be determined in an objective and clear way as well as they have to oblige to the rules and requirements. If certain predetermined rules do not exist the participating private parties must be selected according to objective criteria. The principal of non-discrimination defined the object of purchase; the technical specifications cannot defy the concrete process of making, the trade mark, patent, country of origin or production because these specifications might provide extra help for the participating parties or could even rule out some of the participants. The transparency principal is a principal that requires for the conditions of the contest to be clear and understandable; also, it requires that all the conditions that were set could not be changed. By obliging to the transparency principal allows to foresee the decision that should be made during the contest. It is quite natural to agree that the principal of partnership between the public and private sector is the essential part of the partnership concept because without clearly stating them it would be impossible to accomplish any kind of goal regarding such co-operation. The implementation of projects regarding co-operation between the public and private sector is a difficult and lengthily process, which is formed not only by the configuration of partnership but by the selection of partners, negotiations regarding the requirements of the contract, risk management, project management, and the surveillance of the project management. Taking into account the difficult specifics of the co-operation between public and private sector, often there is no singular way to formulate the technical requirements of an object, which would fulfil the public subject's needs and aims, or would defy the objects legal status or its financial consent. Whatever the form of co-operation regarding the partnership of private and public sector is employed, for the successful contest, some sort of negotiations will be required. Each form of such co-operation has a different kind of way to regulate the negotiation. For instance, according to the Public procurement law the negotiations are not mandatory during the public purchase. However, in the contest regarding the grant of the consensus once of the mandatory stages is the negotiation, which's aim is to come to a compromise between the participant of the contest and the institution that grants the consensus. It needs to be noted that the negotiation cannot be used as a tool to distort the technical, financial, or commercial criteria. While appointing the contractual conditions of the consensus, the conditions of the agreement and its main requirements cannot be an object of the negotiation. However this means that the initial agreement will be changed in a slight way. If negotiation takes place it is quite natural that the primary draft of the project changes. A change is fundamental if its implementation within the agreement would quintessentially change the outcomes that the participants would provide. It such change takes place a new contest must be organized. The legal provisions concerning public purchases and consensuses foresees such changes only if the principals of equal right, non-discrimination and transparency are taken into account.

Türkiye, planlı dönemle birlikte uygulamaya başladığı bölgesel gelişme ve bölgeler arasındaki dengesizlikleri giderici yöndeki politikalarını günümüzde yeniden gözden geçirme zorunluluğu ile karşı karşıyadır. Bu zorunluluğun esas nedeni Avrupa Birliği'ne katılım sürecinde bölgesel gelişme politikalarının entegre edilmiş olmasıdır. Bu nedenle Türkiye, yaklaşık 40 yıldır uygulamakta olduğu bölgesel gelişme model, politika ve araçlarını bir yana bırakarak yeniden bir yapılanma süreci içine girmiştir. Bu yeni yapılanmanın ana öğesini Bölgesel Kalkınma Ajansları (BKA) olarak adlandırılan birimler oluşturmaktadır. Kalkınma Ajansları, bir ülkenin belli bir coğrafi bölgesi içerisindeki özel ve kamusal tüm şirketler, yerel otoriteler ile sivil toplum kuruluşları arasında işbirliği sağlayarak, o bölgenin ekonomik açıdan gelişmesini hedefleyen ve yasal bir hükme dayanarak kurulan yapılar olarak tanımlanmaktadır. Küreselleşme süreci beraberinde getirdiği yapısal uyum politikaları ile birçok konuda özgün süreçler ve araçlar geliştirilmesini gerekli kılmıştır. Bu süreçte Türkiye'ye de AB tarafından bölge planlamanın yeni bir anlayışla ele alınması gerektiği ve bunun aracının da BKA'lar olduğu ifade edilmiş ve konu ilk kez AB'ye tam üyelik müzakereleri ile başlamıştır. Bu dönemin başlangıcı sayılacak süreç ise adaylığın ilk kez tescil edildiği 1999 Helsinki Zirvesi sonunda olmuştur. AB Komisyonu'nun hazırlamış olduğu Katılım Ortaklığı Belgesi'nde orta vadede yapılması gereken düzenlemeler arasında yer alan BKA'ları oluşturmak amacıyla yasal düzenlemeler süreci başlatılmıştır. Bu doğrultuda öncelikle Topluluk kurallarına uygun olarak kısa vadede istatistiksel bölge olarak bilinen AB (NUTS) sistemi 22 Eylül 2002 tarih ve 4720 sayılı Bakanlar Kurulu kararı ile kabul edilmiştir. Daha sonra da 2003 yılı Katılım Ortaklığı Belgesinde, katılım öncesi mali yardım programından yararlanabilmek için BKA'ların kurulması öngörülmüştür. Takip eden süreçte 32 esas ve 5 geçici maddeden oluşan, 5449 sayılı Kalkınma Ajanslarının Kuruluşu, Koordinasyonu ve Görevleri Hakkında Kanun, 25.01.2006 tarihinde TBMM Genel Kurulunda görüşülerek kabul edilmiş, 08.02.2006 tarihli ve 26074 sayılı Resmi Gazetede yayımlanarak yürürlüğe girmiştir. Ülkemizde, 5449 sayılı Kanunun birinci maddesinde ifade edildiği üzere; ?kamu kesimi, özel kesim ve sivil toplum kuruluşları arasındaki işbirliğini geliştirmek, kaynakların yerinde ve etkin kullanımını sağlamak ve yerel potansiyeli harekete geçirmek suretiyle, ulusal kalkınma plânı ve programlarda öngörülen ilke ve politikalarla uyumlu olarak bölgesel gelişmeyi hızlandırmak, sürdürülebilirliğini sağlamak, bölgeler arası ve bölge içi gelişmişlik farklarını azaltmak amacıyla? BKA'lar kurulmaktadır. 6 Temmuz 2006 tarih ve 26220 sayılı Resmi Gazete'de yayımlanan ?Bazı Düzey 2 Bölgelerinde Kalkınma Ajansları Kurulmasına Dair Bakanlar Kurulu Kararı? ile ilk olarak 06.01.2007 tarihinde Adana ve Mersin illerini kapsayan Çukurova Kalınma Ajansı ve 13.01.2007 tarihinde de İzmir ilini ve çevresini kapsayan İzmir Kalkınma Ajansları kurulmuştur. Kalkınma ajansları; ? Bölgesel gelişme uygulamalarımız ile bölge planlarımızın etkinliğinin ve başarısının yükseltilmesini; bölgelerin ülkemizin genel büyümesine, gelişmesine, refahına ve istikrarına katkısının artırılmasını; sosyal uyum ve adaletin güçlendirilmesini ve değişen küresel rekabet şartlarına adaptasyonunun hızlandırılmasını sağlayacak, ? Yüksek nitelikli personeli, esnek kaynak ve istihdam yapısı ile kurum, kuruluş ve şahıslara sağladığı idari, mali, teknik desteklerle başta girişimciler olmak üzere bütün yerel aktörlerin kalkınma çabalarına katılımını teşvik edecek, ? Sağlayacağı proje ve faaliyet desteklerinde kişi, kurum ve kuruluşların eş finansmana dayalı ortak proje üretme ve yönetme kültürü ve yeteneğini geliştirecek; sahiplenme ve işbirliği duygusunu güçlendirecek; bölgenin girişimcilik potansiyelini harekete geçirecek ve sürekli olarak yükseltecek, ? Yerel potansiyeli, dinamikleri, özgünlükleri, kaynak ve imkânları ortaya çıkararak harekete geçirecek ve ulusal, uluslararası pazarlarda ekonomik, sosyal, kültürel birer değer haline dönüştürecek; Sonuç olarak, hem ulusal, hem de bölgesel-yerel düzeyde başta istihdam ve gelir olmak üzere ekonomik ve sosyal göstergelerin iyileştirilmesine, bölgeler arası ve bölge içi gelişmişlik farklarının azaltılmasına ve dolayısıyla ülkenin genel refahının artırılması ve istikrarının pekiştirilmesine olumlu katkılar sağlayacaktır. ; Turkey today faces the necessity to reexamine its policies, begun to be implemented since the planned period, which aims to eliminate the imbalances between regional development and regions. The main reason of this necessity is that regional development policies weren't integrated in the process of participation of European Union. Therefore, Turkey went into a reconstruction process by abandoning the regional development model, policy and tools that it had been has been using for 40 years. The units called Regional Development Agencies (RDA) constitute the main element of this construct. Development Agencies, all private and public enterprises within a certain geographical region of a country, are defined as structures that aim the economic development of that region by providing cooperation between local authorities and civil society organizations, and that are founded on the basis of a legal provision. As is known, globalization process entails the development of authentic processes and tools in many cases regarding structural adaptation policies that it brought along. In this process, it was explained to Turkey by EU that regional planning should be approached with a new understanding and RDA?s are the means for this and this first started with the negotiations of full membership to EU. The process that can be counted as the beginning of this period is the end of Helsinki Summit of 1999 when the candidateship was first enrolled. The legal regulations process was initiated so as to constitute RDA?s that are among regulations which should be implemented in medium term in Accession Partnership that European Commission arranged. Accordingly, EU (NUTS) system that is known as short term statistical region was initially approved by Cabinet decree no 4720 in September 22 of 2002 in accordance with the rules of congregation. Later in the Accession Partnership of 2003, it was anticipated that RDA's be constituted in order to be able to utilize the pre-accession financial support programmes. In the following process, the law number 5449 regarding the Establishment, Coordination and Missions of Development Agencies that consists of 32 major and 5 temporary articles was debated and approved in General Assembly of Grand National Assembly of Turkey and went in effect after being published in Official Journal of number 26074 and date 02.08.2006. In our country, as stated in the first article of law number 5449, RDA?s are constituted ?in order to accelerate the regional development, to insure its maintainability, reduce the differences of interregional and regional development, compatible with the principles and policies anticipated in national development plans and programmes by developing the cooperation among public sector, private sector and civil society organizations, ensuring the effective usage of resources and activating the local potency?. By ?the Cabinet Decree Regarding the Establishment of Development Agencies in Certain Level 2 Regions? that was published in Official Journal number 26220 of July, 6, 2006, Development Agencies were constituted in Cukurova regions that include Adana and Mersin and Izmir regions including Izmir, and Cukurova Development Agency officially opened in 01.06.2006 and Izmir Development Agency in 01.13.2007. Development agencies; ? Will ensure the promotion of effectiveness and success of our region plans with our regional development applications; increasing of regions' contributions to the general growth, development, welfare and stability of our country; reinforcement of social adaptation and justice and, acceleration of adaptation to changing conditions of global competition, ? Will encourage the participation of all local actors in development attemps, especially administrative, financial and technical supports that it provides to corporations, establishments and persons with its highly qualified crew, flexible resource and employment structure, ? Will improve the culture and ability to produce and manage associate projects that are based on co-financing of person, corporation and establishment in project and activity supports; reinforce the sense of ownage and cooperation; active the entrepreneurship potency of the region and keep improving it, ? Will activate the local potency, dynamics, individualities by revealing the resources and possibilities, and turn into an economic, social and cultural values in international market; Consequently, will contribute to the improvement of economic and social indicators, especially employment and income in both national and regional- local level; reduction of differences of interregional and regional development and thus increasing of general prosperity of the country and solidifying of stability.

Lithuanian historical sources mentioned the divers for the first time in the 1990s. With intention to assist emerging national formations of the Department of National Defense of Lithuania, , Valerijus Krisikaitis reported to the local national defense department in Klaipeda in September of 1990. He was a certificated diver and karate instructor and expressed his desire to work in the national defense service. Also, he had displayed an unorthodox approach by offering to organize and train a squad, which would be prepared for combat self-defense and combat diving. These skills could be applied to protection of Klaipėda Seaport again possible attacks organized and executed by foreign hostile military forces. This was the beginning of the formation of combat divers' units in Lithuanian military. Currently, this combat capacity has increased significantly. Due to "Restricted" and "Secret" classification marks, the exact figures cannot be disclosed, but open sources indicate that there are two separate units, The Underwater Action Team, which is part of the Naval Forces and the Combat Divers Service, which is subordinated to the Special Operations Forces. These units have separate boat crews, maintenance and supply teams, individual explosive ordnance disposal experts, combat divers, rescue teams and much more. The structure of research in the master 's thesis consists of a summary in English, an introduction and three chapters. Also, it includes conclusions, list of literature and sources, recommendations and appendices. The first chapter analyzes the key aspects of formation and origins of the Lithuanian Army Combat Swimmer Squad in 1990-1992, the incorporation of combat swimmers into the Lithuanian Armed Forces and the squad contingent formation instructions, divers and possibilities of starting / financing / supplying the technical base. The second chapter is concentrated on the activities of the Lithuanian Combat Swimmers Squadron in 1993-2004. Separate chapters discuss the change of the Lithuanian Armed Forces 'leadership in terms of combat swimmers' platoon and the planning of the platoon employment, the genesis of the Lithuanian Armed Forces 'combat swimmers' platoon competence building system and its transformation. Also, evolution of the technical base of the Lithuanian Army combat swimmers' platoon: financing and supply. The third chapter examines the image of Lithuanian military divers in media in 1991–2004. The main aspects and narratives that need to be paid attention to: the Lithuanian society (media) in relation to Lithuanian combat swimmers are analyzed. It is examined why Lithuanian combat swimmers benefited from media attention. The goal of the research. The main goal of the research is the information analysis of the Lithuanian combat divers' activities during formation of the independent and modern Lithuanian military structure. This analysis includes available sources from the Lithuanian military and public media related with the topic. The methods of the research. The main research was performed applying combined study using both qualitative and quantitative methods of research. The main tools utilized in the research were the questionnaire and in-depth interviews. Statistic data processing and the content analysis methods had been applied in order to process the data collected. The target audience of the qualitative research were 7 individuals who had completed military service in the combat divers' unit in the past. The research was conducted according to the ethical standards. The results of the scientific research. The analysis of the data revealed that Lithuanian combat divers have been perfectly prepared to act as soldiers, both physically and psychologically, during the timeframe of this research embracing periods of 1990s to 2004. Their activities were limited only due to the financial constraints and lack of the reliable diving equipment and infrastructure. The importance of the combat divers in the Lithuanian Armed Forces has been significant since the beginning of their activities and was slowly increasing during the time period of the research. This was mostly attributed to their skills and abilities to perform demolition tasks underwater and this field of activities was equally high skilled in comparison to modern and highly equipped foreign military forces and their divers. The age and education of the potential candidates to the Lithuanian combat divers' unit also had a great significance. Because training and preparation process of the candidates could take years, only young soldiers from the professional military service units have been accepted to be trained as highly professional combat divers. According to the interviewees, the significance of the Lithuanian combat divers was definitely high in the Lithuanian military because a small unit of underwater subversive divers could cause a greater damage than an infantry battalion. Conclusions and recommendations. 1. The origins of formation of the Lithuanian combat divers' squad in 1990s. Back at that time, the leader and main instructor of the combat divers' unit Valerijus Krisikaitis had started to recruit the team and train the diver candidates. There was a clear vision at that time that independent Lithuanian Armed Forces would meet the demand of the highly trained combat divers. The problem of the incorporation of the unit into the structure of Lithuanian Military Forces has been addressed gradually. In the beginning the combat divers under the name of the diving club "Nautilius" were incorporated into the local SKAT department in Klaipėda. In 1992, after the establishment of the "Iron Wolf" brigade and the paratrooper regiment in Klaipėda, the combat divers became subordinated to the regiment commander. Due to insufficient funding during the period from 1990s to 1992, there were active efforts in order to find necessary funding from both private supporters and the government. 2. The position of the senior leadership of the Lithuanian Armed Forces towards the issues of the Lithuanian combat divers had improved since 1993. It was the beginning of the actual support and assistance. Orders had been issued to establish a squad of combat divers. The support has been growing ever since due to the fact that the necessity of this unit had been proved and there were no uncertainties about the quality of training. Overall formation of the Lithuanian Armed Forces and incorporation of the combat divers took more than a few years. Time was necessary for training of the candidates able to perform combat tasks, special operations, reconnaissance and demining tasks both underwater and on the surface. During the period of 12 years since 1992, the training system was implemented from the scratch. The heart of the diving training became the squad of combat divers in Klaipėda, led by Valerijus Krisikaitis. The Lithuanian Armed Forces during the period from 1993 to 2004 had become capable of training the combat divers and explosive ordnance disposal experts in their own local training centers. These locally trained combat divers have been internationally acknowledged as perfectly prepared to perform combat tasks and being able to train other soldiers to perform diving tasks. A positive change in Lithuanian legislative and executive powers' opinion towards the Lithuanian combat divers led to increase of both, reliance and funding. The undisputed importance of the only diving unit able to perform underwater countermining was the main reason that caused such a trust. Back in the period from 1993 to 2004, the territory of the Republic of Lithuania had been covered by unexploded ordnance items left after World War II and still causing threats to the local inhabitants. 3. After the restoration of the independence, Lithuanian media has been used effectively in order to create a positive public opinion about the activities of the combat divers. The soldiers who have been doing their service in the unit have been portrayed as brave and professional specialists doing underwater countermining and other secret military tasks. The main aspects and the common narrative in the media and the public eye were the combat training of the divers, also training in the public sectors, assistance to the rescue services and their contribution to the society. The content of the media publications has changed. In the beginning, the main topic was the issues of the combat divers' service, mostly the financial scarcity. Invitations to join the diving club "Nautilius" and information about private and commissioned diving tasks performed by the unit had been published. Since 1997, the media had changed earlier used kind of publications into information about the international military trainings attended by the Lithuanian combat divers and their autonomous training. The invitations for the civilians to join the combat divers' service disappeared from the media and were replaced by the publications about well-trained divers and their professionally carried out underwater tasks that demonstrate the competence equal to the modern foreign military divers.

Lithuanian historical sources mentioned the divers for the first time in the 1990s. With intention to assist emerging national formations of the Department of National Defense of Lithuania, , Valerijus Krisikaitis reported to the local national defense department in Klaipeda in September of 1990. He was a certificated diver and karate instructor and expressed his desire to work in the national defense service. Also, he had displayed an unorthodox approach by offering to organize and train a squad, which would be prepared for combat self-defense and combat diving. These skills could be applied to protection of Klaipėda Seaport again possible attacks organized and executed by foreign hostile military forces. This was the beginning of the formation of combat divers' units in Lithuanian military. Currently, this combat capacity has increased significantly. Due to "Restricted" and "Secret" classification marks, the exact figures cannot be disclosed, but open sources indicate that there are two separate units, The Underwater Action Team, which is part of the Naval Forces and the Combat Divers Service, which is subordinated to the Special Operations Forces. These units have separate boat crews, maintenance and supply teams, individual explosive ordnance disposal experts, combat divers, rescue teams and much more. The structure of research in the master 's thesis consists of a summary in English, an introduction and three chapters. Also, it includes conclusions, list of literature and sources, recommendations and appendices. The first chapter analyzes the key aspects of formation and origins of the Lithuanian Army Combat Swimmer Squad in 1990-1992, the incorporation of combat swimmers into the Lithuanian Armed Forces and the squad contingent formation instructions, divers and possibilities of starting / financing / supplying the technical base. The second chapter is concentrated on the activities of the Lithuanian Combat Swimmers Squadron in 1993-2004. Separate chapters discuss the change of the Lithuanian Armed Forces 'leadership in terms of combat swimmers' platoon and the planning of the platoon employment, the genesis of the Lithuanian Armed Forces 'combat swimmers' platoon competence building system and its transformation. Also, evolution of the technical base of the Lithuanian Army combat swimmers' platoon: financing and supply. The third chapter examines the image of Lithuanian military divers in media in 1991–2004. The main aspects and narratives that need to be paid attention to: the Lithuanian society (media) in relation to Lithuanian combat swimmers are analyzed. It is examined why Lithuanian combat swimmers benefited from media attention. The goal of the research. The main goal of the research is the information analysis of the Lithuanian combat divers' activities during formation of the independent and modern Lithuanian military structure. This analysis includes available sources from the Lithuanian military and public media related with the topic. The methods of the research. The main research was performed applying combined study using both qualitative and quantitative methods of research. The main tools utilized in the research were the questionnaire and in-depth interviews. Statistic data processing and the content analysis methods had been applied in order to process the data collected. The target audience of the qualitative research were 7 individuals who had completed military service in the combat divers' unit in the past. The research was conducted according to the ethical standards. The results of the scientific research. The analysis of the data revealed that Lithuanian combat divers have been perfectly prepared to act as soldiers, both physically and psychologically, during the timeframe of this research embracing periods of 1990s to 2004. Their activities were limited only due to the financial constraints and lack of the reliable diving equipment and infrastructure. The importance of the combat divers in the Lithuanian Armed Forces has been significant since the beginning of their activities and was slowly increasing during the time period of the research. This was mostly attributed to their skills and abilities to perform demolition tasks underwater and this field of activities was equally high skilled in comparison to modern and highly equipped foreign military forces and their divers. The age and education of the potential candidates to the Lithuanian combat divers' unit also had a great significance. Because training and preparation process of the candidates could take years, only young soldiers from the professional military service units have been accepted to be trained as highly professional combat divers. According to the interviewees, the significance of the Lithuanian combat divers was definitely high in the Lithuanian military because a small unit of underwater subversive divers could cause a greater damage than an infantry battalion. Conclusions and recommendations. 1. The origins of formation of the Lithuanian combat divers' squad in 1990s. Back at that time, the leader and main instructor of the combat divers' unit Valerijus Krisikaitis had started to recruit the team and train the diver candidates. There was a clear vision at that time that independent Lithuanian Armed Forces would meet the demand of the highly trained combat divers. The problem of the incorporation of the unit into the structure of Lithuanian Military Forces has been addressed gradually. In the beginning the combat divers under the name of the diving club "Nautilius" were incorporated into the local SKAT department in Klaipėda. In 1992, after the establishment of the "Iron Wolf" brigade and the paratrooper regiment in Klaipėda, the combat divers became subordinated to the regiment commander. Due to insufficient funding during the period from 1990s to 1992, there were active efforts in order to find necessary funding from both private supporters and the government. 2. The position of the senior leadership of the Lithuanian Armed Forces towards the issues of the Lithuanian combat divers had improved since 1993. It was the beginning of the actual support and assistance. Orders had been issued to establish a squad of combat divers. The support has been growing ever since due to the fact that the necessity of this unit had been proved and there were no uncertainties about the quality of training. Overall formation of the Lithuanian Armed Forces and incorporation of the combat divers took more than a few years. Time was necessary for training of the candidates able to perform combat tasks, special operations, reconnaissance and demining tasks both underwater and on the surface. During the period of 12 years since 1992, the training system was implemented from the scratch. The heart of the diving training became the squad of combat divers in Klaipėda, led by Valerijus Krisikaitis. The Lithuanian Armed Forces during the period from 1993 to 2004 had become capable of training the combat divers and explosive ordnance disposal experts in their own local training centers. These locally trained combat divers have been internationally acknowledged as perfectly prepared to perform combat tasks and being able to train other soldiers to perform diving tasks. A positive change in Lithuanian legislative and executive powers' opinion towards the Lithuanian combat divers led to increase of both, reliance and funding. The undisputed importance of the only diving unit able to perform underwater countermining was the main reason that caused such a trust. Back in the period from 1993 to 2004, the territory of the Republic of Lithuania had been covered by unexploded ordnance items left after World War II and still causing threats to the local inhabitants. 3. After the restoration of the independence, Lithuanian media has been used effectively in order to create a positive public opinion about the activities of the combat divers. The soldiers who have been doing their service in the unit have been portrayed as brave and professional specialists doing underwater countermining and other secret military tasks. The main aspects and the common narrative in the media and the public eye were the combat training of the divers, also training in the public sectors, assistance to the rescue services and their contribution to the society. The content of the media publications has changed. In the beginning, the main topic was the issues of the combat divers' service, mostly the financial scarcity. Invitations to join the diving club "Nautilius" and information about private and commissioned diving tasks performed by the unit had been published. Since 1997, the media had changed earlier used kind of publications into information about the international military trainings attended by the Lithuanian combat divers and their autonomous training. The invitations for the civilians to join the combat divers' service disappeared from the media and were replaced by the publications about well-trained divers and their professionally carried out underwater tasks that demonstrate the competence equal to the modern foreign military divers.

Lithuanian historical sources mentioned the divers for the first time in the 1990s. With intention to assist emerging national formations of the Department of National Defense of Lithuania, , Valerijus Krisikaitis reported to the local national defense department in Klaipeda in September of 1990. He was a certificated diver and karate instructor and expressed his desire to work in the national defense service. Also, he had displayed an unorthodox approach by offering to organize and train a squad, which would be prepared for combat self-defense and combat diving. These skills could be applied to protection of Klaipėda Seaport again possible attacks organized and executed by foreign hostile military forces. This was the beginning of the formation of combat divers' units in Lithuanian military. Currently, this combat capacity has increased significantly. Due to "Restricted" and "Secret" classification marks, the exact figures cannot be disclosed, but open sources indicate that there are two separate units, The Underwater Action Team, which is part of the Naval Forces and the Combat Divers Service, which is subordinated to the Special Operations Forces. These units have separate boat crews, maintenance and supply teams, individual explosive ordnance disposal experts, combat divers, rescue teams and much more. The structure of research in the master 's thesis consists of a summary in English, an introduction and three chapters. Also, it includes conclusions, list of literature and sources, recommendations and appendices. The first chapter analyzes the key aspects of formation and origins of the Lithuanian Army Combat Swimmer Squad in 1990-1992, the incorporation of combat swimmers into the Lithuanian Armed Forces and the squad contingent formation instructions, divers and possibilities of starting / financing / supplying the technical base. The second chapter is concentrated on the activities of the Lithuanian Combat Swimmers Squadron in 1993-2004. Separate chapters discuss the change of the Lithuanian Armed Forces 'leadership in terms of combat swimmers' platoon and the planning of the platoon employment, the genesis of the Lithuanian Armed Forces 'combat swimmers' platoon competence building system and its transformation. Also, evolution of the technical base of the Lithuanian Army combat swimmers' platoon: financing and supply. The third chapter examines the image of Lithuanian military divers in media in 1991–2004. The main aspects and narratives that need to be paid attention to: the Lithuanian society (media) in relation to Lithuanian combat swimmers are analyzed. It is examined why Lithuanian combat swimmers benefited from media attention. The goal of the research. The main goal of the research is the information analysis of the Lithuanian combat divers' activities during formation of the independent and modern Lithuanian military structure. This analysis includes available sources from the Lithuanian military and public media related with the topic. The methods of the research. The main research was performed applying combined study using both qualitative and quantitative methods of research. The main tools utilized in the research were the questionnaire and in-depth interviews. Statistic data processing and the content analysis methods had been applied in order to process the data collected. The target audience of the qualitative research were 7 individuals who had completed military service in the combat divers' unit in the past. The research was conducted according to the ethical standards. The results of the scientific research. The analysis of the data revealed that Lithuanian combat divers have been perfectly prepared to act as soldiers, both physically and psychologically, during the timeframe of this research embracing periods of 1990s to 2004. Their activities were limited only due to the financial constraints and lack of the reliable diving equipment and infrastructure. The importance of the combat divers in the Lithuanian Armed Forces has been significant since the beginning of their activities and was slowly increasing during the time period of the research. This was mostly attributed to their skills and abilities to perform demolition tasks underwater and this field of activities was equally high skilled in comparison to modern and highly equipped foreign military forces and their divers. The age and education of the potential candidates to the Lithuanian combat divers' unit also had a great significance. Because training and preparation process of the candidates could take years, only young soldiers from the professional military service units have been accepted to be trained as highly professional combat divers. According to the interviewees, the significance of the Lithuanian combat divers was definitely high in the Lithuanian military because a small unit of underwater subversive divers could cause a greater damage than an infantry battalion. Conclusions and recommendations. 1. The origins of formation of the Lithuanian combat divers' squad in 1990s. Back at that time, the leader and main instructor of the combat divers' unit Valerijus Krisikaitis had started to recruit the team and train the diver candidates. There was a clear vision at that time that independent Lithuanian Armed Forces would meet the demand of the highly trained combat divers. The problem of the incorporation of the unit into the structure of Lithuanian Military Forces has been addressed gradually. In the beginning the combat divers under the name of the diving club "Nautilius" were incorporated into the local SKAT department in Klaipėda. In 1992, after the establishment of the "Iron Wolf" brigade and the paratrooper regiment in Klaipėda, the combat divers became subordinated to the regiment commander. Due to insufficient funding during the period from 1990s to 1992, there were active efforts in order to find necessary funding from both private supporters and the government. 2. The position of the senior leadership of the Lithuanian Armed Forces towards the issues of the Lithuanian combat divers had improved since 1993. It was the beginning of the actual support and assistance. Orders had been issued to establish a squad of combat divers. The support has been growing ever since due to the fact that the necessity of this unit had been proved and there were no uncertainties about the quality of training. Overall formation of the Lithuanian Armed Forces and incorporation of the combat divers took more than a few years. Time was necessary for training of the candidates able to perform combat tasks, special operations, reconnaissance and demining tasks both underwater and on the surface. During the period of 12 years since 1992, the training system was implemented from the scratch. The heart of the diving training became the squad of combat divers in Klaipėda, led by Valerijus Krisikaitis. The Lithuanian Armed Forces during the period from 1993 to 2004 had become capable of training the combat divers and explosive ordnance disposal experts in their own local training centers. These locally trained combat divers have been internationally acknowledged as perfectly prepared to perform combat tasks and being able to train other soldiers to perform diving tasks. A positive change in Lithuanian legislative and executive powers' opinion towards the Lithuanian combat divers led to increase of both, reliance and funding. The undisputed importance of the only diving unit able to perform underwater countermining was the main reason that caused such a trust. Back in the period from 1993 to 2004, the territory of the Republic of Lithuania had been covered by unexploded ordnance items left after World War II and still causing threats to the local inhabitants. 3. After the restoration of the independence, Lithuanian media has been used effectively in order to create a positive public opinion about the activities of the combat divers. The soldiers who have been doing their service in the unit have been portrayed as brave and professional specialists doing underwater countermining and other secret military tasks. The main aspects and the common narrative in the media and the public eye were the combat training of the divers, also training in the public sectors, assistance to the rescue services and their contribution to the society. The content of the media publications has changed. In the beginning, the main topic was the issues of the combat divers' service, mostly the financial scarcity. Invitations to join the diving club "Nautilius" and information about private and commissioned diving tasks performed by the unit had been published. Since 1997, the media had changed earlier used kind of publications into information about the international military trainings attended by the Lithuanian combat divers and their autonomous training. The invitations for the civilians to join the combat divers' service disappeared from the media and were replaced by the publications about well-trained divers and their professionally carried out underwater tasks that demonstrate the competence equal to the modern foreign military divers.

Lithuanian historical sources mentioned the divers for the first time in the 1990s. With intention to assist emerging national formations of the Department of National Defense of Lithuania, , Valerijus Krisikaitis reported to the local national defense department in Klaipeda in September of 1990. He was a certificated diver and karate instructor and expressed his desire to work in the national defense service. Also, he had displayed an unorthodox approach by offering to organize and train a squad, which would be prepared for combat self-defense and combat diving. These skills could be applied to protection of Klaipėda Seaport again possible attacks organized and executed by foreign hostile military forces. This was the beginning of the formation of combat divers' units in Lithuanian military. Currently, this combat capacity has increased significantly. Due to "Restricted" and "Secret" classification marks, the exact figures cannot be disclosed, but open sources indicate that there are two separate units, The Underwater Action Team, which is part of the Naval Forces and the Combat Divers Service, which is subordinated to the Special Operations Forces. These units have separate boat crews, maintenance and supply teams, individual explosive ordnance disposal experts, combat divers, rescue teams and much more. The structure of research in the master 's thesis consists of a summary in English, an introduction and three chapters. Also, it includes conclusions, list of literature and sources, recommendations and appendices. The first chapter analyzes the key aspects of formation and origins of the Lithuanian Army Combat Swimmer Squad in 1990-1992, the incorporation of combat swimmers into the Lithuanian Armed Forces and the squad contingent formation instructions, divers and possibilities of starting / financing / supplying the technical base. The second chapter is concentrated on the activities of the Lithuanian Combat Swimmers Squadron in 1993-2004. Separate chapters discuss the change of the Lithuanian Armed Forces 'leadership in terms of combat swimmers' platoon and the planning of the platoon employment, the genesis of the Lithuanian Armed Forces 'combat swimmers' platoon competence building system and its transformation. Also, evolution of the technical base of the Lithuanian Army combat swimmers' platoon: financing and supply. The third chapter examines the image of Lithuanian military divers in media in 1991–2004. The main aspects and narratives that need to be paid attention to: the Lithuanian society (media) in relation to Lithuanian combat swimmers are analyzed. It is examined why Lithuanian combat swimmers benefited from media attention. The goal of the research. The main goal of the research is the information analysis of the Lithuanian combat divers' activities during formation of the independent and modern Lithuanian military structure. This analysis includes available sources from the Lithuanian military and public media related with the topic. The methods of the research. The main research was performed applying combined study using both qualitative and quantitative methods of research. The main tools utilized in the research were the questionnaire and in-depth interviews. Statistic data processing and the content analysis methods had been applied in order to process the data collected. The target audience of the qualitative research were 7 individuals who had completed military service in the combat divers' unit in the past. The research was conducted according to the ethical standards. The results of the scientific research. The analysis of the data revealed that Lithuanian combat divers have been perfectly prepared to act as soldiers, both physically and psychologically, during the timeframe of this research embracing periods of 1990s to 2004. Their activities were limited only due to the financial constraints and lack of the reliable diving equipment and infrastructure. The importance of the combat divers in the Lithuanian Armed Forces has been significant since the beginning of their activities and was slowly increasing during the time period of the research. This was mostly attributed to their skills and abilities to perform demolition tasks underwater and this field of activities was equally high skilled in comparison to modern and highly equipped foreign military forces and their divers. The age and education of the potential candidates to the Lithuanian combat divers' unit also had a great significance. Because training and preparation process of the candidates could take years, only young soldiers from the professional military service units have been accepted to be trained as highly professional combat divers. According to the interviewees, the significance of the Lithuanian combat divers was definitely high in the Lithuanian military because a small unit of underwater subversive divers could cause a greater damage than an infantry battalion. Conclusions and recommendations. 1. The origins of formation of the Lithuanian combat divers' squad in 1990s. Back at that time, the leader and main instructor of the combat divers' unit Valerijus Krisikaitis had started to recruit the team and train the diver candidates. There was a clear vision at that time that independent Lithuanian Armed Forces would meet the demand of the highly trained combat divers. The problem of the incorporation of the unit into the structure of Lithuanian Military Forces has been addressed gradually. In the beginning the combat divers under the name of the diving club "Nautilius" were incorporated into the local SKAT department in Klaipėda. In 1992, after the establishment of the "Iron Wolf" brigade and the paratrooper regiment in Klaipėda, the combat divers became subordinated to the regiment commander. Due to insufficient funding during the period from 1990s to 1992, there were active efforts in order to find necessary funding from both private supporters and the government. 2. The position of the senior leadership of the Lithuanian Armed Forces towards the issues of the Lithuanian combat divers had improved since 1993. It was the beginning of the actual support and assistance. Orders had been issued to establish a squad of combat divers. The support has been growing ever since due to the fact that the necessity of this unit had been proved and there were no uncertainties about the quality of training. Overall formation of the Lithuanian Armed Forces and incorporation of the combat divers took more than a few years. Time was necessary for training of the candidates able to perform combat tasks, special operations, reconnaissance and demining tasks both underwater and on the surface. During the period of 12 years since 1992, the training system was implemented from the scratch. The heart of the diving training became the squad of combat divers in Klaipėda, led by Valerijus Krisikaitis. The Lithuanian Armed Forces during the period from 1993 to 2004 had become capable of training the combat divers and explosive ordnance disposal experts in their own local training centers. These locally trained combat divers have been internationally acknowledged as perfectly prepared to perform combat tasks and being able to train other soldiers to perform diving tasks. A positive change in Lithuanian legislative and executive powers' opinion towards the Lithuanian combat divers led to increase of both, reliance and funding. The undisputed importance of the only diving unit able to perform underwater countermining was the main reason that caused such a trust. Back in the period from 1993 to 2004, the territory of the Republic of Lithuania had been covered by unexploded ordnance items left after World War II and still causing threats to the local inhabitants. 3. After the restoration of the independence, Lithuanian media has been used effectively in order to create a positive public opinion about the activities of the combat divers. The soldiers who have been doing their service in the unit have been portrayed as brave and professional specialists doing underwater countermining and other secret military tasks. The main aspects and the common narrative in the media and the public eye were the combat training of the divers, also training in the public sectors, assistance to the rescue services and their contribution to the society. The content of the media publications has changed. In the beginning, the main topic was the issues of the combat divers' service, mostly the financial scarcity. Invitations to join the diving club "Nautilius" and information about private and commissioned diving tasks performed by the unit had been published. Since 1997, the media had changed earlier used kind of publications into information about the international military trainings attended by the Lithuanian combat divers and their autonomous training. The invitations for the civilians to join the combat divers' service disappeared from the media and were replaced by the publications about well-trained divers and their professionally carried out underwater tasks that demonstrate the competence equal to the modern foreign military divers.

AB SÜRECİNDE TÜRKİYE TARIMIAvrupa Birliği (AB); siyasi ve ekonomik anlamda uluslararası bir bütünleşmedir. Avrupa'da siyasi ve ekonomik bütünleşme Avrupa Ekonomik Topluluğu'nun (AET) kurulmasıyla başlamıştır. 1951 yılında kurulan Avrupa Kömür ve Çelik Birliği (CECA) bütünleşme yolunda atılmış ikinci adımdır. Ekonomik yönden birleşme fikrine yoğunlaşılması sonucunda 25 Mart 1957 tarihinde Avrupa Atom Enerjisi Topluluğu (EURATOM) kurulmuştur. Bu topluluklar AB'nin temelini oluşturmaktadır. 1 Ocak 1958 tarihinde kurucu altı ülke (Almanya, Fransa, İtalya, Belçika, Hollanda, Lüksemburg) tarafından imzalanarak yürürlüğe giren Roma Anlaşması ile Avrupa Ekonomik Topluluğu bugünkü adıyla Avrupa Birliği kurulmuştur. AB, Avrupa'da yaşanan savaşların tekrardan çıkmasını engellemek, ekonomi alanında yaşanan işsizlik sorunu çözmek, az gelişmiş bölgelerin kalkındırılması ve yaşam standartlarının yükseltilmeyi amaçlamaktadır.Avrupa Birliğinin İç politikalarının temeli, 'Serbest Piyasa Düzeni' oluşturmakla beraber birçok korumaya yönelik önlemler ve birlikte hareket etme prensibine önem verilmektir. Dış Politikaları ise, Topluluğun çıkarlarını temel almaktadır. Dış Politikalar; Ortak Tarım Politikaları, Ortak Ticaret Politikaları, Ortak Sanayi Politikaları ve Ortak Sosyal Politikalardan oluşmaktadır.Haziran 1993 tarihinde düzenlenen Kopenhag Zirvesinde, AB'ne üyelik koşulları belirlenmiştir. Bu koşullar üyelik için başvuran tüm aday ülkelerin yerine getirmesi gereken asgari koşullar olarak nitelendirilmektedir. Bu koşullar, siyasi, ekonomik kriterler ve müktesebat uyumu olmak üzere üç grupta toplanmaktadır.Türkiye AB ilişkileri 31 Temmuz 1959 tarihinde Türkiye'nin AETye ortaklık başvuru ile başlamıştır. Gümrük Birliği ve tam üyeliğe yönelik ilk adımlar 1 Aralık 1964 tarihinde yürürlüğe giren Ankara Antlaşması ile atılmıştır. Türkiye Avrupa Topluluğu (AT) ile 1963 yılında imzaladığı Ankara Anlaşması ve 1970 yılında imzalanan Katma Protokol ile; Topluluğa tam üyeliği amaçlanmakta ve taraflara bazı yükümlülükler getirilmektedir.Bu yükümlülüklerden birisi, Türkiye ile AT arasında emeğin serbest dolaşımı konusudur. Emeğin serbest dolaşımı konusu, Ankara Anlaşması ve Katma Protokol ile 1976-1986 tarihleri arasında aşamalı olarak gerçekleşmesi öngörülmüş olsa da bu durum AT tarafından kabul edilmemiştir. Türkiye AB' ne katılım süreci içerisindeki aday adayı ülke konumundan 1999'da düzenlenen Helsinki Zirvesi ile aday ülke konumuna geçmiştir. Ayrıca AB, bu süreçte Türkiye'nin diğer aday ülkelerle aynı şartlara sahip olacağını belirtmiştir.1923-1950 yılları arasında tarımsal KİT'ler kurulmuştur. Türkiye ekonomisinde 1960'lı yıllardan sonra planlı döneme geçilmiştir. 1960-1970 yılları arasında tarımsal girdi kullanımının teşviki ve sulama alanlarına yönelik yapılan yatırımlarla sağlanan verim artışı sonucunda destekleme alımları yapılmış ve desteklenen ürünlerin sayısı arttırılmıştır. Bu dönemde yaşanan sosyal ve siyasal istikrarsızlık, Kıbrıs Savaşı, petrol krizi ve döviz darboğazından dolayı ekonomide durgunluk yaşanmıştır. Bu gelişmeler sonucunda Hükümet önlemler almaya başlamış, 1978 yılında "istikrar programı "nı açıklamıştır. İstikrar programı içerisinde yer alan ve uygulanan önlemler; KİT açılarlını kapatmak amacıyla KİT ürünlerine zam yapılmış, ithalat zorlaştırılmış ve devalüasyon yapılmıştır. 1979 yılında uygulana yeni bir program ile KİT ürünlerine yönelik zam uygulamasına devam edilmiş, faiz oranları yükseltilmiş ve Türk Lirası yeniden devalüe edilmiştir. Enflasyona engel olunamamasından ve durgunluğun devam etmesinden dolayı 24 Ocak1980 Kararları alınmıştır. 1980 sonrası dönemde 24 Ocak 1980 Kararlarıyla; devletin tarım sektörüne sağladığı destek azalmıştır. Fiyat yoluyla desteklenen ürün sayısı, 1980 yılında 24 iken, 1981 yılında 20'ye, 1985 yılında 18'e,1990 yılında ise 10'a düşmüştür. Nisan 1994'de yaşanan ekonomik kriz nedeniyle desteklenen ürün sayısı azaltılmış Bu süreç 2001 yılı sonuna kadar devam etmiştir. 2000'li yıllara gelindiğinde etkinliğini yitiren tarım politikalarının yerini, rekabete dayalı, adil, çiftçinin gelir düzeyini yükseltmeyi amaçlayan çevreci olan daha etkin tarım politikaları almıştır. Yeni tarım politikalarının hedeflerine ulaşmak için kullanılan araç, Doğrudan Gelir Desteği Uygulaması'dır. Bu uygulama AB'nde uygulanan Tek Çiftlik Ödeme Yöntemi için temel oluşturma niteliğindedir.1980'li yıllarda AB üyelik sürecine yönelik atılan önemli adım Gümrük Birliği Anlaşması olmuştur. Gümrük Birliği sayesinde Türkiye ekonomisi AB pazarında rekabet edebilme gücünü deneme fırsatı bulmuştur. Ayrıca Gümrük Birliği ile rekabet, fikri sınai mülkiyet hakları, tüketicinin korunması gibi bir çok konuda gerçekleştirilen mevzuat uyumu sayesinde Türkiye küreselleşme sürecinde yol kat etmiştir.Türkiye toprakları içerisinde dağlık alanların geniş yer kaplamasına rağmen mevcutta tarıma elverişli alanların etkin kullanılması durumunda tarımsal üretimimiz kendimize yeterlilik düzeyini de aşarak dış ticaretimiz içinde önemli bir yere sahip olmasını sağlayacaktır.TURKEY AGRİCULTURE İN THE PROCESS OF EUROPEAN UNİONEuropean Union (EU), an international political and economic integration. Political and economic integration in Europe, the European Economic Community (EEC) began with the establishment. Founded in 1951, the European Coal and Steel Community (Ceca) towards a second step of integration. Economic aspects to the idea of combining the results concentrate on the March 25, 1957 the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) was established. These communities form the foundation of the EU. On January 1, 1958 the six founding countries (Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) signed by the Rome Treaty enters into force today with the European Economic Community was founded with the name of the European Union.EU to leave Europe to avoid repetition of recent war, the economy experienced in the field to solve the unemployment problem, to the development of underdeveloped areas and living standards are intended to be promoted.The European Union's internal policies based on the 'Free Market Order' measures aimed at protecting and creating together with many moving important principle. Foreign policy, the Community's interests are based. Foreign policies, the Common Agricultural Policy, Common Commercial Policy, Common Industrial Policy and Social Policy is made up of partners.Held on June 1993 in Copenhagen, the EU membership requirements have been identified. These conditions of all candidate countries applying for membership must meet the minimum requirements are being considered. These conditions, the political, economic criteria and the acquis compliance are to be grouped under three.EU-Turkey relations on July 31, 1959 began with Turkey's application for association AETye. Customs Union and the first steps towards full membership, which came into force on December 1, 1964 have been taken by the Treaty of Ankara.Turkey and the European Community (EC) signed in 1963 with the Ankara Agreement and Additional Protocol, signed in 1970, aimed at being a full member of the community and are parties to certain responsibilities.One of these obligations, Turkey and the EC is a matter between the free movement of labor. The issue of free movement of labor, with the Ankara Agreement and Additional Protocol between 1976 to 1986 was predicted to occur in phases, although this was not accepted by the EC.Turkey EU accession process and in what position the nominated candidate countries held in Helsinki in 1999 and became a candidate country. The EU, Turkey and other candidate countries in this process will have the same conditions stated.Agricultural state enterprises has been established between the years 1923-1950. Turkey's economy was in the late 1960s, after the planned period. Between 1960-1970 the use of agricultural input subsidies and investment in irrigation areas provided for an increase in productivity as a result of purchases made to support and increase the number of products are supported. The social and political instability experienced in this period, Cyprus, War, oil crisis and recession in the economy has experienced due to foreign exchange bottlenecks. As a result of these developments the Government has started to take measures, in 1978, "stabilization program" for oxychlorination. Stabilization program in place and implemented measures, in order to close açılarlını Kit Kit allowance made products, imports have been customized and made devaluation. Kit with a new program implemented in 1979 hike application was continued for products, interest rates raised and the Turkish lira was devalued again. Prevent inflation and recession because of the ongoing 24th Ocak1980 decisions taken. In the period after 1980 to January 24, 1980 Decision of the State to provide support to the agricultural sector has declined. The number of supported products through the price in 1980 was 24 in 1981 to 20 in 1985 to 18 in 1990, while 10 declined. April 1994 due to the economic crisis reduced the number of supported products until the end of this process has continued in 2001. When it comes to events in the 2000s to replace lost agricultural policy, competitive, fair, aiming to raise the income level of farmers with environmentalists was more effective agricultural policies. New agricultural policy tools used to achieve their goals, Uygulaması'dır Direct Income Support. This application of EU Single Farm Payment Methods applied for the basic building characteristics.In the 1980s, the important steps taken towards EU membership process has been the Customs Union Agreement. Customs Union with Turkey's economy to compete in the market power of the EU had the opportunity to experiment. Moreover, the Customs Union with the competition, intellectual and industrial property rights, consumer protection legislation is carried out a lot about the way the process of globalization has come through Turkey.Turkey in the mountainous area of land available in spite of the large space to be used effectively in the case of arable fields, our agricultural production ourselves in our foreign trade to exceed proficiency levels also have an important place will ensure that .

General characteristics and relevance of the topic. In 1995's issue of the scientific journal Public Administration Review Robert D. Behn (1995) referring to the analogy of the science of physics formulated three major questions which, in his opinion, scholars of public management should be concerned about in the 21st century. One of them was the measurement question: how public managers can measure the achievements of their agencies in ways that help to increase those achievements? After a decade the emergence of multitude of books and articles in scientific journals, changes in public sector organizations caused by implementation of models of performance measurement, performance management and quality management, governmental initiatives to implement performance measurement programmes just confirm the Behn insight on the importance of performance measurement in public organizations. For many years performance measurement as one of the major tools in the package of the New Public Management reforms has remained a significant 'management fashion' (Abrahamson, 1996) and scholars as well as practicians of traditionally more developed countries of the English speaking world and the Continental Western Europe are well aware of it. The fashion gradually comes to the post-communist Central European countries which recently joined the European Union or are in the way of doing so and which learn from the experience of more 'advanced" countries in different areas of public administration. Lithuanian public sector organizations, including municipalities, also take part in the experience transferring process and, although up to now performance measurement practices are poorly institutionalised or do not exist at all, it is likely that in the nearest future significant changes will take place in this area. Therefore, there is a great need for scientific research on public sector performance measurement of applicable nature that could provide guidelines for development of performance measurement systems, evaluate developmental opportunities and threats, and suggest prospective models. Research problem –performance measurement practices in public sector organizations and municipalities are not sufficiently analysed in the Central and Eastern European scientific literature on public administration though this topic is broadly examined by scholars of the Western countries (especially Anglo-Saxon). The topic of public sector performance measurement in Lithuania up to now has not been analysed in scientific dissertations. Goal of the dissertation is to examine the state and developmental perspectives of performance measurement in Lithuanian municipalities by applying results of scientific researches on performance measurement that were carried out in the municipalities of other countries. Tasks of the dissertation: 1. To carry out a historical overview of performance measurement practices in the municipalities of different countries and the analysis of scientific researches on the topic; 2. To develop performance measurement models that could become practically applied tools in improving performance measurement systems in Lithuanian municipalities; 3. To analyse the organisation of performance measurement systems in Lithuanian municipalities and the conditions to improve them; 4. To examine the dependence of performance measurement practices on different political, social, structural and cultural factors. Novelty of the dissertation is conditioned by its goal and tasks because municipal performance measurement practices is a new phenomenon almost never researched before in Lithuania. The researches of this dissertation are based on the methodology of action research which may appear non-traditional and innovative to the Lithuanian academic community dominated by positivistic tradition. The Local Governance Balanced Scorecard and the Municipal Performance Measurement Model developed in this dissertation are innovative models designed on the basis of the Balanced Scorecard, formulated by Kaplan and Norton in 1992 (1996, 2004), and the Common Assessment Framework which has been broadly implemented in public sector organizations as the means for evaluating quality management systems since 2000. The dissertation suggests an advanced concept of strategic management and performance measurement in the context of local governance, according to which all stakeholders should take part in processes of strategic management and performance measurement, and strategic development plans should include all goals and tasks, implementation of which needs initiative from stakeholders. Such approach to strategic management and performance measurement proceeds from the modern understanding of governance as a phenomenon opposed to government which has entrenched itself in the academic community of public administration in the last decade. The Local Governance Balanced Scorecard could be a tool to realize this approach. The Municipal Performance Measurement Model gives an opportunity to evaluate performance measurement practices that exist in municipalities. Self-evaluation of management systems according to the Municipal Performance Measurement Model can be the first step in realizing changes related to implementation of performance measurement systems in municipalities. Practical implications of the dissertation. Performance measurement systems are not developed in Lithuanian municipalities, managers and employees of municipalities lacks knowledge and skills to successfully organize performance measurement systems. Municipalities do not or almost do not apply strategic management and quality management models. Therefore, the material on performance measurement models and the experience of municipalities of different countries collected and summarised in this dissertation and the developed models of performance measurement may empower Lithuanian members of municipal councils, mayors, heads of municipality administration and employees to implement needed changes and provide with the necessary knowledge. Sources and methods of the dissertation. The dissertation is grounded on the action research methodology which is based on the pragmatic theory of knowledge. It is being argued that the pragmatic theory of knowledge following the epistemological approach, developed in the works of W.James (1995), J.Dewey (1981), J.Habermas (2004), R.Rorty (1979, 1982), differs from positivistic and interpretative theories of knowledge because under this epistemological paradigm the goals of scientific research and transformation of social reality are closely interrelated. After evaluating the action research approaches of K.Lewin, Ch.Argyris (Argyris ir kt., 1985), P.Checkland (Checkland, 1999; Checkland, Poulter, 2006) (Reason, Bradbury, 2001), a modified concept of action research, providing justification to the tasks of the dissertation and methods of their implementation, is formulated. It is argued that scientific research is the process of learning under which assumptions about social phenomena, their changes and the effectiveness of the methods of acquiring knowledge about social phenomena as well as the influence to the changes of social phenomena are formulated and tested, assumptions that are not approved by empirical facts are rejected, more accurate assumptions are postulated, etc. In other words, in the process of scientific research one learns by 'trial and error", by raising ideas and implementing them, making mistakes and avoiding their recurrence. Knowledge acquisition process in social sciences is also equated to the process of innovation creation and management, because namely discoveries and novelties - new theories, models and methods – that directly or indirectly cause positive changes in human lives, have great value in scientific cognition. Therefore, by developing this concept of scientific cognition it is possible to refer to the insights provided by the discipline of innovation management. In aiming to implement the tasks of the dissertation those research and data collection methods are used: modelling, expert survey, content analysis, e-mail survey. OVERVIEW OF THE DISSERTATION STRUCTURE The constituent parts of the dissertation are the following: introduction, theoretical and research parts, and conclusions. The first part 'The Theoretical Analysis of Performance Measurement in Municipalities' analyses the process of performance measurement and its opportunities in improving local government, evaluates the international experience in municipal performance measurement and examines the results of scientific researches on performance measurement. This part consists of four chapters. The first chapter 'The Concept and Context of Performance Measurement in Municipalities' formulates the descriptions of the major concepts and discusses the problems of term usage, analyses the peculiarities of performance measurement in municipalities, evaluates factors and motives that determine performance measurement practices in municipalities, overviews performance measurement practices and researches in Lithuania. In the section 1.1 it is stated that the meaning of the concepts 'performance measurement', 'productivity measurement', 'performance evaluation', 'performance observation' is similar and the definition of the chosen concept 'performance measurement' is presented. Other concepts fundamental for this work and terms denoting them are discussed. Aiming to simplify the understanding of the terms used in the dissertation the glossary of major terms indicating English terms and their equivalents in Lithuanian is made. The section 1.2 raises a question, how performance measurement practices in municipalities are similar and specific as compared to other public and private sector organisations. An assumption that the differences of performance measurement practices in different organisations are conditioned by organizational si

General characteristics and relevance of the topic. In 1995's issue of the scientific journal Public Administration Review Robert D. Behn (1995) referring to the analogy of the science of physics formulated three major questions which, in his opinion, scholars of public management should be concerned about in the 21st century. One of them was the measurement question: how public managers can measure the achievements of their agencies in ways that help to increase those achievements? After a decade the emergence of multitude of books and articles in scientific journals, changes in public sector organizations caused by implementation of models of performance measurement, performance management and quality management, governmental initiatives to implement performance measurement programmes just confirm the Behn insight on the importance of performance measurement in public organizations. For many years performance measurement as one of the major tools in the package of the New Public Management reforms has remained a significant 'management fashion' (Abrahamson, 1996) and scholars as well as practicians of traditionally more developed countries of the English speaking world and the Continental Western Europe are well aware of it. The fashion gradually comes to the post-communist Central European countries which recently joined the European Union or are in the way of doing so and which learn from the experience of more 'advanced" countries in different areas of public administration. Lithuanian public sector organizations, including municipalities, also take part in the experience transferring process and, although up to now performance measurement practices are poorly institutionalised or do not exist at all, it is likely that in the nearest future significant changes will take place in this area. Therefore, there is a great need for scientific research on public sector performance measurement of applicable nature that could provide guidelines for development of performance measurement systems, evaluate developmental opportunities and threats, and suggest prospective models. Research problem –performance measurement practices in public sector organizations and municipalities are not sufficiently analysed in the Central and Eastern European scientific literature on public administration though this topic is broadly examined by scholars of the Western countries (especially Anglo-Saxon). The topic of public sector performance measurement in Lithuania up to now has not been analysed in scientific dissertations. Goal of the dissertation is to examine the state and developmental perspectives of performance measurement in Lithuanian municipalities by applying results of scientific researches on performance measurement that were carried out in the municipalities of other countries. Tasks of the dissertation: 1. To carry out a historical overview of performance measurement practices in the municipalities of different countries and the analysis of scientific researches on the topic; 2. To develop performance measurement models that could become practically applied tools in improving performance measurement systems in Lithuanian municipalities; 3. To analyse the organisation of performance measurement systems in Lithuanian municipalities and the conditions to improve them; 4. To examine the dependence of performance measurement practices on different political, social, structural and cultural factors. Novelty of the dissertation is conditioned by its goal and tasks because municipal performance measurement practices is a new phenomenon almost never researched before in Lithuania. The researches of this dissertation are based on the methodology of action research which may appear non-traditional and innovative to the Lithuanian academic community dominated by positivistic tradition. The Local Governance Balanced Scorecard and the Municipal Performance Measurement Model developed in this dissertation are innovative models designed on the basis of the Balanced Scorecard, formulated by Kaplan and Norton in 1992 (1996, 2004), and the Common Assessment Framework which has been broadly implemented in public sector organizations as the means for evaluating quality management systems since 2000. The dissertation suggests an advanced concept of strategic management and performance measurement in the context of local governance, according to which all stakeholders should take part in processes of strategic management and performance measurement, and strategic development plans should include all goals and tasks, implementation of which needs initiative from stakeholders. Such approach to strategic management and performance measurement proceeds from the modern understanding of governance as a phenomenon opposed to government which has entrenched itself in the academic community of public administration in the last decade. The Local Governance Balanced Scorecard could be a tool to realize this approach. The Municipal Performance Measurement Model gives an opportunity to evaluate performance measurement practices that exist in municipalities. Self-evaluation of management systems according to the Municipal Performance Measurement Model can be the first step in realizing changes related to implementation of performance measurement systems in municipalities. Practical implications of the dissertation. Performance measurement systems are not developed in Lithuanian municipalities, managers and employees of municipalities lacks knowledge and skills to successfully organize performance measurement systems. Municipalities do not or almost do not apply strategic management and quality management models. Therefore, the material on performance measurement models and the experience of municipalities of different countries collected and summarised in this dissertation and the developed models of performance measurement may empower Lithuanian members of municipal councils, mayors, heads of municipality administration and employees to implement needed changes and provide with the necessary knowledge. Sources and methods of the dissertation. The dissertation is grounded on the action research methodology which is based on the pragmatic theory of knowledge. It is being argued that the pragmatic theory of knowledge following the epistemological approach, developed in the works of W.James (1995), J.Dewey (1981), J.Habermas (2004), R.Rorty (1979, 1982), differs from positivistic and interpretative theories of knowledge because under this epistemological paradigm the goals of scientific research and transformation of social reality are closely interrelated. After evaluating the action research approaches of K.Lewin, Ch.Argyris (Argyris ir kt., 1985), P.Checkland (Checkland, 1999; Checkland, Poulter, 2006) (Reason, Bradbury, 2001), a modified concept of action research, providing justification to the tasks of the dissertation and methods of their implementation, is formulated. It is argued that scientific research is the process of learning under which assumptions about social phenomena, their changes and the effectiveness of the methods of acquiring knowledge about social phenomena as well as the influence to the changes of social phenomena are formulated and tested, assumptions that are not approved by empirical facts are rejected, more accurate assumptions are postulated, etc. In other words, in the process of scientific research one learns by 'trial and error", by raising ideas and implementing them, making mistakes and avoiding their recurrence. Knowledge acquisition process in social sciences is also equated to the process of innovation creation and management, because namely discoveries and novelties - new theories, models and methods – that directly or indirectly cause positive changes in human lives, have great value in scientific cognition. Therefore, by developing this concept of scientific cognition it is possible to refer to the insights provided by the discipline of innovation management. In aiming to implement the tasks of the dissertation those research and data collection methods are used: modelling, expert survey, content analysis, e-mail survey. OVERVIEW OF THE DISSERTATION STRUCTURE The constituent parts of the dissertation are the following: introduction, theoretical and research parts, and conclusions. The first part 'The Theoretical Analysis of Performance Measurement in Municipalities' analyses the process of performance measurement and its opportunities in improving local government, evaluates the international experience in municipal performance measurement and examines the results of scientific researches on performance measurement. This part consists of four chapters. The first chapter 'The Concept and Context of Performance Measurement in Municipalities' formulates the descriptions of the major concepts and discusses the problems of term usage, analyses the peculiarities of performance measurement in municipalities, evaluates factors and motives that determine performance measurement practices in municipalities, overviews performance measurement practices and researches in Lithuania. In the section 1.1 it is stated that the meaning of the concepts 'performance measurement', 'productivity measurement', 'performance evaluation', 'performance observation' is similar and the definition of the chosen concept 'performance measurement' is presented. Other concepts fundamental for this work and terms denoting them are discussed. Aiming to simplify the understanding of the terms used in the dissertation the glossary of major terms indicating English terms and their equivalents in Lithuanian is made. The section 1.2 raises a question, how performance measurement practices in municipalities are similar and specific as compared to other public and private sector organisations. An assumption that the differences of performance measurement practices in different organisations are conditioned by organizational si

In the present work the author reviews the two scientific monographs and twenty scientific articles in which the history of the Lithuanian legal system is investigated. The author aspires to elucidate how did the main subsystems of the Lithuanian legal system – legislation, jurisdiction and jurisprudence – appeared and developed up to the end of the 20th century in the context of evolution of the Western legal tradition. The basic methods of research used in the works are historical, comparative and teleological. The main theses of the reviewed scientific monographs and articles are these: The law of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) was created by the Government on the basis of the national Lithuanian law and some elements of the custom Slav law. Substitution of the custom Slav law for the Lithuanian public and private law took place in those provinces in the 14th-16th centuries. The custom Slav law hampered forming of the system of law of the GDL. It was created finally in the middle of the 16th century. The law of the GDL was a medieval estate law. Estate is a legal phenomenon and law determines signs and features of any estate. Main sign of any estate is rights leaved to him by law and protected by state. Estate system, that is an organization of society into classes rigidly divided for political purposes and defined primarily by law, is based on a legal inequality of estates. Any estate is a stable order closed to outsiders. In order to belong to estate any person must correspond to certain conditions determined by law. At the same time any person can belong to a few different social groups but only to one estate. The estate system of the GDL was formed finally in the middle of the 16th century. It was defined by the Second Statute of Lithuania and consisted of four estates: nobility, clergy, peasantry and townspeople. The nobility and the clergy were privileged. They governed the state and exploited bondsmen. In the towns which obtained the Magdeburg Law the townsmen were free, but haven't political rights and privileges. The author believes that all persons were subjects of medieval law of Lithuania, but their legal capacity was not equal. This inequality was determined by law. Volume of legal capacity of these persons depended upon their age, sex, citizenship, religion and estate. It could be changed in accordance with law. Under certain conditions loss of legal capacity also was able. Collective subjects of law were the GDL itself (not its government bodies or officials), the people of Lithuania as a political unit (not estates or ethnographic nations), political confederations of noblemen (if they were sanctioned by the Grand Duke), self-governing territorial units (counties, towns, etc.), guilds organized by craftsmen and merchants and self-governing religions communities. The author believes that a land-ownership in the GDL was divided. Two persons held the same land. One of them was an immediate owner, the second was a superior owner of the land. An immediate owner's right to dispose the land was limited by a superior owner's rights to this land. In the 14th-first half of the 16th century an ancestral land was the main form of land-ownership in the GDL. At first an ancestral land was owned without obligation of vassalage. Since the beginning of the 16th century an owner of an ancestral land was obliged to military service from his land. Since the 14th century a benefice was the second form of feudal land-ownership in the GDL. Gradually a benefice turned into a feud. In 1566 the Second Statute of Lithuania gave the equal rights to all owners of ancestral lands and feuds. They got the freedom to dispose all their lands, but were obliged to military service from their real estate. In the middle of the 16th century the domain of the Grand Duke was divided into the State lands and Throne lands. The Grand Duke's freedom to dispose these lands was limited. Up to the middle of the 16th century there were no permanent circuit courts for land disputes in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. All state courts heard land cases in their permanent quarters and moved in locality to survey borders only if it was very necessary. The Government of the GDL stimulated activity of arbitration and village courts and set them to resolve land disputes in locality. The first permanent circuit court (Sub-Chamber court) for boundary disputes was established in every county during the court reform in 1564-1566. Up to the middle of the 16th century jurisdiction of the Church determined by canons was very wide and came into collision with jurisdiction of the State. Besides clergymen and other subjects of the Church spiritual courts prosecuted noblemen, peasants and townsfolk. Competence of secular and spiritual courts was delimited clearly by the Third Statute of Lithuania. In accordance with this Statute spiritual courts could prosecute noblemen, peasants and townsfolk only if a certain case was bound up with religion or marriage. The medieval conception of formal evidences existed and dominated in the GDL from the 13th century up to the 18th century. The court was passive because all evidences were collected and produced by the plaintiff or by the defendant, and legal force of any evidence was determined by Lithuanian custom law and by the Lithuanian Statutes. The author believes that compurgators were not eye-witnesses of crime or event, there testified on oath only about good name of somebody. Compurgators swore together with plaintiff or defendant. Witnesses testified to or against somebody without oath. The legal status of witnesses and compurgators determined by the Lithuanian custom law and the First Lithuanian Statute was partly corrected by the Second and the Third Lithuanian Statutes in 1566 and 1588. Dietsky office appeared in the Ancient Slav State about the 11th century. From the 13th century onwards this office functioned in the GDL. Vizh office was instituted in the end of the 15th century or in the beginning of the 16th century in the GDL. Dietsky and Vizh were court officers executed judgements. Vizh was also official witness in criminal and civil cases. Vozny office was established in the GDL during the judicial reform in 1564-1566. Vozny was an important official of a court of law. He used to be elected by county noblemen. His duty was to inspect damages, wounds, and to witness at a trial. He was an executor of court's sentences. The number of lawyers who took scholastic degrees increased in the GDL in the 16th century. They developed legal terminology, introduced the written form of contracts and elaborated many legal acts. The Lithuanian Statutes should be regarded as the acme of progressive legal theoretical thought and practical activity. They surmounted the codification of the legislation of the GDL and brought the country to the leading position among other European countries. Yet the high standard, progressive spirit and intrinsic humanistic ideas by themselves did not mean that the Statutes were properly applied. In the 16th century, the lack of qualified lawyers complicated application of the Lithuanian Statutes. The legal sophistication of judges was often rather poor. Even members of the Lithuanian Tribunal of the GDL were not professional lawyers. The requirement constituted in the Lithuanian Statutes that only nobility were eligible to the position of judges was hardly observed because for a long time there had been not a single law school or college in the GDL. Why the Faculty of Law had not been founded in the Vilnius Jesuits' Academy before 1641? The author believes that the problem may be viewed in the context of international relations between the Kingdom of Poland and the GDL. In the year of the foundation of Vilnius University, one more event important for the legal development of GDL took place: creation of the highest appeal court – Lithuanian Tribunal. Polish landlords did not tolerate the steps strengthening the statehood of Lithuania. Creation of the Lithuanian Tribunal was a difficult victory of the GDL nobility. It is quite possible that concession to the University of Krakow and recognition of Polish monopoly in preparing lawyers were the cost paid for the mentioned victory. It seemed then more important to have their own appeal court than to prepare lawyers in the GDL. In the one article the author aspires to elucidate what was a medieval university – integral part of the town or feudal benefice, what were professors ant students – full fledged citizens of the town or aliens, and what were courts of the university – State or private, secular or ecclesiastical. The author established that any university in the Middle Ages was a self-governing professional corporation similar with guild or craft. Doctors and scholars (like merchants or craftsmen) elected rector and some others officials who governed and administered justice. Mostly university was an integral part of the town; professors ant students could exercise their rights on an equality with citizens of the town. Sometimes university was ruled by the Bishop or King as a feudal benefice independent from the town magistrates and courts (in this case the relations between town citizens and students were exceptionally strained). A very ample jurisdiction was allowed to the Rector's court, extending to all civil cases and all criminal cases except such as involved mutilation (in those criminal cases the jurisdiction of the town Magistrates, King's or Bishop's judges was recognized). Rector was required to suppress quarrels between students and townsmen, or among the students themselves. If Rector failed to punish offenders, a scholar or doctor was amenable to the town Magistrates, King's or Bishop's judges. The Bishop always reserved to himself spiritual jurisdiction over professors ant students. An appellate civil jurisdiction was reserved to the town Magistrates, King's or Bishop's judges. It should be recognized that the legal system

In the present work the author reviews the two scientific monographs and twenty scientific articles in which the history of the Lithuanian legal system is investigated. The author aspires to elucidate how did the main subsystems of the Lithuanian legal system – legislation, jurisdiction and jurisprudence – appeared and developed up to the end of the 20th century in the context of evolution of the Western legal tradition. The basic methods of research used in the works are historical, comparative and teleological. The main theses of the reviewed scientific monographs and articles are these: The law of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) was created by the Government on the basis of the national Lithuanian law and some elements of the custom Slav law. Substitution of the custom Slav law for the Lithuanian public and private law took place in those provinces in the 14th-16th centuries. The custom Slav law hampered forming of the system of law of the GDL. It was created finally in the middle of the 16th century. The law of the GDL was a medieval estate law. Estate is a legal phenomenon and law determines signs and features of any estate. Main sign of any estate is rights leaved to him by law and protected by state. Estate system, that is an organization of society into classes rigidly divided for political purposes and defined primarily by law, is based on a legal inequality of estates. Any estate is a stable order closed to outsiders. In order to belong to estate any person must correspond to certain conditions determined by law. At the same time any person can belong to a few different social groups but only to one estate. The estate system of the GDL was formed finally in the middle of the 16th century. It was defined by the Second Statute of Lithuania and consisted of four estates: nobility, clergy, peasantry and townspeople. The nobility and the clergy were privileged. They governed the state and exploited bondsmen. In the towns which obtained the Magdeburg Law the townsmen were free, but haven't political rights and privileges. The author believes that all persons were subjects of medieval law of Lithuania, but their legal capacity was not equal. This inequality was determined by law. Volume of legal capacity of these persons depended upon their age, sex, citizenship, religion and estate. It could be changed in accordance with law. Under certain conditions loss of legal capacity also was able. Collective subjects of law were the GDL itself (not its government bodies or officials), the people of Lithuania as a political unit (not estates or ethnographic nations), political confederations of noblemen (if they were sanctioned by the Grand Duke), self-governing territorial units (counties, towns, etc.), guilds organized by craftsmen and merchants and self-governing religions communities. The author believes that a land-ownership in the GDL was divided. Two persons held the same land. One of them was an immediate owner, the second was a superior owner of the land. An immediate owner's right to dispose the land was limited by a superior owner's rights to this land. In the 14th-first half of the 16th century an ancestral land was the main form of land-ownership in the GDL. At first an ancestral land was owned without obligation of vassalage. Since the beginning of the 16th century an owner of an ancestral land was obliged to military service from his land. Since the 14th century a benefice was the second form of feudal land-ownership in the GDL. Gradually a benefice turned into a feud. In 1566 the Second Statute of Lithuania gave the equal rights to all owners of ancestral lands and feuds. They got the freedom to dispose all their lands, but were obliged to military service from their real estate. In the middle of the 16th century the domain of the Grand Duke was divided into the State lands and Throne lands. The Grand Duke's freedom to dispose these lands was limited. Up to the middle of the 16th century there were no permanent circuit courts for land disputes in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. All state courts heard land cases in their permanent quarters and moved in locality to survey borders only if it was very necessary. The Government of the GDL stimulated activity of arbitration and village courts and set them to resolve land disputes in locality. The first permanent circuit court (Sub-Chamber court) for boundary disputes was established in every county during the court reform in 1564-1566. Up to the middle of the 16th century jurisdiction of the Church determined by canons was very wide and came into collision with jurisdiction of the State. Besides clergymen and other subjects of the Church spiritual courts prosecuted noblemen, peasants and townsfolk. Competence of secular and spiritual courts was delimited clearly by the Third Statute of Lithuania. In accordance with this Statute spiritual courts could prosecute noblemen, peasants and townsfolk only if a certain case was bound up with religion or marriage. The medieval conception of formal evidences existed and dominated in the GDL from the 13th century up to the 18th century. The court was passive because all evidences were collected and produced by the plaintiff or by the defendant, and legal force of any evidence was determined by Lithuanian custom law and by the Lithuanian Statutes. The author believes that compurgators were not eye-witnesses of crime or event, there testified on oath only about good name of somebody. Compurgators swore together with plaintiff or defendant. Witnesses testified to or against somebody without oath. The legal status of witnesses and compurgators determined by the Lithuanian custom law and the First Lithuanian Statute was partly corrected by the Second and the Third Lithuanian Statutes in 1566 and 1588. Dietsky office appeared in the Ancient Slav State about the 11th century. From the 13th century onwards this office functioned in the GDL. Vizh office was instituted in the end of the 15th century or in the beginning of the 16th century in the GDL. Dietsky and Vizh were court officers executed judgements. Vizh was also official witness in criminal and civil cases. Vozny office was established in the GDL during the judicial reform in 1564-1566. Vozny was an important official of a court of law. He used to be elected by county noblemen. His duty was to inspect damages, wounds, and to witness at a trial. He was an executor of court's sentences. The number of lawyers who took scholastic degrees increased in the GDL in the 16th century. They developed legal terminology, introduced the written form of contracts and elaborated many legal acts. The Lithuanian Statutes should be regarded as the acme of progressive legal theoretical thought and practical activity. They surmounted the codification of the legislation of the GDL and brought the country to the leading position among other European countries. Yet the high standard, progressive spirit and intrinsic humanistic ideas by themselves did not mean that the Statutes were properly applied. In the 16th century, the lack of qualified lawyers complicated application of the Lithuanian Statutes. The legal sophistication of judges was often rather poor. Even members of the Lithuanian Tribunal of the GDL were not professional lawyers. The requirement constituted in the Lithuanian Statutes that only nobility were eligible to the position of judges was hardly observed because for a long time there had been not a single law school or college in the GDL. Why the Faculty of Law had not been founded in the Vilnius Jesuits' Academy before 1641? The author believes that the problem may be viewed in the context of international relations between the Kingdom of Poland and the GDL. In the year of the foundation of Vilnius University, one more event important for the legal development of GDL took place: creation of the highest appeal court – Lithuanian Tribunal. Polish landlords did not tolerate the steps strengthening the statehood of Lithuania. Creation of the Lithuanian Tribunal was a difficult victory of the GDL nobility. It is quite possible that concession to the University of Krakow and recognition of Polish monopoly in preparing lawyers were the cost paid for the mentioned victory. It seemed then more important to have their own appeal court than to prepare lawyers in the GDL. In the one article the author aspires to elucidate what was a medieval university – integral part of the town or feudal benefice, what were professors ant students – full fledged citizens of the town or aliens, and what were courts of the university – State or private, secular or ecclesiastical. The author established that any university in the Middle Ages was a self-governing professional corporation similar with guild or craft. Doctors and scholars (like merchants or craftsmen) elected rector and some others officials who governed and administered justice. Mostly university was an integral part of the town; professors ant students could exercise their rights on an equality with citizens of the town. Sometimes university was ruled by the Bishop or King as a feudal benefice independent from the town magistrates and courts (in this case the relations between town citizens and students were exceptionally strained). A very ample jurisdiction was allowed to the Rector's court, extending to all civil cases and all criminal cases except such as involved mutilation (in those criminal cases the jurisdiction of the town Magistrates, King's or Bishop's judges was recognized). Rector was required to suppress quarrels between students and townsmen, or among the students themselves. If Rector failed to punish offenders, a scholar or doctor was amenable to the town Magistrates, King's or Bishop's judges. The Bishop always reserved to himself spiritual jurisdiction over professors ant students. An appellate civil jurisdiction was reserved to the town Magistrates, King's or Bishop's judges. It should be recognized that the legal system