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The article is dedicated to the discussion about the notions of the 'political system' and 'political regime' in the fields of its meanings as autonomous analytical constructions. The main arguments are that the 'political system' describes a stable and normal political process and determinate interrelations between power structures and civil society institutions as a complex sociopolitical unity. On the other hand, concept of 'political regime' stresses dynamic aspects of the government activity as a realization of the basic political functions. Pointing to the fact that a political system explains events and relations in the modern democratic context and a regime -- its peculiarities in the process of decision-making, the authors share attention to specific negative aspects of the separate interpretation and recognition of the various forms in the national politics spheres. All these conditions may sharp influence over the quality of the authority decisions, feedback among political institutions as a civic interests representatives etc. And otherwise, this implies that the political systems and political regimes realize an isomorphic similarity for taking evasive action between them. Adapted from the source document.

The so-called political values are only representations of values from other areas. We got used to the idea that if there is politics, there also have to be unique values belonging to this realm. However, the biggest paradox is that politics does not have its own values. There is no pure political judgment. When we make judgments about political matters we enter into discussions about values which are clearly not political. The roots of political judgments always can be traced to matters that are not political. All political values can be reduced to issues which exist beyond politics. They represent moral, religious, economic & cultural convictions of citizens. The meaning of politics always remains outside its reach. Behind so-called "political values" we always find reference to other values. Adapted from the source document.

The aim of the article is to disclose a possible view held by Kant towards the solution of the KOnigsberg problem after World War II. Philosophers of today usually show little interest in discussing the so-called "Kaliningrad puzzle." This is a certain misunderstanding. As one of the most outstanding representatives of the idealistic paradigm of international relations, Kant can be treated as a full-fledged participant of the discussions on the future of the Kaliningrad region. His political philosophy contributes towards a better understanding of certain important aspects related to the Kaliningrad problem. Kant would strongly criticize the decisions made at the Potsdam conference. The above decisions contradict his understanding of international relations. However, Kant would not demand an urgent solution to the Kaliningrad problem. His flexibility is worthy of the respect shown by the realpolitik supporters. On the other hand, Kant did not have the slightest doubt as to the necessity of amending the injustice of improper political decisions. The European future of the Kaliningrad region is first & foremost related to the ability of the population to enforce the political principles formulated by Kant -- the freedom of the citizens, the rule of law & the equality of every single citizen under the law. This seems to be the most topical message made by Kant to the present day population of his native town. The Kaliningrad region of today has failed to justify the requirements of civil society. It reminds one more of a hostage to the central power. From the perspective of Kant's political philosophy, one could state that the Kaliningrad region has not yet used the opportunity to become an association of free citizens. This is the only trustworthy way for this hostage of international politics of the 20th century to become part of cultural & political life within the unifying Europe. Adapted from the source document.

Straipsnyje pateikiamas konceptualus pagrindas, kuris naudojamas nagrinejant pokycius Lietuvoje per desimt narystes Europos Sajungoje metu. Teigiama, kad, norint juos ivertinti ir paaiskinti, neuztenka naudotis klasikinemis europeizacijos teorijomis. Todel siuloma i europeizacija zvelgti platesniame vystymosi teoriju kontekste. Tokiam prapletimui naudojama Douglasso C. Northo, Johno Josepho Walliso ir Barry R. Weingasto teorija, kuri apibrezia perejima nuo prigimtines valstybes prie atviros prieigos santvarkos ir sio perejimo salygas Paper presents conceptual framework used to assess Europeanization in Lithuania during the last 10 years across the classical to Europeanization literature dimensions of polity, politics and policy. Author argues that because usually consequences of Europeanization are fragmented and hardly possible to generalize, therefore, it is wise to look at the new EU member states, where this impact was concentrated. Author states that Europeanization theory has to be complemented by additional approaches accounting for a domestic change. Therefore, Europeanization is put into a broader development studies. Theory of development produced by Douglass C. North, John Joseph Wallis and Barry R. Weingast serves as a theoretical framework in the research. This developmental approach puts an emphasis on the role of elites, state capture and broader transformation of the society and thus focuses and complements the current theory of Europeanization. It also provides a framework to analyse the issue of corruption and state capture, which is no longer considered as a deviation, but rather as a norm. Adapted from the source document.

This article aims to draw the attention to a field that has been widely acknowledged worldwide but can be considered as rather new in Lithuania -- to the methods of foresighting & future studies. Foresighting can serve as a supplement to analytic research & can be applied as a significant methodological instrument in numerous fields of political science. Authors state that foresighting is particularly relevant to the research of international relations. As actors of the international system are competing for power & attempting to formulate strategies to expand their power, foresighting & construction of future scenarios becomes an inherent part of the strategic processes. A scenario constructing process & examples are presented in the article. Adapted from the source document.

The paper explores the epistemic fruitfulness of the contemporary theories of modern relations for historical research about the relations between premodern polities. The author suggests to replace the concepts of "international system" and "international society" by the broader notions of "interpolity system" and that of "interpolity society". It is demonstrated that A. Wendt's thesis that in the premodern times international politics was dominated by the Hobbesian culture of anarchy disregards historical evidence about the "Lockean" realities of the dynastic politics in the medieval Europe and other places. The author also criticise H. Bull's concept of international society because of its assumption that Westphalian peace treaty of 1648 was the date of birth of the international law and international society as historical reality. Paper includes a case study about the changing roles and challenges of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) as the subject of interpolity relations in XIII-XV centuries. It focuses on the rise of GDL from the polity playing the role of the barrier (but not that of buffer) polity, separating Central European and Eastern European interpolity systems and belonging to both of them, to the regional empire and suzerain polity of the Eastern European interpolity system by the early XVth century. However, Lithuanian hegemony in Eastern Europe lasted only very few years. After 1430, the Eastern European interpolity system was about to transform itself from the suzerain polity system into a multipolar sovereign interpolity system of the type that consolidated in the Central and Western Europe after 1648 and survived for 300 years. However, the political leadership of GDL failed to meet the challenge to maintain an emerging multipolar balance of power in this system. Adapted from the source document.

The article addresses the question of why the Baltic countries chose internal devaluation over external devaluation in response to the economic crisis of 2008-2010. After describing the situation in the Baltics and the two main choices, the paper argues that economic explanations are insufficient in accounting for the choice. Several political explanations for the choice are laid out based on external pressure arguments, society-oriented perspective and institutional perspective. The paper finds that the external pressure hypothesis is unable to account for the Baltic decision, which rather reflected a very strong domestic consensus on the importance of safeguarding fixed exchange rates. This consensus in turn was based on both widespread support by the general society and concentrated producer groups. Nevertheless, society-oriented perspective cannot fully explain the Baltic choice either -- economic policies pursued during the crisis can only be fully understood when analyzing specific historical conditions under which the fixed exchange rate institutional system and its supporting elements were created. Over time, self-enforcing effects of the system became apparent both in the ideational sphere (principled beliefs about nationhood as well as particular causal beliefs) and in the material one, largely through the credit channel (indebtedness in euros). The current crisis also witnessed tendencies largely reinforcing the institutional equilibrium that supports the fixed exchange rate system. Adapted from the source document.

Straipsnio objektas yra pokyciai Lietuvoje ir ju vertinimas is visuomenes ir elito perspektyvos. Todel pirmojoje dalyje, naudojantis pokycius ekonomikos, visuomenes ir valdymo srityse fiksuojanciais ivairiais rodikliais ir indeksais, yra apibudinami pagrindiniai bendrieji pokyciai Lietuvoje 2004-2014 m. Jie rodo sparcia Lietuvos ekonomine konvergencija su Europos Sajunga, didesne aukstaji ir vidurini issimokslinima igijusiu Lietuvos gyventoju dali ir pailgejusius sveiko gyvenimo metus, taciau taip pat stagnacija daugumos strukturiniu ilgalaike pazanga lemianciu rodikliu atzvilgiu. Straipsnyje taip pat nagrinejama paskutinio desimtmecio viesosios politikos kaita ir jos pokyciu saltiniai. Daroma isvada, jog, nepaisant galimybiu po 2004 m. nacionalizuoti viesosios politikos darbotvarke, joje ir toliau svar biavieta uzima ES klausimai, o pokycius viesojoje politikoje lyginant su laikotarpiu pries stojant i ES, jie buvo mazesni. Antroji straipsnio dalis analizuoja, kaip pokycius Lietuvoje vertina gyventojai ir elitas ir koks siu vertinimu santykis. Lietuvos politinio elito apklausos duomenys parode, jog elitas didziausius ir labai teigiamus pokycius 2004-2014 m. mato esant valstybes tarnybos gebejimu srityje ir igyvendinant vienodo teises aktu taikymo principa. Visuomene pokycius vertina pesimistiskiau, egzistuoja visuomenes ir elito vertinimu atotrukis. Straipsnyje teigiama, kad pesimistines gyventoju nuotaikas lemia del ES paramos reiksmingai nepasikeitusi visuomenes nelygybes struktura ir neispildyti dideli gyventoju ekonominiai lukesciai. Be to, gavus ES strukturine parama padidejes Lietuvos biudzetas dar paskatino valstybes uzgrobima ir korupcija, del kuriu tikrojo ir isivaizduojamo masto visuomene yra pesimistiskesne ir bendruju pokyciu atzvilgiu The object of the article is changes in Lithuania during the EU membership period and the perception of them in the eyes of the elite and Lithuanian society. It reviews the main general changes in economics, society, and governance in 2004-2014 using various indicators and indexes. Furthermore, public policy development analysis states that despite the fact that after accession in 2004 there were opportunities to nationalize public policy agenda, it was still dominated by the EU related questions. In the second section authors compare attitudes towards changes between Lithuanian elite members and Lithuanian society. Article argues that Lithuanian society tends to evaluate the same changes rather differently and its attitudes are more pessimistic. Therefore, based on process tracing methodology, the authors explain how unfulfilled high economic expectations contributed to distrust of political institutions, high perception of corruption, low turnout, and migration. In addition, it is also argued that financial support of the EU stimulated state capture initiatives and corruption in Lithuania which also contributed to the pessimistic evaluations of changes by society. Adapted from the source document.

Value orientations of Lithuanian civil servants are analyzed in the context of political culture of society. After the short summing-up on Lithuanian political culture research author concentrates on such features of political culture as distrust in authorities, public institutions, state & democracy; negative attitude towards legislation & attempts to drive through using informal rules & networks; inability to envisage difference between private and public. The role model of civil servant prescribed by Lithuanian legislation reflect the striving, meanwhile in reality officials' practiced values correspond with the orientations of consuming society & some negative habits & stereotypes inherited from the soviet times. Adapted from the source document.

Adapted from the source document.