Suchergebnisse

The aim of this article is to evaluate the effect of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on the Lithuanian-Russian borderland. Using the framework of securitization with insights from geopolitics, it claims that one can observe three developments. First, Lithuania tried to pursue with even greater rigor a policy of hardening the Russian-Lithuanian border and fencing away from the Kaliningrad district. Nevertheless, these actions faced several obstacles. The European Commission, together with Lithuania's main allies, imposed such an interpretation of EU sanctions against Russia that left the Lithuanian-Russian border more open than Vilnius had wished for. This external undermining of the hardening of border is the second development. Thirdly, the Lithuanian-Russian border was undermined internally. Because the Lithuanian- Belarusian border also has been recognized as a Lithuanian-Russian border by political decision makers, the Lithuanian-Russian borderland expanded, but Lithuania lacked the institutional capacities and faced an internal backlash to enforce a rigid regime on the frontier.

With the creation of the Lithuanian armed forces in the early 20th century, the question ofhaving officers loyal to the idea of the nation-state inevitably arose. It became especially relevantduring the Wars of Independence that followed the First World War. Due to the need tocreate the armed forces urgently, individuals from different backgrounds and with differentexperiences joined the corps of officers in the emerging Lithuanian army. Therefore, a varietyof tensions of a political and social nature arose between them, which in some cases grewinto open conflict. The article examines the question of whether these conflicts were based ondifferences in officers' education, social background, national engagement or experience. Canwe explain the conflicts between the officers by the generation gap? And what role was playedin these conflicts by the experience of military service acquired by some officers in the ImperialRussian army, including experience in the First World War?KEY WORDS: Lithuanian army, Russian army, officer corps, relations between officers and politicians,generational conflicts, prosopography.

В настоящей статье анализируются наиболее частотные литовские и латышские фразеологизмы с компонентом черт, или Велняс, в сопоставлении с русскими. В исследовании представлено несколько аспектов данной проблематики, в частности, дается краткий обзор фактов, подтверждающих близость этих языков к древнему индоевропейскому языку, а также кратко описываются общие представления балтов о Велнясе, своими корнями уходящие в эпоху язычества, которая у литовцев и латышей сохранялась вплоть до XVII в. Основная часть работы посвящена анализу языкового материала, который делится на три основные группы по принципу полных совпадений, частичных аналогов и безэквивалентных единиц. На базе последних делается вывод о большей антропоморфности образа представителя нечистой силы у балтов по сравнению с русским чертом ввиду довольно позднего принятия балтами христианства. С учетом существования в определенный исторический период балто-славянского союза литовская и латышская фразеология помогает глубже проникнуть в сознание древнего славянина и восстановить картину его представлений о нечистой силе в дохристианский период, не зафиксированных в письменных источниках, но находящих подтверждение в современной литовской и латышской фразеологии, где эти представления сохраняются до сих пор.
This article analyzes the most frequent modern Lithuanian and Latvian phraseological units with the component "devil", or "Velnyas" in comparison with the Russian language. The study presents several aspects of this issue, in particular, a brief overview of the facts confirming the proximity of these languages to the ancient Indo-European language, and also briefly describes the general ideas of the Balts about Velnyas, which have their roots in the era of paganism, which was preserved among Lithuanians and Latvians until 17th century. The main part of the work is devoted to the analysis of the linguistic material itself, which is divided into three main groups according to the principle of complete matches, partial analogues and non-equivalent units. On the basis of the latter, a conclusion is made about the greater anthropomorphism of the image of the representative of evil spirits among the Balts in comparison with the Russian concept of "devils" due to the rather late adoption of Christianity by the Balts. Taking into account the existence of the Balto-Slavic union in a certain historical period, Lithuanian and Latvian phraseology helps to penetrate deeper into the consciousness of the ancient Slav and restore the picture of his ideas about evil spirits in the pre-Christian period, which were not recorded in written sources, but are confirmed in modern Lithuanian and Latvian phraseology, where these ideas are still preserved.

The goal of this paper is to compare the development of the Lithuanian and Russian biotechnology sectors. In case of Lithuania we tried to uncover what are the circumstances surrounding the favorable development of the biotechnology sectors in Lithuania. In case of Russian Federation we looked at encouraging as well as discouraging circumstances surrounding this segment of economy. Drawing upon Schumpeter's ideas of innovation and Porter's business cluster theory, we argue that Lithuania is "at the right place and the right time" to make it a regional leader in Baltic biotechnology. Russia, on the other hand, is in the process of developing biotech sector in order to at least to catch up with other countries (including Lithuania). It will take time and continuous governmental support for Russia before this sector starts contributing significantly to Russian economy.

Die Studie beschäftigt sich mit den jüngsten politischen Entwicklungen in Litauen, wo sich in den Jahren 1988/89 mit den Gruppierungen "Lietuvos Persitvarkymo Sajudis" und "Lietuvos Laisves Lyga" eine starke nationale Unabhängigkeitsbewegung organisatorisch und programmatisch etablieren konnte, die mittlerweile sowohl der KP Litauens als auch der KPdSU Zugeständnisse abringen konnte (Erklärung des Obersten Sowjet zur illegalen Annexion Litauens). Der Autor analysiert das Kräfteverhältnis auf der politischen Bühne Litauens und versucht die Chancen bzw. Perspektiven einer (relativen) Unabhängigkeit des Landes bzw. des gesamten Baltikums einzuschätzen. (BIOst-Hml)

These characteristics point to several labour market-related problems: low minimum and average wages and a correspondingly low level of consumption and living standards; low incentive to work; high rates of emigration to countries with higher living standards and a resulting scarcity of skilled labour; and the presence of the shadow economy. An unbalanced character of economic development and a disregard for social targets have negatively infl uenced employment and unemployment indicators. The unemployment rate was 5.9 per cent in 2008, having peaked at 15 per cent during the crisis and, in 2014, it still stood at 10.9 per cent. This indicates as low labour market recovery from the economic downturn given that GDP growth had already resumed in 2011. In addition, Lithuania is characterised by poorly-developed social dialogue and a relatively low level of collective bargaining coverage. In 2015, trade union density in Lithuania was less than 8 per cent, while employer organisation density stood around 17 per cent (Statistics Lithuania 2016). According to the ICTWSS database (Visser 2016), the collective bargaining coverage rate in 2012 was only 9 per cent. This chapter shows that, despite their limited human and fi nancial resources, Lithuanian trade unions have not only survived the economic downturn but have also strengthened their positions in some areas compared to the pre-crisis period. Aware of their weak positions at company and sectoral levels, unions focused mainly on nationallevel actions and cooperated with their counterparts from other confederations, foreign trade unions, employers, civil society and international organisations. In this capacity, they succeeded in organising a protest campaign on a previously unseen scale; had trade union representatives appointed to the Parliament and the government; concluded a tripartite National Agreement; extended the competences of the main national social dialogue institution; and fostered the establishment of regional tripartite councils. They also managed to increase awareness of trade union activities through increased media presence and extended their outreach to previously non-unionised sectors and population groups. 112 Innovative union practices in Central-Eastern Europe The chapter is structured as follows. Section one provides an overview of social dialogue and industrial relations developments in Lithuania. Special attention is paid to the company and national-level social dialogue as well as to the situation of trade unions during the recent economic crisis. Section two examines innovative union practices pursued by Lithuanian trade unions during and after the downturn. This is followed by a short summary of the initiatives and conclusions.

These characteristics point to several labour market-related problems: low minimum and average wages and a correspondingly low level of consumption and living standards; low incentive to work; high rates of emigration to countries with higher living standards and a resulting scarcity of skilled labour; and the presence of the shadow economy. An unbalanced character of economic development and a disregard for social targets have negatively infl uenced employment and unemployment indicators. The unemployment rate was 5.9 per cent in 2008, having peaked at 15 per cent during the crisis and, in 2014, it still stood at 10.9 per cent. This indicates as low labour market recovery from the economic downturn given that GDP growth had already resumed in 2011. In addition, Lithuania is characterised by poorly-developed social dialogue and a relatively low level of collective bargaining coverage. In 2015, trade union density in Lithuania was less than 8 per cent, while employer organisation density stood around 17 per cent (Statistics Lithuania 2016). According to the ICTWSS database (Visser 2016), the collective bargaining coverage rate in 2012 was only 9 per cent. This chapter shows that, despite their limited human and fi nancial resources, Lithuanian trade unions have not only survived the economic downturn but have also strengthened their positions in some areas compared to the pre-crisis period. Aware of their weak positions at company and sectoral levels, unions focused mainly on nationallevel actions and cooperated with their counterparts from other confederations, foreign trade unions, employers, civil society and international organisations. In this capacity, they succeeded in organising a protest campaign on a previously unseen scale; had trade union representatives appointed to the Parliament and the government; concluded a tripartite National Agreement; extended the competences of the main national social dialogue institution; and fostered the establishment of regional tripartite councils. They also managed to increase awareness of trade union activities through increased media presence and extended their outreach to previously non-unionised sectors and population groups. 112 Innovative union practices in Central-Eastern Europe The chapter is structured as follows. Section one provides an overview of social dialogue and industrial relations developments in Lithuania. Special attention is paid to the company and national-level social dialogue as well as to the situation of trade unions during the recent economic crisis. Section two examines innovative union practices pursued by Lithuanian trade unions during and after the downturn. This is followed by a short summary of the initiatives and conclusions.